Letter in the Herald-Sun today

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by Wardy
I mean who calls themselves Clifford?

[BayesysLeftBoot]

Originally posted by Wardy
he was probably a bit miffed that his exhibition on Saturday afternoon of Antique teaspoons from New Zealand in "Potts Pt Darling" was interupted by the Grand final

lmao

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Sanecow

Cow?

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by cruiser
Cow?

Mr C. Hammond.

[Wardy]

Yeah but he at least calls himself Cliff!!!! I didnt mean it the way you thought - for god sake my name is Alexandra - and I can tell you its more trouble than its worth!

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by Wardy
Yeah but he at least calls himself Cliff!!!! I didnt mean it the way you thought - for god sake my name is Alexandra - and I can tell you its more trouble than its worth!

http://www.sportimport.de/bmx/PRODUCTS/813801346.jpg

[Charlie]

Originally posted by Sanecow
http://www.sportimport.de/bmx/PRODUCTS/813801346.jpg

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Agent 86
Herald Sun should know better than to print such drivel.

Should they? I'm not so sure after this stupid, annoying, totally incorrect article writen by a complete moron, which appeared in the Herald Sun on Monday:

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,16717254%255E19773,00.html

This crap really pisses me off because it is so untrue. Huge numbers of Sydney people made a big effort to get tickets then get down to Melbourne for the game. Flights between Sydney and Melbourne that weekend were filled with red and white.

The author (Grant Payne) is so petty that he tries to make an issue about the fact that there were people on Bondi Beach before the game started! Why wouldnt there be on a warm spring day, especially given the number of international tourists in Sydney on any given day. We know why there wouldnt have been anyone on a beach in Melbourne that day - it was too bloody cold! Fact is almost all of the red and white around Sydney that day was for the Swans not St George. According to mates who remained in Sydney that day and watched the game on TV, pubs and clubs everywhere were filled with people watching the game. When the final siren sounded, my non-football loving friends said they could hear yelling and screaming coming from houses and pubs all around them - that told them that Sydney had won.

Grrrr. And my last gripe is about the tipster in Inside Football who tipped South Melbourne to win rather than Sydney. As I have said elsewhere, I have no problem with acknowledging Sydney's SMFC past, it is something that I am proud of, and I have no problem with unofficially calling the team "The Bloods", but for a so called expert to tip 'South Melbourne' to win is just puerile behaviour.

(cruiser steps down from soapbox, recalls the joy of Saturday and )

[Wardy]

Grant who?????

[THERBS]

Cruiser I understand your annoyance. What I believe is that Grant Payne wanted to reinforce the stereotype that no-one in Sydney really understands Aussie Rules. That's his call. When you go out with the idea of reinforcing stereotypes it isn't a hard thing to do. A simple job which he achieved. As would have thousands of other scribblers.

As far as the Bloods/Swans dichotomy is concerned its a no-brainer to me. I jumped aboard during the Edelsten era (Capper!) and haven't looked back. In the late '80s I went to my first away games in Melbourne, one of which was at Western Oval on a dismally wet Saturday. I had my Sydney gear on and at first it didn't go down well with the old SM fans. I then started talking about Terry Thripp and how he played for the team where I grew up (Pennant Hills). They became interested in the stories of Ern Holmes Oval and despite Footscray's crap weather gradually warmed to having a Sydney fan in amongst them. That was the day I learned how to properly yell out 'Carn the Bloods!'
and curse the Western Oval. I just love the fact I can still yell 'Bloods' as well as do the Sydney chant. And its even more delicious now that we have the flag.

[Whitefox]

Originally posted by THERBS
In the late '80s I went to my first away games in Melbourne, one of which was at Western Oval on a dismally wet Saturday. I had my Sydney gear on and at first it didn't go down well with the old SM fans.

So they would rather have not had a team?

[cruiser]

Originally posted by THERBS
I just love the fact I can still yell 'Bloods' as well as do the Sydney chant. And its even more delicious now that we have the flag.

Yeah

[hammo]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
As I said before, the club does not want to alienate its Sydney supporter base and has to manage this problem carefully. I support its objective of having as many Melbourne based members/supporters as possible but if it wants to secure itself in the Sydney market, and secure its Sydney membership numbers, it cannot be seen to have its 'heart' in South Melb. People will jump off if they think they are on somebody else's bandwagon. The 2 cities message looks great on a banner but could prove a political nightmare for the club.

I agree 100%

Unfortunately the location of the grand final - Melbourne - and the huge support down there has exacerbated the perception that there is a divide.

It was 24 hours before the team got back to Sydney and in the aftermath of the grand final the media was in a frenzy about the level of support in Melbourne, Punt Road, Albert Park etc.

Of course this all ignored the fact that thousands of fans from Sydney were in Melbourne for the game.

We are lucky we have Roos as the spokesman for the club as he clearly understands the importance of maintaining perspective and balance when referring to the club's home and old home. His acceptance speech and all the interviews since have been pure class and the doubters should actually listen to what he is saying.

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by THERBS
In the late '80s I went to my first away games in Melbourne, one of which was at Western Oval on a dismally wet Saturday. I had my Sydney gear on and at first it didn't go down well with the old SM fans. I then started talking about Terry Thripp and how he played for the team where I grew up (Pennant Hills). They became interested in the stories of Ern Holmes Oval and despite Footscray's crap weather gradually warmed to having a Sydney fan in amongst them. That was the day I learned how to properly yell out 'Carn the Bloods!'
and curse the Western Oval. I just love the fact I can still yell 'Bloods' as well as do the Sydney chant. And its even more delicious now that we have the flag.

Nice story, Therbs, was that the tie? I think I went to that game. Losing all day, and suddenly Jason Love puts us in front with about 5 mins to go.

Rod 'Super' McPherson kicks a point from about 50m to the Barkly St end to tie it up with about a minute to go.

Might have been early 90's come to think of it. Hands stuck to the ice-cold VB cans. Surrounded by ferals. My gf at the time was a nominal Bulldogs fan (not impressed by the weather) as were my mates there. Might have been 5.9 apiece or something.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[Mark]

Originally posted by Doctor J.
This team is Sydney's team, they are the Sydney Swans. The history and origins are important, but should not blind our vision of the future.

As a member who can remember and was around at the time of the move, if they didn't go, we had no team, its as simple as that.

Top post DRJ, what a ball of a day eh

Its amazing how those who were not actually around at the time seem to have the loudest voices about these things !