no in 1982 after getting tickets to watch Geelong in the finals in 80 and 81 i switched, so i went seen a lot of lost finals and GFs before i seen a win
Opinion Have We Become THOSE Supporters?
- Thread starter BlakeyNoFlakey
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- #27
If you were 25 and got into footy at 7 in 2004 then you would be arrogant too.
17/19 finals appearances in my time caring about the sport I fell in love with and I doubt I’ll ever see this magnificent club finish bottom four in my lifetime.
If you suffered tough times of finishing no lower than 12th ever why am I supposed to care? At least your generation could buy a house and saw Gary Ablett Sr play
It’s called empathy mate.
I utterly hate the Cronulla sharks in the nrl. My favourite joke when I was drinking with my best mate was to take the plastic wrap off my ciggie packets when he’d give my team (the roosters) s**t and plonk it in front of him and say ‘well there’s ya f*en trophy cabinet c*’
Then in 2016 - same year the dogs broke their drought ironically - the Sharks finally won the comp in their 50th attempt.
I was mildly happy for him - well quite happy for him but fractionally disappointed that the joke no longer worked. Then he sent me a photo of himself and his old man, a Cronulla local who adopted the Sharks as his team when he was 9 years old in their very first season, embracing together on ANX Stadium’s turf after the win. And it made me genuinely happy that this thing he had been so passionate about and so heartbroken by for so long, had finally given him the ultimate vicarious joy.
You can choose to feel however you want about a footy team and how others choose to support them - there’s no rules - but nobody was ever hurt by showing, or being shown, the odd bit of empathy for how they feel.
CatTricks
Norm Smith Medallist
Who honestly gives a s**t what those dipshits think?
- Banned
- #30
I have empathy for that but no empathy for older Geelong fans because they’ve never seen the club fall below 12th in West Coast’s entire existence. Bit different
- Banned
- #32
So you are saying that the cut off point is to show empathy towards Geelong fans who are 55 and above? Fair enough
Mate I’m saying it can’t do you any harm to factor in what other people who have the same passion you do for something have experienced during their time following it.
I haven’t been through a world war but I’m not about to tell a pensioner I don’t care how they feel about being grateful for freedom because I’ve had it all my life
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All aboard I say!
#6 Thorp #7 Selwood LOL
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No.
Kobe Gryant
Professional Quidditch Player
I'd say we're a mixture. There is a degree of pride and arrogance in our club's success, but it's almost always in retaliation to the arrogance of another sides supporter base.
On here, we're very rarely the instigators. You don't often see Geelong supporters popping up on the main board and starting threads on opposing clubs, nor do you see Geelong supporters flooding opposition boards with trolling after that particular club suffers a loss or embarrassing controversy...unlike a certain other supporter base who won't be named.
However, objectively speaking I can see why opposition supporters could perceive us as arrogant when we retaliate, as a lot of (myself included) naturally resort to defending our club and the brilliant success they've been able to achieve. I can totally understand why this could come across as arrogance, but the reality is if we weren't constantly spoken about by opposition clubs there wouldn't be a need to respond, it's a bit of a chicken/egg scenario.
There was a point late in the year where there were 6 Geelong based threads on the main board in the trending section. With that comes trolling, and naturally a response from Geelong supporters with pride in how their footy club operates. The reality is footy clubs are tribal, with massive supporter groups from all walks of life and unique experiences and perspective.
I've seen it first hand in my family. My father is in his mid 50s, and as a result is always a nervous type in regards to Cats games. Always conservative and sees pretty much every game as a 'danger game'. Through the stories he's passed down to me and his own nature, he's managed to rub off on me in some respects...but being in my early 20s I've basically seen nothing but success in my life of following footy, and therefore tend to have a more positive outlook when approaching the support of our footy club. It's a unique dynamic and it allows us to bounce off each other and make sure neither is to positive or negative, which I appreciate.
Overall, I'd say we're pretty similar to most support bases. We have our objective supporters, our arrogant supporters, our scarred supporters, etc, with age playing a significant part in what category you fit into.
On here, we're very rarely the instigators. You don't often see Geelong supporters popping up on the main board and starting threads on opposing clubs, nor do you see Geelong supporters flooding opposition boards with trolling after that particular club suffers a loss or embarrassing controversy...unlike a certain other supporter base who won't be named.
