Universal Love Why the Cats for you?

[Beth]

Murray Witcombe!!

Boom!

I still have his letter somewhere! What a legend.

 

[Username_lost]

I am what most would consider a bandwagon fan due to an attachment forming within the period of success. The excellence of Geelong throughout this period was a major reason behind it, but not the only one. It didn't happen suddenly, and wasn't exactly a conscious process. I think the Rubicon or point of no return was the '08 GF. I was astonished by how much I felt that loss (I realise how terrible this may sound to lifelong supporters).

I barracked for Carlton as a kid (family reasons) and 1995 happened to be the last year I followed them, travelling abroad for the next six years and losing touch with footy altogether. When I returned I had absolutely zero feeling for Carlton, much to the amazement of friends and family. I flirted with the idea of supporting the dogs who had, I suppose, been my second team growing up, but this didn't really work as there wasn't a lot of genuine passion behind it. My best mate at the time of Geelong's ascension (he is on here), who I met in '05, was a huge influence on my eventual "switch". Being semi-teamless, generally content to follow
footy as an impartial or mercenarian observer, I was impressionable to the perspective of an intelligent and ardent fan.

Time will tell, I guess, and I still get ribbed about how long it will take before I jump off. But I don't think I ever will. Cats have won my heart.

 

[dazbroncos]

In 1980 I was 7. ( you can do the math). All my primary school friends were Collingwood types - just wasn't my style.

Rod Blake, John Mossop, Ian Nankervis, Bruce Nankervis, Mick Turner - all much more my style.

I still have to this day my first Geelong footy jumper - 33 - on the back - size 6 kids.

Since then, I have kinda waddled through the 80's till 89.
Bairstow, Stoneham, Hinkley, Couch, Brownless, Bruns, Bews, McGrath, Darcy, Big ol Spiro Malekellis, and of course Gary Ablett Snr.
Seeing #5 do his thing is kinda like watching Phar Lap and Bradman in the 30's for mine.

I was never around to see that but I watch the footage of the day and get tingles but never fully get the experience. Having seen Gary snr in full flight at those games was just magic and not that changing clubs was ever in my mind but that took any chance of it ever happening away.

That one moment in the prelim final in 89 against essendon where he got eh ball, baukled someone and then raced down the wing to the boundary line and 50 m arc intersection and drilled it was just ridiculous.

Been a passion ever since..... but gee the Gf losses and the slide to the bottom of 99 was hard....

Makes the 05 thru present ever the more sweeter...

I think it also biases me to defending the players and club a bit more these days when people foreign or domestic start laying the wood. I remember all too clearly those darker days and just can't help think of the outpouring of joy in 07 and what it meant to so many.

Couple that with 09, 11 and the bright future and my level of gratitude and appreciation can't allow me to stand by and let the whacking continue unabated even if everyone is entitled to there opinion...

Go Catters...

 

[varcoetovardy]

My whole family goes for the Bulldogs bar me and my older brother. He absolutely loved Gary Ablett Snr and I just followed suit. I can't really remember watching Ablett but I'm glad I go for Geelong as opposed to the dogs!

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

More stories from Cats fans here...

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=636143

 

[romeoh]

My father was born in Warracknabeal and lots down that way seem to be Geelong supporters. So no choice and all his 5 children are Cats supporters. Luckily for me I have always found the free flowing attacking brand of football the most attractive, so worked out well. Especially happy when that pleasing football style is joined to resolute tough footy-unbeatable combo. Love our club.

 

[Willo_]

More stories from Cats fans here...

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=636143

I knew there would have been an old thread on this
Just couldn't be arsed searching thru years and years of threads to find it...

 

[powerofthepussie]

My whole family goes for the Bulldogs bar me and my older brother. He absolutely loved Gary Ablett Snr and I just followed suit. I can't really remember watching Ablett but I'm glad I go for Geelong as opposed to the dogs!

are you my sister???

 

[NakedDeadGuy]

Born into a Richmond family in the early 70s. Used to wear my tigers jumper everywhere, wasn't real,y conscious of VFL at all due to lack of tv like today. The local team were the "mud larks", black jumper with a white sash, one of the local opposition was the tigers. As I was aware that I was wearing the colours of the opposition, local club decided to change to a VFL club colours, I guess to make buying jumpers cheaper. Choices they had were Footscray, Melbourne, Geelong or Essendon. They went with the cats, so the cats became my team. So vey happy they didn't go with the demons!

