Crowd memories

[Supermercado]

Forget the games, we all remember them. What are some of the great, underrated, long forgotten moments you've seen in the stands?

The night we beat Hawthorn by a point in 1999 I was sitting behind the Hawks cheersquad. Some other Hawthorn fan, possibly 'refreshed', decided they weren't cheering hard enough and waded in to tell them to fire up. They proceeded to tell him to f off, a scuffle broke out, security had to come in and sort it out and the lone nutter was hauled off and presumably thrown out.

 

[Captain Jack]

So many classic moments, footy crowds provide endless hilarity and wit. Too bad for me that I normally sit in a pretty family-friendly area of the MCC... depending on the strength of the bandwagon we sometimes have to moderate our language a fair bit, especially for Richmond games.

The 2006 elimination final against the Saints stands out... of course there was the classic high 5 with the random bloke next to me, but also sticking it up a couple of guys (Saints fans) I knew. They were sitting above me on level 3, called out and I went up to see them at half time. The satisfaction of fist-pumping at them when we kicked the winning goal (who was that?) was immense after they had been pretty bloody confident earlier in the night.

 

[Crimson Azure]

I remember watching Jacko rip it up in 91 with a couple of supporters behind me smoking joints all day, the cops didn't seem to care much either. The good old days at the 'G aye.

I remember some crazy guy wearing a mask throughout the game against GWS & hurling abuse at Scully all day. Had a real serial killer demeanor about him.

 

[Carusiii]

So many classic moments, footy crowds provide endless hilarity and wit. Too bad for me that I normally sit in a pretty family-friendly area of the MCC... depending on the strength of the bandwagon we sometimes have to moderate our language a fair bit, especially for Richmond games.

The 2006 elimination final against the Saints stands out... of course there was the classic high 5 with the random bloke next to me, but also sticking it up a couple of guys (Saints fans) I knew. They were sitting above me on level 3, called out and I went up to see them at half time. The satisfaction of fist-pumping at them when we kicked the winning goal (who was that?) was immense after they had been pretty bloody confident earlier in the night.

Yze kicked it, still remember yelling Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooze

 

[PureFooty]

I remember the day in 10' where we were all over hawthorn and a win may well have seen us go onto play finals with a weak draw (mind you we lost the next 3 of 4 anyway). The hawks fans were quite all day, not a peep from them I tell you, anyway they finally started to string a few goals together, buddy was acting as if they'd one a premiership. Queue, my uncle, a neutral at the game who gets up out of his seat and sarcastically cheers 'you beauty, we're gonna beat the dees, how good are we, it's taken us 3 and half qtrs to finally put Melbourne away how good are we? Give us the premiership already cos' we're unstoppable.' The reaction of the crowd was hilarious, the hawks fans in the section went dead quite, as if they were ashamed, whilst the dees fans decided to join in. The great thing is regardless of whether we win or lose, I think we've got a great strike rate of crowd battles.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Nothing will beat the atmosphere, or the crowd, at the 1996 merger game. I was in Year 9 then, went with my two best mates who are Hawk fans and one of their dads who is a Melbourne fan. Simply unbelievable night. My mates old man got me into the rooms as the team was warming up and it just felt surreal, even to a young fella like me. I cheered us on like a madman that night.

Saw a few Melbourne fans tear up that night too at the very real thought that this could have been our very last game as the Melbourne Football Club. Thank all that is holy that we are still here today.

 

[old_clint]

Forget the games, we all remember them. What are some of the great, underrated, long forgotten moments you've seen in the stands?

The night we beat Hawthorn by a point in 1999 I was sitting behind the Hawks cheersquad. Some other Hawthorn fan, possibly 'refreshed', decided they weren't cheering hard enough and waded in to tell them to fire up. They proceeded to tell him to f off, a scuffle broke out, security had to come in and sort it out and the lone nutter was hauled off and presumably thrown out.

Along similar lines, I was taking photos in the old Southern Stand after a Melb v Tigers game, many years ago, and an aging Richmond codger accused me of taking photos of him without his permisssion. I hadn't. Anyway, in his very-refreshed state, he grabbed my camera, wanted the film, and wouldn't let go. We eventually took him in our car to the Richmond Police Station to sort the matter out. I left with camera and film intact and the Richmond guy got locked up for his troubles. Back then there was no LMFAO (but that's what I was doin').

 

[d33my]

Dees vs. Tiges, probably '09 but maybe '10. Anyway Juice was playing, I was sitting with my Tiger mate in the MCC and one of the crusty old Dees supporters in front of us said to his equally ancient friend (direct quote), 'Yeah, I reckon that Newton lad is going to be the next John Coleman.'

I hope old mate got to see Juice's first quarter vs. North Melbourne in 2011; he's probably dead now.