However, objectively speaking I can see why opposition supporters could perceive us as arrogant when we retaliate, as a lot of (myself included) naturally resort to defending our club and the brilliant success they've been able to achieve. I can totally understand why this could come across as arrogance, but the reality is if we weren't constantly spoken about by opposition clubs there wouldn't be a need to respond, it's a bit of a chicken/egg scenario.
There was a point late in the year where there were 6 Geelong based threads on the main board in the trending section. With that comes trolling, and naturally a response from Geelong supporters with pride in how their footy club operates. The reality is footy clubs are tribal, with massive supporter groups from all walks of life and unique experiences and perspective.
I've seen it first hand in my family. My father is in his mid 50s, and as a result is always a nervous type in regards to Cats games. Always conservative and sees pretty much every game as a 'danger game'. Through the stories he's passed down to me and his own nature, he's managed to rub off on me in some respects...but being in my early 20s I've basically seen nothing but success in my life of following footy, and therefore tend to have a more positive outlook when approaching the support of our footy club. It's a unique dynamic and it allows us to bounce off each other and make sure neither is to positive or negative, which I appreciate.
Overall, I'd say we're pretty similar to most support bases. We have our objective supporters, our arrogant supporters, our scarred supporters, etc, with age playing a significant part in what category you fit into.
Kobe Gryant
Professional Quidditch Player
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- #38
I quite enjoy my annual subscription of Geelong finishing top 8We're both probably the case studies on here aren't we
Jhye Clark 13
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Vdubs your Dad?
BlakeyNoFlakey
Brownlow Medallist
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- #40
I don't know how this got turned into a generational dispute. We older cats fans may remember the lean times and lived through the heartbreaking near misses of 89-95, but the club winning 4 premierships since 2007 was very healing. Knowing how much the club once struggled makes you appreciate the success more.
We don’t have skulls on our logos yet
No.
So... what you are really asking is .... are we the baddies?
Its like that sketch with the two german guys question if they are the baddies? Why do we have skulls on our caps.
Geelong. We have a furry cat as our emblem.
Of course to some degree..of course. To some degree no where near it. The longer we are successful, the younger supporters will grow up in an atmosphere of deprived pain and ignorance. I feel thee is still plenty of supporters that remember the pre07 vibe and the pain of that. Feeling like a donkey with a carrot dangled in front it.
Generally our crowds are accused of being too passive. The scone and cup of tea group. I feel it takes poor treatment to us to rouse them and then the can respond with venom. The way Collingwood stung us with their Collll-iiinnngwooodddd chant in 2010 ... and then in 11. us giving back to some degree. I think generally we try to treat others well IF you treat us well.
Not all are like that. I think you can spot good and bad , and can see bad when you see it.
I agree with this. Pies supporters have had their burrs chamfers with enough pain to keep them tolerant...but also to keep their emotions strong. Melb and the Carlton... allowed a smugness to invade , a atmosphere of self entitlement so embodied with the rubbery figure of John Elliot. I can remember talking with a particularly annoying Carlton support in the 80's. I said dont you ever want to hold back because of the reribution that will be coming your way when you lose. His attitude was ..when will that be ... and if they did it would only be a momentary situation before he could go back to giving to supporters of crap clubs that really were only good for one thing ... existing to be a beaten opponent.
Its why I think haw has the prime position in this discussion. Go back to 1971 ... I think Haw and Stkilda... one flag each play off for a second flag. Talk about sliding doors. They have been the most successful side in my life time and their supports generally have known it and let geelong supporters know it. Im still not quite sure why there is this underlying dislike of us ..as mainly they have treated us like the town bike in big games. If I could have change one thing in our era of 07-11 ... id have won 08 and lost 09.
Its like that sketch with the two german guys question if they are the baddies? Why do we have skulls on our caps.
Geelong. We have a furry cat as our emblem.
Of course to some degree..of course. To some degree no where near it. The longer we are successful, the younger supporters will grow up in an atmosphere of deprived pain and ignorance. I feel thee is still plenty of supporters that remember the pre07 vibe and the pain of that. Feeling like a donkey with a carrot dangled in front it.
Generally our crowds are accused of being too passive. The scone and cup of tea group. I feel it takes poor treatment to us to rouse them and then the can respond with venom. The way Collingwood stung us with their Collll-iiinnngwooodddd chant in 2010 ... and then in 11. us giving back to some degree. I think generally we try to treat others well IF you treat us well.
