Opinion Saints' rivalries and views of other supporters

[MUFKilda]

How bad did things get for the Saints in the 1980s and what were the reasons? I've seen a number of references to some very bleak times.

 

[sverik25]

How bad did things get for the Saints in the 1980s and what were the reasons? I've seen a number of references to some very bleak times.

I wasn't even born in the 80s, so everything I've learnt has been from reading and hearing people talk about it.

What I do know is that on-field we were terrible for most of the 70s and 80s. In 1983-86 we "won" four consecutive wooden spoons and didn't make finals at all between 1974 and 1990. Most weeks we were barely competitive, especially away from Moorabbin. We were renowned for watering the ground at Moorabbin to turn it into a mud-pit to bring other teams down to our skill level. If you want to get a feel for the results of the time, afltables.com is a great place to look.

The off-field stuff I know less about, but basically as a result of being so poor for so long we were pretty cash strapped and back in those days there was no salary cap so we couldn't really compete with the biggest clubs for the best players. Even the players we did have often weren't paid properly. I remember reading that some players had to accept 22c (?) in the dollar for match payments because of the club's dire financial situation, and still haven't been repaid. In terms of off-field governance, we weren't well managed or stable and this probably had something to do with the coaching merry-go-round after Allan Jeans left in 1976. We had seven coaches from 1977-89. St Kilda also had a reputation as a bit of a party club and questions over the professionalism of players.

Hope I've done a decent job. People who were actually around back then please feel free to correct me and add.

 

[sunny3193]

How bad did things get for the Saints in the 1980s and what were the reasons? I've seen a number of references to some very bleak times.

Very.

 

[Hepp86]

Growing up in the 90s it was always the hawks in thr Waverley derby haha.

Geelong since the early 00s though....i could never hate another team like i hate them...supporters disgustingly arrogant

 

[sunny3193]

I wasn't even born in the 80s, so everything I've learnt has been from reading and hearing people talk about it.

What I do know is that on-field we were terrible for most of the 70s and 80s. In 1983-86 we "won" four consecutive wooden spoons and didn't make finals at all between 1974 and 1990. Most weeks we were barely competitive, especially away from Moorabbin. We were renowned for watering the ground at Moorabbin to turn it into a mud-pit to bring other teams down to our skill level. If you want to get a feel for the results of the time, afltables.com is a great place to look.

The off-field stuff I know less about, but basically as a result of being so poor for so long we were pretty cash strapped and back in those days there was no salary cap so we couldn't really compete with the biggest clubs for the best players. Even the players we did have often weren't paid properly. I remember reading that some players had to accept 22c (?) in the dollar for match payments because of the club's dire financial situation, and still haven't been repaid. In terms of off-field governance, we weren't well managed or stable and this probably had something to do with the coaching merry-go-round after Allan Jeans left in 1976. We had seven coaches from 1977-89. St Kilda also had a reputation as a bit of a party club and questions over the professionalism of players.

Hope I've done a decent job. People who were actually around back then please feel free to correct me and add.

You should get a gig as club historian.
Accurate summation of an unpleasant period.
We were really, really bad.

As a result, anyone who supported us through that period is made of stern stuff.

Or crazy.

 

[Verdun66]

You should get a gig as club historian.
Accurate summation of an unpleasant period.
We were really, really bad.

As a result, anyone who supported us through that period is made of stern stuff.

Or crazy.

Was a heartbreaking time. That’s why our recent rebuild and the one wooden spoon wasn’t really that bad. To be a Saints fan in the 80’s was hard yakka. Especially when your mates were Carlton and Essendon supporters. Didn’t know any Hawthorn ones.

 

[St Kilda Death]

How bad did things get for the Saints in the 1980s and what were the reasons? I've seen a number of references to some very bleak times.

Im too young to remember.
When i try to ask my dad what happened he yells gibberish then goes sits in the shed in the dark and drinks himself to sleep.

 

[Mowman]

Im too young to remember.
When i try to ask my dad what happened he yells gibberish then goes sits in the shed in the dark and drinks himself to sleep.

Thats very good lol

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Im too young to remember.
When i try to ask my dad what happened he yells gibberish then goes sits in the shed in the dark and drinks himself to sleep.

Funny how things change. I started caring about footy in 2003. We've had arguably our most successful run in that time (in terms of win/loss). Sure 13/14/15 sucked but we had things to look forward to and it certainly wasn't anything like the Dees or Carlton have had to put up with in the past two decades. Or what Saints fans had to put up with in the 80s.

Here's hoping we never have to go through another period like that again.

 

[gringo2011]

Im too young to remember.
When i try to ask my dad what happened he yells gibberish then goes sits in the shed in the dark and drinks himself to sleep.

I was a little kid in the 80s and was following Carlton because we lived there but my grand father got me to switch. I didn't quite realise what I got myself into. I was at school where there were Carlton supporters and Essendon supporters anything outside of them and you might as well have been an alien. St Kilda was a joke and a put down and I remember crying about how s**t we were after kids reminded me of it. I'm pretty sure it was character building or something.