 

[Supermercado]

Nothing will beat the atmosphere, or the crowd, at the 1996 merger game. I was in Year 9 then, went with my two best mates who are Hawk fans and one of their dads who is a Melbourne fan. Simply unbelievable night. My mates old man got me into the rooms as the team was warming up and it just felt surreal, even to a young fella like me. I cheered us on like a madman that night.

Saw a few Melbourne fans tear up that night too at the very real thought that this could have been our very last game as the Melbourne Football Club. Thank all that is holy that we are still here today.

To think, you could have have been singing this classic ditty instead



*spew*

 

[MAXIMUM GRUNDAGE]

The match last year against GWS, can't go past it.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Nothing will beat the atmosphere, or the crowd, at the 1996 merger game. I was in Year 9 then, went with my two best mates who are Hawk fans and one of their dads who is a Melbourne fan. Simply unbelievable night. My mates old man got me into the rooms as the team was warming up and it just felt surreal, even to a young fella like me. I cheered us on like a madman that night.

Saw a few Melbourne fans tear up that night too at the very real thought that this could have been our very last game as the Melbourne Football Club. Thank all that is holy that we are still here today.

Cant go passed this game for emotion & atmosphere, I was there (although being in the MCC that night but that helped as it was full of Dees supporters) & emotions got the better of me & was asked to calm down a little.

Just that feeling of think I'd never see the club play again made the atmosphere electric for both supporters. I never felt as flat as I did after that game.

Another that springs to memory was against the Tigers in round 22 of 1998, about 75k there & I remember giving it to the Tigers supporters all afternoon. Wiz took that awesome mark, I really thought we could be premiers that year.

Then due to the worst final 8 system ever, Adelaide got the double chance (despite not having one & being smashed by us in the qual final) which flicked us over to the way more experienced North Melbourne side of the draw & the rest is history.

We did our part to stop the crows winning a flag.

 

[MAXIMUM GRUNDAGE]

Cant go passed this game for emotion & atmosphere, I was there (although being in the MCC that night but that helped as it was full of Dees supporters) & emotions got the better of me & was asked to calm down a little.

Just that feeling of think I'd never see the club play again made the atmosphere electric for both supporters. I never felt as flat as I did after that game.

Another that springs to memory was against the Tigers in round 22 of 1998, about 75k there & I remember giving it to the Tigers supporters all afternoon. Wiz took that awesome mark, I really thought we could be premiers that year.

Then due to the worst final 8 system ever, Adelaide got the double chance (despite not having one & being smashed by us in the qual final) which flicked us over to the way more experienced North Melbourne side of the draw & the rest is history.

We did our part to stop the crows winning a flag.

Some great memories of that Richmond match - sitting in the MCC members section for the first time (mate and his dad who I went with were MCC members) - stepdad mouthing off before I left about how Richmond would be making the finals and how much the Dees would get smashed by. We won by around 80 points from memory and gave it back to him when I got back home. Wiz's mark is the greatest mark I've ever seen live.

 

[Syrus]

Melbourne vs Essendon game two years ago. My brother and I were sitting in the Southern Stand amongst a lot of Essendon supporters. Anyway this Essendon supporter just kept yelling abuse about the club, but would look over at us when he said it. We sat their quietly having a laugh at the goose because he had no idea (like most Essendon supporters). We would give a little banter back every now and again, then late in the 4th he lets out this tirade of abuse at us, about how shit Watts is compared to Hurley. etc. Then literally 30 seconds later Watts takes that hanger right in front of us.

I looked over at the bloke and said. Did you see how high Watts got. There is no way that fat **** Hurley would get that high off the ground without a crane. About 15 seconds later he got up and went home.

 

[LeverPuller]

So you guys have heard the horror time (and on 'land, a couple even saw) that I had with my dad and girlfriend at Melbourne-Hawthorn last year. Sat down in GA, bunch of Hawthorn supporters already start giving us shit ("You're brave, this is the Hawthorn area!"). Now, my father and I light up like the Sydney Harbour on New Years at the footy. So we do, Melbourne-biased of course. Bloke next to dad turns around in the first 3 minutes and tells him 'Shut up you f***ing prick, you don't know what the f*** you're talking about you idiot.' Dad turned back to him and told him if he said it again then Dad's going to knock him out. Said it's a game, we're all here for a bit of fun and he didn't come for abuse like that. Cue Hawthorn supporters in front of us turning around and abusing the shit out of us the next time there's a decision that isn't paid in Melbourne's favour. I got spat on, abused, asked why I was sleeping with my sister because that's who they mistook my girlfriend for. And it was all game too. So I started paying Buddy out nonstop because he couldn't hit the side of a barn at 30 metres, and of course when he scored that bounce of the ball goal (where it bounced straight up in the air on the goal line) they once again turned around and paid me out before acting like they'd won the flag.