Not all are like that. I think you can spot good and bad , and can see bad when you see it.
I agree with this. Pies supporters have had their burrs chamfers with enough pain to keep them tolerant...but also to keep their emotions strong. Melb and the Carlton... allowed a smugness to invade , a atmosphere of self entitlement so embodied with the rubbery figure of John Elliot. I can remember talking with a particularly annoying Carlton support in the 80's. I said dont you ever want to hold back because of the reribution that will be coming your way when you lose. His attitude was ..when will that be ... and if they did it would only be a momentary situation before he could go back to giving to supporters of crap clubs that really were only good for one thing ... existing to be a beaten opponent.
Its why I think haw has the prime position in this discussion. Go back to 1971 ... I think Haw and Stkilda... one flag each play off for a second flag. Talk about sliding doors. They have been the most successful side in my life time and their supports generally have known it and let geelong supporters know it. Im still not quite sure why there is this underlying dislike of us ..as mainly they have treated us like the town bike in big games. If I could have change one thing in our era of 07-11 ... id have won 08 and lost 09.
BlakeyNoFlakey
Brownlow Medallist
- Thread starter
- #43
The intent of my post wasn't to say Geelong is now the baddies, or as supporters, we've become the type of supporters we hate in other clubs. I still think, for the most part, Cat's fans are good people.
Yes, I remember when it was almost impossible to get a player to agree to come to Geelong because no-one wanted to live there. Getting Ottens was a major coup. Before that, we tried to many big names but missed out on all of them.
And our record at KP before 2007 was far from what it is now. We went through periods when we could hardly win there.
Pivo
Brownlow Medallist
I kinda feel like we have become a bit more smug as the years have rolled on and the double GF/Trade win this year has emboldened us further.
But I also feel it is due to the amount of sh!t we have copped over the journey so, maybe, the Geelong supporter base has decided to just embrace it and start giving it back. I like to think we were pretty gracious in the main at the start of the run.
At some point we'll drop off and cop it even more so why not enjoy our time in the sun? It has been earned I reckon.
And remember,
But I also feel it is due to the amount of sh!t we have copped over the journey so, maybe, the Geelong supporter base has decided to just embrace it and start giving it back. I like to think we were pretty gracious in the main at the start of the run.
At some point we'll drop off and cop it even more so why not enjoy our time in the sun? It has been earned I reckon.
And remember,
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- Sep 19, 2017
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RIP Michael K WilliamsI kinda feel like we have become a bit more smug as the years have rolled on and the double GF/Trade win this year has emboldened us further.
But I also feel it is due to the amount of sh!t we have copped over the journey so, maybe, the Geelong supporter base has decided to just embrace it and start giving it back. I like to think we were pretty gracious in the main at the start of the run.
At some point we'll drop off and cop it even more so why not enjoy our time in the sun? It's been earned I reckon.
And remember,
Reminds me I have to rewatch The Wire(in between GF replays
)One with previously unavailable subtitles and the other with alternate commentary !
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I suspect we would have, had it not been for the culmination of that massive shitstorm the week before.
The idea that Geelong supporters are intrinsically better/smarter/less feral has always rubbed me the wrong way a little. Any visit to the Geelong Supporters Facebook Page should assure you that there's plenty of entitled nuff here.
I’d like to think that my outward projection to others hasn’t changed much over the years.
Outwardly I like to project our Clubs philosophy of being humble in victory and gracious in defeat.
Inwardly it’s an emotional roller coaster of emotions at times - footy gets into your blood and affects you that way.
I’ve been around long enough to go through the whole gamut and wouldn’t change being a Cats supporter for anything.
Every GF victory has something special but this one with Joel and his selflessness and vindication for Scott has been exceptional.
We Cats fans can just sit back and luxuriate in how we defied the conventional wisdom in 2022.
Outwardly I like to project our Clubs philosophy of being humble in victory and gracious in defeat.
Inwardly it’s an emotional roller coaster of emotions at times - footy gets into your blood and affects you that way.
I’ve been around long enough to go through the whole gamut and wouldn’t change being a Cats supporter for anything.
Every GF victory has something special but this one with Joel and his selflessness and vindication for Scott has been exceptional.
We Cats fans can just sit back and luxuriate in how we defied the conventional wisdom in 2022.
