Takes me back.....

[Sttew]

Inspired by TheMenz Gallery thread, "This has kept me up all night for 30 years" I thought why don't we have a thread dedicated to a stroll down memory lane for Geelong Football Club. I'll kick it off with this photos from 1979. Three questions. 1) Did they count the people hanging off the fence in the crowd stats? 2) Were any of our "elder" BF posters in amongst the fence hugging crowd; and 3) Does anyone know who the Cats were playing? I do!:

 

[Strange Cat]

 

[FredLeDeux]

Inspired by TheMenz Gallery thread, "This has kept me up all night for 30 years" I thought why don't we have a thread dedicated to a stroll down memory lane for Geelong Football Club. I'll kick it off with this photos from 1979. Three questions. 1) Did they count the people hanging off the fence in the crowd stats? 2) Were any of our "elder" BF posters in amongst the fence hugging crowd; and 3) Does anyone know who the Cats were playing? I do!:

View attachment 948209

V Collingwood, unless that bogan has badly lost his way

 

[you pick one]

V Collingwood, unless that bogan has badly lost his way

Crowd of 30,000 and we flogged um.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

V Collingwood, unless that bogan has badly lost his way

I have only been semi frightened at the football once re crowd capacity- and im pretty sure it was 1981 against Coll at KP - and there was 42000 there

Standing up - City end forward pocket - people squashed in together - barely could move - and if they had the wire fence around the oval ( like that English soccer tragedy ) and they had let in say another 3-4 thousand that day at KP - then you would have had a similar result - because there was literally no where to move - some would have just got trampled

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Inspired by TheMenz Gallery thread, "This has kept me up all night for 30 years" I thought why don't we have a thread dedicated to a stroll down memory lane for Geelong Football Club. I'll kick it off with this photos from 1979. Three questions. 1) Did they count the people hanging off the fence in the crowd stats? 2) Were any of our "elder" BF posters in amongst the fence hugging crowd; and 3) Does anyone know who the Cats were playing? I do!:

View attachment 948209

I reckon that was against Collingwood, I would have been sitting right on the fence down the front of this lot. The is on the Moorabool St wing / hff. I used to sit pretty much in the same spot every home game until I was old enough to start playing footy on Saturdays and pretty much stopped going. If you remember where Ray Card cleaned up Keith Greig, that's where I used to sit with my mum, brother, sister and their friends.

I used to catch the 7:00am Thompson's Rd bus from Princess Rd in Corio, get off at Thomas the Jewellers and walk up the hill and down to the gate. I'd arrive at the gate around 8:00am and they wouldn't open until 10:00. It would be the same people each time and we all got to know each other. I'd have a backpack with some nibbles in it and a thermos of either water or cordial. I would carry a couple of old blankets and an old sleeping bag to roll out on the seats to save them for everyone else. The reserves would start at 11:00 and with only the 3 rows of seats around the boundary, they were at a premium. As the ground started to fill, I would spend and hour or so stopping people from trying to move my blankets and take seats. Mum and the cavalry would arrive at around 12:30 at which time I'd go into the change rooms and watch the players get read for the game and warm up.

Without looking this up, I'd say Geelong won by 9.5. As I said in the other thread, my grade 6 teacher was Mark Browne who played in this game and Monday morning, our class, that had a lot of girls that barracked for Collingwood, copped it all day.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I reckon that was against Collingwood, I would have been sitting right on the fence down the front of this lot. The is on the Moorabool St wing / hff. I used to sit pretty much in the same remember where Ray Card cleaned up Keith Greig, that's where I used to sit with my mum, brother, sister and their friends.

