Reading Andrew Bews article in todays Addy. It made me wonder, does it make Brisbane easier or harder to beat mixing with them, knowing them on a personal level. The other thing in the article is the after match attendance post Brun/Mathews, that would have been a real bag of fun.
Time for lies and lager
Thursday, June 23
ANDREW BEWS
THERE was a bit of a return to old traditions following the Brisbane Geelong match last Sunday.
Because of business commitments, I was staying over in Brisbane and caught up with a group of friends who were both Geelong and Brisbane supporters.
We called into one of the old watering holes near the Gabba post-game. An old mate of ours, ``Tuffy'' was playing his usual Sunday post-footy gig. Craig Lambert and a few of the coaching staff from the Lions had come across and he let me know where the boys would be gathering later on.
After careful consideration and looking at the gleam in his eye knowing they had a week off coming, I was thinking to myself ``perhaps I should just go home and recuperate'' as I was still feeling the ill-effects from the Legends match earlier in the week.
After consultation with my ride, the decision to meet up with the Lions boys was agreed upon. The destination was the Regatta Hotel which, incidentally, had been done up into a super flash entertainment/restaurant.
First things first was to get in some soakers, fish of the day was the order and what a feast.
It was then time to go and see who may have turned up. First few blokes I saw out of the corner of my eye were Geelong's James Kelly and Jimmy Bartel with a former mentor Darren Cresswell.
After seeing this, memories started flooding back to me of the times from the good old days when an after-match beer and a sandwich with the foes you played against was expected. You would always meet post-game to debrief with the opposition or extend the lies from past encounters.
There were the times Tommy Hafey would grab a group of us young blokes and suggest you go and shake hands with somebody like a Leigh Matthews or a Michael Tuck, especially if they had given you an absolute hiding. Or to be even more bold go and lock horns with someone like David Parkin.
I remember meeting Parkin on one of these after-match occasions in the bowels of the old Kardinia Park. I was in absolute awe, I was just trying to sneak past and perhaps catch his eye and I was thinking to myself, ``Oh, if he doesn't see me or say anything, who is going to know any different.''
Well, he met me eye to eye, he put out his hand and he said ``G'day Andrew'' and I absolutely melted at the knees. What was I going to say to this bloke who had premierships and a list of diplomas as long as your arm? What was he going to be interested in from me?
Well, as it was we stood there for a good 30 minutes and I walked away feeling very fulfilled that I had actually been able to hold the conversation and the fact that he actually had an interest in what I had to say. More to the point, though, as he spoke I hung off every word like an eager young scholar.
The thing that I can recall from the conversation the most was how encouraging he was towards me and as it was only one of my first games and had been stitched up by Rod Ashman and Jim Buckley he could probably see the embarrassment in my eyes. I figured that this bloke actually knew who I was and could bother to encourage me maybe he figured I might be around for a while so it served to inspire me to work harder and perhaps prove him right.
This is only one of many stories which served after a game to inspire. There were some times the post-match meetings which were very difficult to go to but as a measure of a man it was more important to go than not to.
I recall a very difficult one straight after a game at Optus Oval, one that Geelong had been defeated in and at the same time been embroiled in one of the most controversial events in the history of footy. The Bruns-Matthews incident.
There was a forbidding atmosphere and after the game there was a big melee around our race. We were spat on and had things pelted at us. I remember going back down the race towards the ground and grabbing one of the players who had become involved with a spectator.
I remember sitting in the bus, we were geared to go and I think it was Mick Turner who stood up and said : ``Right, we can either go in or we can go home.''
The decision to go in wasn't really discussed, the boys just got up and followed him in. I remember catching up with one particular player and that was Gary Ayres. Ayres had cleaned me up during that day and it hurt but I figured I was far less worse off than Neville Bruns who had been belted by Leigh Matthews and was on his way to hospital.
It was a short, sharp visit, not a lot was spoken by anyone but I think had we not turned up we would have been labelled as sooks and weak.
So after-matches were a place not just to socialise and gather, they were places of education, schools in more ways than one. A place where the supernatural became human, where the legends were given more meaning.
It was even a place where the umpire became almost human. I remember meeting guys like Neville Nash, Kevin Smith, Pete Cameron, Rowan Sawers and Kevin Andrews who was the first goal umpire to report me and get me weeks.
To take it back to last Sunday, it didn't take long for the two groups to be there in full force. It was great for players like James Kelly, Jimmy Bartel and Tom Lonergan to saddle up with the likes of Justin Leppitsch, Michael Voss and big Browny, have a beer, tell some yarns and talk about all the things they have in common. It's just a shame it doesn't happen more often.