Until Lockett came along and we had something to actually cheer about footy was more torture than fun. The Kenny Sheldon era was the first time I'd actually had pride in my club and kids were talking about how many goals Plugger had kicked every Monday and we were seeing finals which were something you didn't even dream about.

 

[MUFKilda]

I wasn't even born in the 80s, so everything I've learnt has been from reading and hearing people talk about it.

What I do know is that on-field we were terrible for most of the 70s and 80s. In 1983-86 we "won" four consecutive wooden spoons and didn't make finals at all between 1974 and 1990. Most weeks we were barely competitive, especially away from Moorabbin. We were renowned for watering the ground at Moorabbin to turn it into a mud-pit to bring other teams down to our skill level. If you want to get a feel for the results of the time, afltables.com is a great place to look.

The off-field stuff I know less about, but basically as a result of being so poor for so long we were pretty cash strapped and back in those days there was no salary cap so we couldn't really compete with the biggest clubs for the best players. Even the players we did have often weren't paid properly. I remember reading that some players had to accept 22c (?) in the dollar for match payments because of the club's dire financial situation, and still haven't been repaid. In terms of off-field governance, we weren't well managed or stable and this probably had something to do with the coaching merry-go-round after Allan Jeans left in 1976. We had seven coaches from 1977-89. St Kilda also had a reputation as a bit of a party club and questions over the professionalism of players.

Hope I've done a decent job. People who were actually around back then please feel free to correct me and add.

Excellent reply, mate, and thanks for the info. To be fair, four consecutive wooden spoons and being flat broke is bleak; really bleak. As mentioned by sunny, those who turned up every week during those times were diehards; they deserve a bravery medal. That must have been torture for the supporters. But as least the club survived and it didn't become a South Melbourne/Fitzroy situation. Where there's life there's hope, and Saints got very close to winning the big one on a couple of occasions since. It still mightn't be the easiest path, but you have a professionally run outfit. I will take a look at afltables.com, though it might be a tad painful

 

[saint66au]

The 80s and mid-late 70's were one of the reasons we cant get much past 40,000 members.

Surely the only kids who jumped on us in that 18 years were cos of family.

Hawks/Ess on the other hand....

 

[gringo2011]

The 80s and mid-late 70's were one of the reasons we cant get much past 40,000 members.

Surely the only kids who jumped on us in that 18 years were cos of family.

Hawks/Ess on the other hand....

Yep all my Hawks mates are 80s kids who jumped on then. None of them were family history flowing through.

 

[Saint Watto]

I wasn't even born in the 80s, so everything I've learnt has been from reading and hearing people talk about it.

You pretty well nailed it there sverik25.......as someone who went thru those 80's on a weekly basis....especially the first half of that decade....they were very tough times indeed.

That's why I appreciated every win we had during the 2003-2012 period.....that run was the clubs most successful period in our history for home and way games and finals.....excluding the big ones of course.

In fact......believe it or not...we have an AFL record in that we won/drew more games than we lost for 10 years in a row.....an eye popping stat.

I used to go in those 80's just to watch Plugger in action....some of those years we'd win 2 maybe 3 games a season.......most of my group had stopped going in those early 80's.

I was lucky I jumped on in the early 70's....saw plenty of home and away wins and finals every year.

The lights went out in 1974 for the next 18 years.........Ken Sheldon had the Saints in rebirth mode............he didn't last long then Stan Alves came in.

Unfortunately none of the "rebirths" were sustainable.

I might have my Saints sunnies on but I'm optimistic going forward.

 

[borderbarry]

Before Moorabbin the Lakeside Premiership was a big deal. Then with Sydney stealing Plugger and Hall and even our Irish recruit, they did not endear themselves to Saint supporters.

 

[borderbarry]

Having been reared in an area where 60% of the people supported Collingwood and the rest Carlton and Essendon with a smattering of Fitzroy and Richmond, I naturally hated all those teams, probab ly not Fitzroy though.
After beating Collingwood in a Grand Final, that hatred wained, replaced now by Fremantle, Adelaide, Port, and Sydney.

 

[SaintOfLondon]

For me it's

1. Essendon

Light years





2. Melbourne
3. Geelong

 

[underthestars]

Only one club tried to literally kill us off, and that's Carlton. They deserve our contempt. Essendon another, and lie Carlton arrogant and deceitful enough to cheat the salary cap, and on top of that, instigate the worst doping program in club sports in australia - and refuse to take the blame.
As for the 70s and 80s - i began supporting us in rnd 1 79. A great start in defeating the premiers - rather lean times after that. But it makes you appreciate the little things and enjoy footy for what it is. And of course I had the port adelaide magpies to sate my thirst for celebration as a fan. would have been much harder had i lived in melbourne and had to force myself along to every other game.

 

[Sainter93]

Essendon by fair way but I can see Melbourne closing that gap over the next few years.


The fact that their players thought they were top s**t after beating us for the first time in 11 years..

Berating our players because we were going to miss September.. only for them to miss out themselves lol. Their cheese platter fans aren't much better .

I now remember why I didn't care about them being a basket case for so long