 

[Nankervis brothers]

Was born in the town and into a Geelong family, so it was a done deal. I have a childhood memory of playing kick to kick with Mark Jackson, with a bunch of other young mates, before a training session. (Jackson was a showman and entertainer before he was a footballer, but he seemed to often make a point of getting to training early and having a kick with young local fans). And I recall once watching Gary Ablett and his brother Geoff (during his brief stint at Geelong) pedalling away on exercise bikes at another training session. I doubt local kids would be able to hang around at training now, which is understandable.

Have been in Sydney for 20 years, but kept following the Cats. This was hard to do early on, as there was little to no coverage, and it was before the inter webs, so it was radio, the odd late night replay, convincing publicans to turn the game on, or waiting for the Monday paper to read the results in the back of the sport section (often listed without 'bests' and beside the weekends equestrian and hockey results). Much easier being a Geelong fan in Sydney now, as AFL is more visible. Have always made a point of watching every game they play at the SCG. In a way, the difficulties of supporting the team here has only made me a more loyal and devoted fan.

 

[Nankervis brothers]

I am what most would consider a bandwagon fan due to an attachment forming within the period of success. The excellence of Geelong throughout this period was a major reason behind it, but not the only one. It didn't happen suddenly, and wasn't exactly a conscious process. I think the Rubicon or point of no return was the '08 GF. I was astonished by how much I felt that loss (I realise how terrible this may sound to lifelong supporters).

I barracked for Carlton as a kid (family reasons) and 1995 happened to be the last year I followed them, travelling abroad for the next six years and losing touch with footy altogether. When I returned I had absolutely zero feeling for Carlton, much to the amazement of friends and family. I flirted with the idea of supporting the dogs who had, I suppose, been my second team growing up, but this didn't really work as there wasn't a lot of genuine passion behind it. My best mate at the time of Geelong's ascension (he is on here), who I met in '05, was a huge influence on my eventual "switch". Being semi-teamless, generally content to follow
footy as an impartial or mercenarian observer, I was impressionable to the perspective of an intelligent and ardent fan.

Time will tell, I guess, and I still get ribbed about how long it will take before I jump off. But I don't think I ever will. Cats have won my heart.

I'm a life long Geelong fan, but I like your reasons for coming to Geelong. A great bonus of any great era is winning over new fans. Your one of those new converts. Welcome to the fold, and long may you stay with us. You have made an excellent decision.

 

[SuperCats9]

I didn't really have a choice to be honest, grew up and just started going for the Cats. Dad was a mad Geelong supporter, and got me (along with my 4 brothers) to go for the Cats, fair effort, because i know a lot of big familes where everyone goes for different teams.

I was born in 1993, so at around the age of 4-5 i started to get an understanding of football, so thats when i started following Geelong, around 1997-98.

Love the club to bits, best jumper, best players, everything about this club is perfect.

Will be a Cat for life.

 

[RiggoDiesel44]

Good thread. I've related some of this junk in earlier posts so at the risk of redundancy....

I live in the USA and was channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon on October 1, 2011. I came across Australian Football, something I hadn't seen since the early 80's when a fledgling ESPN put games on to fill programming needs. My friends and I dug it...because it was totally different than American sports (but not boring....like soccer) and we thought the goal umpires were totally cool in those fedoras and lab coats.

So the 2011 GF was the first AFL I'd seen in ~30 years....and I watched it from start to finish! I still have the game on my DVR. Geelong got behind in the 1st half and as a neutral obsever, I wanted Geelong to come back...just to make it a tight, intense game. Well, you know what happened and I ended up gravitating toward the Cats. I thought their players were cooler. Tom Hawkins and Corey Enright stuck out to me (well, duh...) and became my favorite players.

I was lucky enough to make it to Melbourne last November (my dad was speaking at some medical thing and I was there to 'supervise'...he's 75) and there was no way I wasn't going to get to Kardinia Park. Made the drive, got to see the stadium, and buy a couple hundred dollars worth of Cats stuff. Also took the tour of the MCG...stood in the dressing room the Cats used in the GF. An AFL game, preferably the Cats, is #1 on my short list of "stuff to be done."

Hate to be a bandwaggoner, but I can't help who I like. I guess it's kind of like meeting a hot girl and falling for her on the spot.... Go Cats!

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I was was born in Geelong in the late 60s, my dad who was born in Bendigo and was an Essendon supporter, took me to my first game in the early 70s at Windy Hill. It was pelting rain and we stood in the outer with all the feral Essendon supporters. I couldn't work out how Geoff Blethyn could see anything playing with his glasses on.

