First KP experience

[PhatBoy]

Ok bit of a sentimental post.

On saturday my family and I went to our first game at KP. It’s a 10 hour drive from home and I work weekends so it’s always logistically impossible to get down there.

I need to preface this by saying we have been having a few marital problems - my own doing - and life has been fvkken sh!t but we promised the kids - one of whom is a cats tragic like his dad - that we would go so we did.

Just for a day we were in heaven. Yeah it was ball-freezingly cold and wet but it was an awesome experience, totally unlike any sporting event I’ve been to. The vendors outside the ground, the gift shop, the brass band were absolutely awesome and the game day experience was just brilliant. My boy got given a ball signed by Cam Guthrie afterwards and the smile still hasn’t left his face despite everything going on.

You guys who live down there and get to experience it regularly are bloody lucky. It was something I’ll never forget.

 

[King Cold]

Saturday was definitely the coldest game I've been to this year but footy has always been a winter sport and played outdoors not under a roof shielded from the elements, games like that are what the experience at the footy is all about in terms of being a spectator.

What area were you seated in? I still remember my first game and being seated on the Latrobe Terrace wing, something I'll never forget.

 

[Turbocat]

Ok bit of a sentimental post.

On saturday my family and I went to our first game at KP. It’s a 10 hour drive from home and I work weekends so it’s always logistically impossible to get down there.

I need to preface this by saying we have been having a few marital problems - my own doing - and life has been fvkken sh!t but we promised the kids - one of whom is a cats tragic like his dad - that we would go so we did.

Just for a day we were in heaven. Yeah it was ball-freezingly cold and wet but it was an awesome experience, totally unlike any sporting event I’ve been to. The vendors outside the ground, the gift shop, the brass band were absolutely awesome and the game day experience was just brilliant. My boy got given a ball signed by Cam Guthrie afterwards and the smile still hasn’t left his face despite everything going on.

You guys who live down there and get to experience it regularly are bloody lucky. It was something I’ll never forget.

Nice post from the heart ...I guess im like a lot of geelongites... and have the complacency of proximity.. Maybe like Daz living the life in lala land with all the celbs or maybe simpler living next door to Disneyland or Empire State building or something etc.. One persons awe is another routine..perhaps even annoyance ..and maybe you are closer to right than those like me that live within walking the dog distance of the ground.. It is a bit different to the G ..no doubt..

 

[Partridge]

Fantastic story.

Still remember my first time there. Went with my father and grandfather, and how times change - my brother, cousin, and I SAT on the players race. No exaggeration. The Hickey stand was just piles of dirt. Can't recall too much else other than that we won.

But growing up in Ringwood as a kid Geelong home games definitely seemed a long way away. And although the ground is barely recognisable from what it was (I took my Dogs-supporting Uncle earlier this year and he hadn't been there in 50+ years), it still has a character completely unlike other grounds.

 

[you pick one]

I always get a kick out of getting to a home game in Geelong.
Kardinia park has been through some transformations since I first went there and sat in a tree next to the press box and time keeper,but if you squint real hard you can still see the ghost of Bobby Davis streaming down the Moorabool st wing.

 

[Hamingja]

I came over to Melbourne on school holidays, would have been like 8, and Dad drove down to Geelong. They still had the cement terraces at that stage. Snr fell over the fence right on top of us. He ended up bagging a lazy 12 and we smashed Richmond. Happy days.

 

[PhatBoy]

Saturday was definitely the coldest game I've been to this year but footy has always been a winter sport and played outdoors not under a roof shielded from the elements, games like that are what the experience at the footy is all about in terms of being a spectator.

What area were you seated in? I still remember my first game and being seated on the Latrobe Terrace wing, something I'll never forget.

GAS terrace. I felt sorry for the north fans that travelled to watch their team kick a solitary goal..... at the furthest possible end of a field in the entire league

 

[thecatattack]

Stadium gets a lot of shit from opposition fans, but I think it's jealousy out of us having our own stadium as stand-alone tenants and it's such a 1-way fortress to play at.

I've been hundreds of times and it's always a great experience.

 

[Shell]

I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of what was my first game at KP.

Would have been soon after Essendon v Geelong at the MCG 1993 tho- cause i made my mum go to the most of our games for many years after that one.

 

[Sparkle]

Ok bit of a sentimental post.

On saturday my family and I went to our first game at KP. It’s a 10 hour drive from home and I work weekends so it’s always logistically impossible to get down there.

I need to preface this by saying we have been having a few marital problems - my own doing - and life has been fvkken sh!t but we promised the kids - one of whom is a cats tragic like his dad - that we would go so we did.

Just for a day we were in heaven. Yeah it was ball-freezingly cold and wet but it was an awesome experience, totally unlike any sporting event I’ve been to. The vendors outside the ground, the gift shop, the brass band were absolutely awesome and the game day experience was just brilliant. My boy got given a ball signed by Cam Guthrie afterwards and the smile still hasn’t left his face despite everything going on.

You guys who live down there and get to experience it regularly are bloody lucky. It was something I’ll never forget.

Thank you for sharing the story PhatBoy, as someone who goes to Kardinia Park reguarly it's really put into perspective for me how special the experience is

My first game in Geelong was Round 18 2007, against Richmond. I was sitting in the temporary stand between the Hickey and Wade stands, where the big scoreboard now sits. The day is best remembered by Cats fans as the match where Mark Blake kicked his first two goals

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

First KP game was quite a trek for a 7 year old in the early 60's
Caught the train from my grandparents house in Windsor and connected thru to Geelong - seemed to take forever.
Standing just behind the seats on the Wing on a cold , rainy and overcast day meant I couldn't see a thing until some kind older ladies made room for us so we could sit , front row - magic
Played the Bombers and can remember how big the players looked close up , scary for a young tacker. Highlights were Polly and Billy contesting against McKenzie (?) and Birt at boundary throw ins close by us.
Can't remember if we won but do know it started something in me - really miss going to home games , been over here for 20 years now

 

[dazbroncos]

I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of what was my first game at KP.