I used to catch the 7:00am Thompson's Rd bus from Princess Rd in Corio, get off at Thomas the Jewellers and walk up the hill and down to the gate. I'd arrive at the gate around 8:00am and they wouldn't open until 10:00. It would be the same people each time and we all got to know each other. I'd have a backpack with some nibbles in it and a thermos of either water or cordial. I would carry a couple of old blankets and an old sleeping bag to roll out on the seats to save them for everyone else. The reserves would start at 11:00 and with only the 3 rows of seats around the boundary, they were at a premium. As the ground started to fill, I would spend and hour or so stopping people from trying to move my blankets and take seats. Mum and the cavalry would arrive at around 12:30 at which time I'd go into the change rooms and watch the players get read for the game and warm up.

Without looking this up, I'd say Geelong won by 9.5. As I said in the other thread, my grade 6 teacher was Mark Browne who played in this game and Monday morning, our class, that had a lot of girls that barracked for Collingwood, copped it all day.

North actually had some supporters back then - hah - because they hooted Card - you could clearly hear it .

 

[TheMenz Gallery]

Too young for this game and not living in Gtown at the time but I remember a very similar experience in about 1988 also against the Pies. The longest I’ve ever had to queue up to get into the footy. I reckon we got there about 1-1:30pm which was pretty normal but didn’t get in until halfway through the first 1/4. We entered via the degrandi gate and you could see them all standing up there. Probably not as many as in the pic though. A couple of highlights from this game can be seen at 17:56 in the below vid.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

North actually had some supporters back then - hah - because they hooted Card - you could clearly hear it .

I've posted on here before that I could actually hear the smack as Swap got him and the crowd rather naughtily chanting, 'take him off'.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I reckon that was against Collingwood, I would have been sitting right on the fence down the front of this lot. The is on the Moorabool St wing / hff. I used to sit pretty much in the same spot every home game until I was old enough to start playing footy on Saturdays and pretty much stopped going. If you remember where Ray Card cleaned up Keith Greig, that's where I used to sit with my mum, brother, sister and their friends.

I used to catch the 7:00am Thompson's Rd bus from Princess Rd in Corio, get off at Thomas the Jewellers and walk up the hill and down to the gate. I'd arrive at the gate around 8:00am and they wouldn't open until 10:00. It would be the same people each time and we all got to know each other. I'd have a backpack with some nibbles in it and a thermos of either water or cordial. I would carry a couple of old blankets and an old sleeping bag to roll out on the seats to save them for everyone else. The reserves would start at 11:00 and with only the 3 rows of seats around the boundary, they were at a premium. As the ground started to fill, I would spend and hour or so stopping people from trying to move my blankets and take seats. Mum and the cavalry would arrive at around 12:30 at which time I'd go into the change rooms and watch the players get read for the game and warm up.

Without looking this up, I'd say Geelong won by 9.5. As I said in the other thread, my grade 6 teacher was Mark Browne who played in this game and Monday morning, our class, that had a lot of girls that barracked for Collingwood, copped it all day.

Haha, just looked it up, we won by 9.7 not 9.5. Close but no cigar.

 

[James1970]

We did wear 'em tight in those days.

 

[Generalissimo]

Haha, just looked it up, we won by 9.7 not 9.5. Close but no cigar.

Pretty sure Browne didn't play that day.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Pretty sure Browne didn't play that day.

Nope, didn't either, I just looked up the match stats. Love the amount of free kicks, people's heads would explode with that many. 6 frees for Shifter and 7 goals for Terry Bright. Feathers a quiet day, only 20 kicks. Peter Johnston as accurate as usual, lol, 8 kicks and 8 marks, that's one thing Johnno could do, take a mark. Father of Ben playing.

 

[you pick one]

Nope, didn't either, I just looked up the match stats. Love the amount of free kicks, people's heads would explode with that many. 6 frees for Shifter and 7 goals for Terry Bright. Feathers a quiet day, only 20 kicks. Peter Johnston as accurate as usual, lol, 8 kicks and 8 marks, that's one thing Johnno could do, take a mark. Father of Ben playing.

View attachment 948629

Quiet day for Featherby 24.

 

[patience]

Loving these board member memories. In the 70s I was only taken to the footy a couple of times for various reasons. I was primary school age. All I can remember is standing near the old timber stands on the La Trobe Terrace side. Couldn't see a thing. Just lots of people yelling.