I started playing little league for the Cats at North Shore in '76 and in '77 played in the Big M little league (it had just changed from the Staminade little league) against the Magpies at Waverley the following year played again against the Blues at Princess Park.

It was around this time that I really started going to all the Geelong games. Saturday morning for home games I would get the 8am Princes Rd bus from Corio into town armed with an old sleeping bag and blanket and my junior Cats membership, I had the Kellogs Junior Supporter membership too. I'd get off the bus at Thomas Jewellers and walk up Moorabool St to the ground. The gates didn't open until 10am so I'd stand in line, usually in the first half dozen to get there. As soon as they opened it would be a sprint to get your seats. There was no Hickey / Wade stand in those days (just like now) just the Brownlow stand, Jack Jennings pavillion and the little past players stand. All the rest of the ground was standing room apart from the three old wooden bench seats that ran around the rest of the ground.

I used to get the same seats every game, between wing and half forward down the city end. Right in front of where Ray Card cleaned up Keith Greig. I would roll out the sleeping bag and put the blanket out to save seats for my mum and her friend and my brother and sister and their friends.(dad worked shift work and didn't like the Cats anyway) It would be a constant battle trying to stop opposition supporters from trying to encroach on this area.

The reserves would start at 11am and I would settle in to watch some footy. About 12:30 - 1:00 everyone would turn up and I would be released from my seat saving duties. I'd take off around to the change rooms. All the doormen knew me and I used to be able to go in and watch the seniors getting ready and doing their warm up. This became easier in later seasons as we were friends with the Goggin family and my grade 6 teacher in '79 played for Geelong. About 20mins before the seniors started I'd take off and head back to the seats, I'd stop off behind the city end goals to do a bit of sliding down the dirt hill on empty pie boxes, next to the old pine tree.

For away games, mum had another friend who used to drive to them all, the West Gate bridge still wasn't built in those days so it used to be a tough drive, particularly out to Waverley and back.

I went to my first final in '78, the elimination final against Carlton at Waverley. We all went up on the train. Train to Spencer St, another one to Flinders St, another one to Glen Waverley and then a bus from there to the ground. When the game was over we couldn't get on a bus to get back, they were too packed. I remember after waiting for 2 or 3 hours having to sit 3 high on someones lap so that we could get back to the train station. By the time we got back to Spencer St all the Geelong trains had finished for the night, the only one left was to Warnambool at 8:30pm and they wouldn't let you on unless you had booked a ticket prior. There were some cranky supporters who just wanted to get home, a couple of my older brother's mates got arrested trying to get on, in the end they could stop us as 100s of supporters rushed the train as it was about to leave. They let us stay on and we eventually got home.

As I got older I finished my little league days and then started playing on Saturdays so going to games ended. I headed to WA in the late 80s for a couple of years, I watched Geelong get pumped in the first final in '89 and drove back from Kalgoorlie in time to go to the first semi against Melbourne and the the prelim against Essendon. We had a big party at a mates place for the GF. I then stayed in Geelong again for another 3 years.

I had a ticket to the '92 GF but was joining the Navy on the Monday following so didn't end up going, I had gotten it for free so gave it to some random supporter who advertised in the Addy. I never knew if she got in because it was the year that they gave out way too many AFL members guest tickets.

I rocked up to join the Navy on the Monday wearing my Geelong grand finalist t-shirt only for a plane load of West Australians to fly in later that arvo all wearing their Premiers t-shirts, grrrrrrrrrrrr.

I moved around a lot for the next decade with the Navy and while still closely following the Cats my passion for the game itself had waned a bit. I used to go home to Geelong ocassionally and was put off by how much AFL was on the tv and radio.

In 2002, Chappy and Jnr playing in the forward line really got the passion going again and I've never looked back. I returned to Geelong to live again with my family in '07 (great timing). I've got photos of myself and my girls with the '07 and '09 Cups (by God it was cold queing up for those photos) I went in '09 with my brother. I left town again in '11 and here I am living in the same town north of Kalgoorlie that I lived in, in '88 and '89.

Thank goodness for Foxtel, BF and Supercoach, I love it. I work 8 days on, 6 days off and this is my w/e off. I watched last night and after getting some work done this morning will settle in for my Super Saturday of footy

There's so many other memories of players, supporters, incidents, staff at the ground that it would probably take pages to fit them all in.