The other one I remember vividly is the 2004 Queen's Birthday game...it was the 2nd year we'd started going regularly. We were sitting 3rd row, Great Southern, around near the PRE 50m arc. Myself, my dad, one other Melbourne bloke in front of us and a sea of black and white. Down by 3 goals at 3QT it was troubling. But then the final quarter. Dad was so loud, the other Dees bloke turned around and said to him, 'I've been looking for you for 20 years!' Fantastic, the Collingwood lot went from super-loud to silent.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Troy Broadbridge game round 1 2005 was awesome yet somber.

 

[Jamurp]

To think, you could have have been singing this classic ditty instead



*spew*

It's no GWS theme, but I reckon it has a bit of kick to it.

 

[00Stinger]

Was at a Melbourne and Richmond game probably 10 years ago. It was early in the season, maybe round 2-3 and we won convincingly. There was a Richmond supporter (mid 20's) who went into absolute melt-down mode. Over the course of two quarters, he lost his shit about how bad Richmond were, almost breaking into tears. He would jump on his seat get up and pace the isle with his head in his hands. It was one of the funniest hours I had ever had. By half way through the last quarter he had thrown his scarf away and ripped his jumper off, before proceeding to try and burn it with his lighter. At this stage his mrs (who yes, laid witness to the whole scene) was trying to take it off him, so he put his lighter away and then pulled his membership card out and started trying to bend it, rip it and even chew it. About this stage a couple of security guards came down and took him away. Nobody yelled out to him, I'm guessing purely because the poor bloke looked suicidal. Man, he must have had one bad ****ing week.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

I reckon most of us would have a good memory or two from a Richmond game like a few have mentioned above. Had a Richmond fan call security on me in 2011 after, for 3 quarters, he sat there continually saying "No frees, no dees" over and over and over again, every time we got a free kick. It was infuriating. So after he said it again early in the last quarter I lent back in my seat, pointed at him and said "you're a ****ing w***er" and he tried to call security on me.

They didn't come and a few people around me even clapped when I said it. God I hate Richmond. Not my proudest moment but shit did he get on my nerves. I reckon he would have said it 30 times, at least.

 

[Supermercado]

I sat next to a classic Richmond fan the week we beat them and put the final nail in Terry Wallace's coffin. When it became clear we were going to win he started dancing around the aisle singing the Tiges theme song with altered words about Terry getting the sack. All I can remember was "In the electric chair! We'll put Terry in the electric chair!"

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Another good one was the the QB game back in 2002 when big Al Nicholson did his knee - I had to hold a former moderator of this board back from punching the Collingwood fan behind us who was laughing and jeering Nicho off, and you could tell from where we were he was in serious pain. Don't mind if you hate my club but you don't jeer a seriously injured player off the field.

 

[jhong]

1987 ,Robbie Flower and the Dees V Sydney swans for a place in the prelim final . Game was over at half time but the MCG (82,000) was a sea of red and blue . I have never seen anything like it to this day . Even the supporters of other clubs had red and blue on ,just to see the great Robbie Flower play in his one and only finals series .

 

[maxmustard]

I sat in the next bay from the Collingwood cheer squad in 2006 I think, city end. We won pretty comfortably and after the game a 15 year old inbred poured a can of bourbon and coke on my sisters dees scarf. My sister was literally just sitting there minding her own business. I told him to GAGF and security told me to leave while this guy, who resembled the feral kid from mad max, stumbled around the steps in the isle singing the Collingwood song while our song played over the P.A. Never wanted to belt someone so much in my life. Also a self indulgent one but I reported some of our players to the MCG anti social hotline in round one last year.

 

[PureFooty]

Another good one was the the QB game back in 2002 when big Al Nicholson did his knee - I had to hold a former moderator of this board back from punching the Collingwood fan behind us who was laughing and jeering Nicho off, and you could tell from where we were he was in serious pain. Don't mind if you hate my club but you don't jeer a seriously injured player off the field.

I remember this, I also remember how disappointed I was when all of Melbourne jeered Dids of the ground last year when he shanked one from 50 and hobbled off the ground with a torn groin muscle, in our defence though, it was more the shank then the injury.

 

[CowboyFromHell]

Also a self indulgent one but I reported some of our players to the MCG anti social hotline in round one last year.

Gold!

 

[La Vache]

Essendon vs Melbourne 1992 was probably one of the angriest crowds I've experienced. Essendon fans were pretty grumpy after being flogged by Hawthorn the week before and your lot were giving them a nice old touch up. I was standing behind the Punt Road goals and Melbourne fans were a bit cheeky but nothing untoward really.

Anyway they rolled you. 9 goals to nil in the last or something like that and Salmon, who had copped it all day was all of a sudden the saviour.

And it kicked off afterwards. Fights everywhere inside and outside the gate and a couple broke out on that green footbridge. Bombers supporters were mouthy as ****.