I enjoyed your story about saving seats Herne Hill Hammer. I went to quite a few matches in the later 80s and would arrive before the reserves to secure seats. Even though it was a decade later I wasn't much taller, so seats up the front were essential.

 

[JohnZ]

people's heads would explode

Goes to show how few get paid now and what it's done to the game. Free kicks open up the game. Pay bloody HTB.

Rant over

Love seeing these old photos of KP. Makes me miss it. Although I'm old enough to remember the old moorabool st stand, I never got the chance to experience it. Always stuck it out up the back of the old reg hickey stand (before it became the doug wade).

edit: Look how far we've come

 

[goyoucatters]

Love seeing these old photos of KP. Makes me miss it. Although I'm old enough to remember the old moorabool st stand, I never got the chance to experience it. Always stuck it out up the back of the old reg hickey stand (before it became the doug wade).

edit: Look how far we've come

View attachment 948782

As a Cat in exile, trips to the ground before even the time of this pic (no Hickey Stand on the eastern flank, when I first went to a game in '99) were truly spiritual experiences. Despite how ordinary (and, in fact, dilapidated) our ground facilities were at the time, I still cherished every moment spent physically present at the ground that I'd watched on TV since my earliest days.

Will never forget sitting in almost exactly the position where this photo was taken from for Round 20, 2004 against the Dockers. Weather couldn't have been more different, though. Must have crawled up to all of 5 degrees Celsius on the day, and the players had to battle wind, rain and the arctic conditions out on the ground. Cats belted the Freo boys all game, and won by 8 goals (which probably would have been 15 in decent conditions).

My Dad and I sat there. shivering and soaked through, and revelled in SJ's ball-handling wizardry and a Scarlo masterclass in defensive domination. Our most inhospitable day at the footy ever, but we loved every single minute of that trip south.

Great memories of a team on the cusp of greatness, and a club on the verge of transforming itself from being something of a regional novelty and anachronism to a veritable AFL powerhouse.

How far have we come? A very, very long way, indeed...

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Will never forget sitting in almost exactly the position where this photo was taken from for Round 20, 2004 against the Dockers. Weather couldn't have been more different, though. Must have crawled up to all of 5 degrees Celsius on the day, and the players had to battle wind, rain and the arctic conditions out on the ground. Cats belted the Freo boys all game, and won by 8 goals (which probably would have been 15 in decent conditions).

Is that the game where Peter Riccardi soccered, yes soccered, a goal from nearly fifty meteres out? Or am I remembering it wrongly?

 

[you pick one]

I miss the smell of 200ltrs of chlorine wafting around in the open piss trough at the back of the river end goal.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I miss the smell of 200ltrs of chlorine wafting around in the open piss trough at the back of the river end goal.

No chlorine for us in the Moorabool Street Outer, just natural ammonia.

 

[jim boy]

2) Were any of our "elder" BF posters in amongst the fence hugging crowd

I was there, on what is now the Ablett Terrace. Primary school kid at the time so I spent most of the match balanced on some poles. Dont remember any of the match though, couldn't see a lot of it

 

[you pick one]

No chlorine for us in the Moorabool Street Outer, just natural ammonia.

Yeah that's what it would have been I guess.

 

[Sttew]

I was there, on what is now the Ablett Terrace. Primary school kid at the time so I spent most of the match balanced on some poles. Dont remember any of the match though, couldn't see a lot of it

Lot of balancing acts back then. I remember standing on steel beer cans to give me extra height

 

[Max Milburn]

Lot of balancing acts back then. I remember standing on steel beer cans to give me extra height

That's what they were invented for. Especially the big ones.

 

[you pick one]

That's what they were invented for. Especially the big ones.

View attachment 949479

That's all they sold at one stage back then the big ones, Carlton Draught or My favourite Fosters Lager,and 2 bob for a can opener to punch a couple of holes in it after a tap or two on the top.