Do any of you older supporters remember games at Kardinia when the cheer squad used to walk around the ground with a blanket stretched out for supporters to throw money into? There'd be silver coins flying through the air as well as half eaten pies, hot jam donuts and shelled peanuts, lol.

 

[Willo_]

Good thread. I've related some of this junk in earlier posts so at the risk of redundancy....

I live in the USA and was channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon on October 1, 2011. I came across Australian Football, something I hadn't seen since the early 80's when a fledgling ESPN put games on to fill programming needs. My friends and I dug it...because it was totally different than American sports (but not boring....like soccer) and we thought the goal umpires were totally cool in those fedoras and lab coats.

So the 2011 GF was the first AFL I'd seen in ~30 years....and I watched it from start to finish! I still have the game on my DVR. Geelong got behind in the 1st half and as a neutral obsever, I wanted Geelong to come back...just to make it a tight, intense game. Well, you know what happened and I ended up gravitating toward the Cats. I thought their players were cooler. Tom Hawkins and Corey Enright stuck out to me (well, duh...) and became my favorite players.

I was lucky enough to make it to Melbourne last November (my dad was speaking at some medical thing and I was there to 'supervise'...he's 75) and there was no way I wasn't going to get to Kardinia Park. Made the drive, got to see the stadium, and buy a couple hundred dollars worth of Cats stuff. Also took the tour of the MCG...stood in the dressing room the Cats used in the GF. An AFL game, preferably the Cats, is #1 on my short list of "stuff to be done."

Hate to be a bandwaggoner, but I can't help who I like. I guess it's kind of like meeting a hot girl and falling for her on the spot.... Go Cats!

Outstanding

 

[David the Cat]

Riggodiesal44.........You star!!!

 

[Strangled Cat]

I was born and bred in the east of the town. As a young lad I used to climb over the fence, risking my testicles in the process, just to watch the Cats.

I was not influenced by any individual player or because they had pretty jumpers or whatever.

If Geelong were removed from the AFL I would never support another AFL team, and would probably watch local GFL footy. That would be painful as my GFL team is St.Albans and they have performed poorly for the last decade.

Depending on how old you are, there's a chance we may have crossed paths before. I was born and bred in the East, with my suburb erroneously called East Geelong when it was in fact 'Thomson', but no body really knew that! I played for the Hawks in the Eastern Colts, and a year for St Albans in the under 15s. Myself and a few of the local kids would kick the footy either at St Albans or in the neighbouring East Geelong primary school or James Harrison College before it was consumed by Gordon TAFE. Those were the days...

 

[RiggoDiesel44]

Riggodiesal44.........You star!!!

Heh....that's one of the things I remember from the Grand Final.....all the signs those wild fans had.....like that lady that had " 3 JIMMY YOU SUPERSTAR 3" (...and he was!). Love those giant pom-poms on sticks (though they're messing with Hawkins' mind on his set shots...ehhhh, probably something else).

Only negative is that BF is my only real outlet for "water cooler talk." Not to many Australians to talk football with...though our university president here (Indiana) is from Melbourne. Wonder who his team is.....

 

[Strangled Cat]

Good thread. I've related some of this junk in earlier posts so at the risk of redundancy....

I live in the USA and was channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon on October 1, 2011. I came across Australian Football, something I hadn't seen since the early 80's when a fledgling ESPN put games on to fill programming needs. My friends and I dug it...because it was totally different than American sports (but not boring....like soccer) and we thought the goal umpires were totally cool in those fedoras and lab coats.

So the 2011 GF was the first AFL I'd seen in ~30 years....and I watched it from start to finish! I still have the game on my DVR. Geelong got behind in the 1st half and as a neutral obsever, I wanted Geelong to come back...just to make it a tight, intense game. Well, you know what happened and I ended up gravitating toward the Cats. I thought their players were cooler. Tom Hawkins and Corey Enright stuck out to me (well, duh...) and became my favorite players.

I was lucky enough to make it to Melbourne last November (my dad was speaking at some medical thing and I was there to 'supervise'...he's 75) and there was no way I wasn't going to get to Kardinia Park. Made the drive, got to see the stadium, and buy a couple hundred dollars worth of Cats stuff. Also took the tour of the MCG...stood in the dressing room the Cats used in the GF. An AFL game, preferably the Cats, is #1 on my short list of "stuff to be done."

Hate to be a bandwaggoner, but I can't help who I like. I guess it's kind of like meeting a hot girl and falling for her on the spot.... Go Cats!

That is awesome dude!