Would have been soon after Essendon v Geelong at the MCG 1993 tho- cause i made my mum go to the most of our games for many years after that one.

Nice to see you around these parts Shell

GO Catters

 

[Turbocat]

First KP game was quite a trek for a 7 year old in the early 60's
Caught the train from my grandparents house in Windsor and connected thru to Geelong - seemed to take forever.
Standing just behind the seats on the Wing on a cold , rainy and overcast day meant I couldn't see a thing until some kind older ladies made room for us so we could sit , front row - magic
Played the Bombers and can remember how big the players looked close up , scary for a young tacker. Highlights were Polly and Billy contesting against McKenzie (?) and Birt at boundary throw ins close by us.
Can't remember if we won but do know it started something in me - really miss going to home games , been over here for 20 years now

It has changed a lot in the last 20 years... and when they do the s5 at the end of 2020.. it really will be almost a different stadium..

 

[Turbocat]

Fantastic story.

Still remember my first time there. Went with my father and grandfather, and how times change - my brother, cousin, and I SAT on the players race. No exaggeration. The Hickey stand was just piles of dirt. Can't recall too much else other than that we won.

But growing up in Ringwood as a kid Geelong home games definitely seemed a long way away. And although the ground is barely recognisable from what it was (I took my Dogs-supporting Uncle earlier this year and he hadn't been there in 50+ years), it still has a character completely unlike other grounds.

I get this vibe from TV that some of the Briish soccer and cricket grounds have managed to withstand the onset too much change ..and kept a bot of their old flavour... I mean .. the Oval and Lords are not the MCG... It would be a far more diverse and rich experience if all the tradition teams had kept the grounds...

 

[Max Milburn]

What amazes me is that, even with the new stands and facilities, it still feels like the same ground I used to frequent as a feral teen in the early 70s. It's just a bit harder to change ends, which we used to do each quarter to be near Doug Wade.

 

[year of the cat]

It's funny but my first experience at KP was around '76-'77 and my overriding memory was seeing David Manson. He looked enormous to a young 7 year old kid. Can't remember much else other than I'm pretty sure we got beaten.

 

[Shell]

Since I cant remember my first game at KP, here are some random memories of KP:

- lines past the railway overpass down Moorabool street
- having to break your neck bolting to get a seat on those wooden planks in the mid 90s.
- cheersquad chucking up confetti and streamers after a goal
- one and only time we had to stand was v Carlton (199something) and was literally shoulder to shoulder it was that packed
- "GO CATS" spelt out in the seats.
- crowd running out for Gary Ablett's 100th goal which wasnt actually a goal, it was a point.
- dumb cow security guard not allowing me in with about $40 worth of fish and chips, because "no commercially produced food allowed in" so i just call my friend to get a pass out and smuggle it in under her jacket.
- favourite game would have been v Saints, guessing 2009- it was an absolute gorgeous sunny day, The Sunday Footy Show filming outside the ground + a Matthew Scarlett goal.

 

[Down at K Park]

My first game was when gazza kicked his 1000th goal. How bloody lucky was i. I was probably one of the first 10 to get to him after he kicked it.

Still remember the security guard trying to stop me running onto the ground, and me running around him pissing myself laughing. Did he think he was going to stop thousands of people running out there? Not a hope in hell.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Awesome post PhatBoy. Best Ive read in a while. Absolutely Loved it!
I actually like Guthrie now that he signed a ball for your kid. That would've been bloody fantastic for him.
Too young to remember my first game there properly. Just remember there was a massive inflatable Krock Kangaroo out the front Haha

 

[Art Vandelay_]

My first game at Kardinia Park was as a 6yo in my grandfather's seat.
My first experience was by happenstance the last KP appearance of one Gary Ablett Sr.

 

[PhatBoy]

Awesome post PhatBoy. Best Ive read in a while. Absolutely Loved it!
I actually like Guthrie now that he signed a ball for your kid. That would've been bloody fantastic for him.
Too young to remember my first game there properly. Just remember there was a massive inflatable Krock Kangaroo out the front Haha

Thanks heaps mate. It was awesome, he just made a beeline straight for my little bloke and gave him a pat on the head.

I’ll never forget it as a whole experience as long as I live.

 

[David the Cat]

The only thing I remember about (at least one of) my first games at KP was my father putting a box down and lifting me on it so I could see the game...and the fabulous people around making sure "the boy" was able to see....

Different days indeed...





PS: Great post PhatBoy ...your boy will never forget it.

 

[year of the cat]

My first game at Kardinia Park was as a 6yo in my grandfather's seat.
My first experience was by happenstance the last KP appearance of one Gary Ablett Sr.

Watching his career from the start to finish would be, aside from the flags, the single greatest highlight of being a Cats fan for me. He was extraordinary. Not many times you see opposition supporters cheering an opposition player but I recall that distinctly on several occasions happening with GA. Particularly Tigers fans who he tormented for years. His '89 prelim was the best individual game I've ever witnessed by a player. I'm not sure anyone has ever reached the heights he did that day.

Anyway, I digress....

 

[Frappe]

Rd 15 1992 vs Bulldogs

1 vs 2

Cats won by 9pts

The toilets were concrete blocks with a porcelain hole in the middle.

They sold UDLs at the ground.

It may have been cold.

 

[Willo_]

- "GO CATS" spelt out in the seats.

I am still so disappointed they didn't put that back into the new brownlow stand