Time for lies and lager
Thursday, June 23
ANDREW BEWS
THERE was a bit of a return to old traditions following the Brisbane Geelong match last Sunday.
Because of business commitments, I was staying over in Brisbane and caught up with a group of friends who were both Geelong and Brisbane supporters.
We called into one of the old watering holes near the Gabba post-game. An old mate of ours, ``Tuffy'' was playing his usual Sunday post-footy gig. Craig Lambert and a few of the coaching staff from the Lions had come across and he let me know where the boys would be gathering later on.
After careful consideration and looking at the gleam in his eye knowing they had a week off coming, I was thinking to myself ``perhaps I should just go home and recuperate'' as I was still feeling the ill-effects from the Legends match earlier in the week.
After consultation with my ride, the decision to meet up with the Lions boys was agreed upon. The destination was the Regatta Hotel which, incidentally, had been done up into a super flash entertainment/restaurant.
First things first was to get in some soakers, fish of the day was the order and what a feast.
It was then time to go and see who may have turned up. First few blokes I saw out of the corner of my eye were Geelong's James Kelly and Jimmy Bartel with a former mentor Darren Cresswell.
After seeing this, memories started flooding back to me of the times from the good old days when an after-match beer and a sandwich with the foes you played against was expected. You would always meet post-game to debrief with the opposition or extend the lies from past encounters.
There were the times Tommy Hafey would grab a group of us young blokes and suggest you go and shake hands with somebody like a Leigh Matthews or a Michael Tuck, especially if they had given you an absolute hiding. Or to be even more bold go and lock horns with someone like David Parkin.
I remember meeting Parkin on one of these after-match occasions in the bowels of the old Kardinia Park. I was in absolute awe, I was just trying to sneak past and perhaps catch his eye and I was thinking to myself, ``Oh, if he doesn't see me or say anything, who is going to know any different.''
Well, he met me eye to eye, he put out his hand and he said ``G'day Andrew'' and I absolutely melted at the knees. What was I going to say to this bloke who had premierships and a list of diplomas as long as your arm? What was he going to be interested in from me?
Well, as it was we stood there for a good 30 minutes and I walked away feeling very fulfilled that I had actually been able to hold the conversation and the fact that he actually had an interest in what I had to say. More to the point, though, as he spoke I hung off every word like an eager young scholar.
The thing that I can recall from the conversation the most was how encouraging he was towards me and as it was only one of my first games and had been stitched up by Rod Ashman and Jim Buckley he could probably see the embarrassment in my eyes. I figured that this bloke actually knew who I was and could bother to encourage me maybe he figured I might be around for a while so it served to inspire me to work harder and perhaps prove him right.
This is only one of many stories which served after a game to inspire. There were some times the post-match meetings which were very difficult to go to but as a measure of a man it was more important to go than not to.
I recall a very difficult one straight after a game at Optus Oval, one that Geelong had been defeated in and at the same time been embroiled in one of the most controversial events in the history of footy. The Bruns-Matthews incident.
There was a forbidding atmosphere and after the game there was a big melee around our race. We were spat on and had things pelted at us. I remember going back down the race towards the ground and grabbing one of the players who had become involved with a spectator.
I remember sitting in the bus, we were geared to go and I think it was Mick Turner who stood up and said : ``Right, we can either go in or we can go home.''
The decision to go in wasn't really discussed, the boys just got up and followed him in. I remember catching up with one particular player and that was Gary Ayres. Ayres had cleaned me up during that day and it hurt but I figured I was far less worse off than Neville Bruns who had been belted by Leigh Matthews and was on his way to hospital.
It was a short, sharp visit, not a lot was spoken by anyone but I think had we not turned up we would have been labelled as sooks and weak.
So after-matches were a place not just to socialise and gather, they were places of education, schools in more ways than one. A place where the supernatural became human, where the legends were given more meaning.
It was even a place where the umpire became almost human. I remember meeting guys like Neville Nash, Kevin Smith, Pete Cameron, Rowan Sawers and Kevin Andrews who was the first goal umpire to report me and get me weeks.
To take it back to last Sunday, it didn't take long for the two groups to be there in full force. It was great for players like James Kelly, Jimmy Bartel and Tom Lonergan to saddle up with the likes of Justin Leppitsch, Michael Voss and big Browny, have a beer, tell some yarns and talk about all the things they have in common. It's just a shame it doesn't happen more often.