 

[David the Cat]

Heh....that's one of the things I remember from the Grand Final.....all the signs those wild fans had.....like that lady that had " 3 JIMMY YOU SUPERSTAR 3" (...and he was!). Love those giant pom-poms on sticks (though they're messing with Hawkins' mind on his set shots...ehhhh, probably something else).

Only negative is that BF is my only real outlet for "water cooler talk." Not to many Australians to talk football with...though our university president here (Indiana) is from Melbourne. Wonder who his team is.....

Send him a cats scarf. You'll get a pay rise........






or the sack!

 

[CatsBack2Back]

Both sides of my family are Cats fans there was no other option for me. I was born in Geelong but have lived in Melbourne for a long time until recently.
I remember going to a lot of games at KP as a kid in the 80s and 90s going to a couple of losing Grand finals. I copped a lot of shit at school for all those Grand finals but it's only made it sweeter during our recent success.

I guess like a lot of people that grow up in Geelong I have a lot of family and friends that have played for the club. And also a lot of players that I played against or with growing up have played recently.
So happy that we still have our home ground that we can watch our team full of memories and history.

 

[Goose19]

Grew up in Geelong just a couple of blocks from KP. Don't think I ever really had a choice who I supported as Dad made sure I was decked out in Cats gear from a very early age. Used to have my old woollen, long sleeved guernsey with 5 on the back.

Dad started taking me to games when I was 6-7 years old and I was completely hooked from that point forward. I loved those teams of the early-to-mid 90s and am still cut up that guys like Gazza, Couchy, Buddah, Billy, Stoneham, Hinkley, Ricco & Bairstow never got a flag.

Oh well, I guess it makes you appreciate how special the team from the last 5-6 years is and what an amazing run it has been. We are all so lucky to have witnessed it.

 

[Omne666]

Grew up in Werribee, midway between Melbourne and Geelong, and the whole family were Cat followers. My older brother was signed up with Geelong. Made it into the 'reserves' of the day, played with Tom Hawkins father Jack, Mick Turner, Bruns, and the rest of the crowd at that time.

He got injured...broken right thumb I think it was...and that kinda killed it....Geelong didn't wait for him to heal, so he ended up playing in the VFA for Werribee. Never made the seniors. Yet never wavered in his love of the cats.

During Uni days, I teamed up with a number of Cat people at the uni, and we went for a good couple of years the long trek down to KP for every home match. LOL....my female uni friends of the day loved the tight shorts...especially on Malarky, the full back at the time.

Stayed with em for 45 years before I saw the first flag won by the boys here from Singapore, and then watching 2 more flags (I was in Oz for those years) just made it all more worthwhile (I was one when they one the 1963 so I can't exactly remember that one!!).

The family which has expanded a lot since then, is still predominantly Geelong. I'm living in Singapore again these days, and when Geelong games are not on the australianetwork channel, I watch my games streamed live on the computer.

 

[SpRiGgZy]

My dads side is all collingwood so I'm very lucky I didn't get suckered into that clan! My mums parents are blue and white hoops through and through. My mum grew up in moorabin so ended up becoming a saints fan. Aparently from the age I could talk my Grandpa was drilling all the cats talk into me, I guess it stuck because I have been a proud cat for life and will carry on his cats supporting through my family for the rest of my days.
Love reading through peoples stories, we are all very proud fans in here

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Grew up in Werribee, midway between Melbourne and Geelong, and the whole family were Cat followers. My older brother was signed up with Geelong. Made it into the 'reserves' of the day, played with Tom Hawkins father Jack, Mick Turner, Bruns, and the rest of the crowd at that time.

He got injured...broken right thumb I think it was...and that kinda killed it....Geelong didn't wait for him to heal, so he ended up playing in the VFA for Werribee. Never made the seniors. Yet never wavered in his love of the cats.

During Uni days, I teamed up with a number of Cat people at the uni, and we went for a good couple of years the long trek down to KP for every home match. LOL....my female uni friends of the day loved the tight shorts...especially on Malarky, the full back at the time.

Stayed with em for 45 years before I saw the first flag won by the boys here from Singapore, and then watching 2 more flags (I was in Oz for those years) just made it all more worthwhile (I was one when they one the 1963 so I can't exactly remember that one!!).

The family which has expanded a lot since then, is still predominantly Geelong. I'm living in Singapore again these days, and when Geelong games are not on the australianetwork channel, I watch my games streamed live on the computer.

Are we allowed to ask the older brother's name? Or is that giving too much info?