I had a chance encounter with Gary Hardeman a few year back - lovely bloke and happy to chat.

I also met Garry Lyon, but that may not really count as he was only five years old at the time.  (His father Peter coached the local footy team in the regional town where I grew up.)

Bumped into Clayton's Oliver's Mother while waiting around for an interstate game to start in 2018.

If he's anything like his Mum, then I'd imagine Clarry would be a ripping nice bloke.

  On 12/07/2021 at 02:27, demonstone said:

I had a chance encounter with Gary Hardeman a few year back - lovely bloke and happy to chat.

I also met Garry Lyon, but that may not really count as he was only five years old at the time.  (His father Peter coached the local footy team in the regional town where I grew up.)

Are you a Ky boy?

Met Ray Biffin a few times. His father Leo worked for my father. I used to go hang with him at work when I was a little tacker. If you asked Leo I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have thought he was hanging with me. Anyhow.... He used to slip me an old redundant MFC training ball every now and then.

Met the great Ronald Dale at his pub once through a mutual friend. Had a long chat. Told him he was the reason I supported the club watching him on the Happy Hammond show when he did the Western Star footy clinic every Saturday when I was the only person awake in our household. He had a laugh and was delightful. Couldn't believe what his fingers were like. The knuckles were so swollen from being bent back and broken by balls that the knuckles met a long way out from the fingers.

Met Robbie at the old MSD sports store where he worked at the end of 1980 . I went in to buy something and there he was on his own no one else around. We had a long chat. He was quite candid in saying he loved Carl Ditterich as his coach and didn't know why they had replaced him with Barrass. It was before Barrass started. LIke Binman and others he was my idle. No. 2 is still my favourite number. 

I got tennis lessons from Todd Viney for a while at the Junction Oval. Without a doubt the best tennis coach I ever had. He was still playing and it was a bonus to sneak in a few footy questions during lessons. 

I met a bunch of the players at the 2011 B & F. My son was about 12 and playing footy. He was a nightmare at getting to eat vegetables so I went around the room and got a bunch of the players to say into my phone Charlie eat your broccoli if you want to be a great player. Jack Watts was particularly great saying Charlie I hear you're like me a skinny, tall, CHF. Take it from me you gotta munch on that broccoli if you want to become a great player. Liam Jurrah was hysterical. He didn't know what the hell I was talking about but did it anyway with a great grin on his face. Got a few others as well. 

Had a great chat to Aaron Davey with a group of other supporters and he was saying he thought Bailey was trying to get them to execute a game plan they couldn't execute. I believe it was the two way running it's only taken them 10 years to finally master. 

got to work with choc and peter rohde for a year, d rod, matt bishop, and troy chaplin for a couple, and to meet a lot of players along the way, plus the likes neale daniher and a heap of players of his era at club functions etc, and then the likes jack watts, christian petracca, angus brayshaw, dom tyson and others besides as well around the traps

for the most part they're all good people - up for a chat and friendly

  On 12/07/2021 at 02:59, It's Time said:

Met Ray Biffin a few times. His father Leo worked for my father. I used to go hang with him at work when I was a little tacker. If you asked Leo I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have thought he was hanging with me. Anyhow.... He used to slip me an old redundant MFC training ball every now and then.

Met the great Ronald Dale at his pub once through a mutual friend. Had a long chat. Told him he was the reason I supported the club watching him on the Happy Hammond show when he did the Western Star footy clinic every Saturday when I was the only person awake in our household. He had a laugh and was delightful. Couldn't believe what his fingers were like. The knuckles were so swollen from being bent back and broken by balls that the knuckles met a long way out from the fingers.

Met Robbie at the old MSD sports store where he worked at the end of 1980 . I went in to buy something and there he was on his own no one else around. We had a long chat. He was quite candid in saying he loved Carl Ditterich as his coach and didn't know why they had replaced him with Barrass. It was before Barrass started. LIke Binman and others he was my idle. No. 2 is still my favourite number. 

I got tennis lessons from Todd Viney for a while at the Junction Oval. Without a doubt the best tennis coach I ever had. He was still playing and it was a bonus to sneak in a few footy questions during lessons. 

I met a bunch of the players at the 2011 B & F. My son was about 12 and playing footy. He was a nightmare at getting to eat vegetables so I went around the room and got a bunch of the players to say into my phone Charlie eat your broccoli if you want to be a great player. Jack Watts was particularly great saying Charlie I hear you're like me a skinny, tall, CHF. Take it from me you gotta munch on that broccoli if you want to become a great player. Liam Jurrah was hysterical. He didn't know what the hell I was talking about but did it anyway with a great grin on his face. Got a few others as well. 

Had a great chat to Aaron Davey with a group of other supporters and he was saying he thought Bailey was trying to get them to execute a game plan they couldn't execute. I believe it was the two way running it's only taken them 10 years to finally master. 

It might be easier for you to tell us who you HAVEN’T met! ?

  On 12/07/2021 at 02:53, dieter said:

Are you a Ky boy?

No, grew up in Portland where Lyon Snr. coached in 1972 and 73.

  On 12/07/2021 at 03:18, demonstone said:

No, grew up in Portland where Lyon Snr. coached in 1972 and 73.

wasn't that where the great stuart spencer came from? 

David‘s Neitz and Schwarz babysat me in 1994. 

 

  On 12/07/2021 at 03:51, daisycutter said:

wasn't that where the great stuart spencer came from? 

Spot on, dc.  Although Stuie was from Digby (a one-horse town in the Western District) he played his early footy for Portland and won the B & F in 1949.  Portland also produced Melbourne premiership great Clyde Laidlaw.

  On 12/07/2021 at 00:20, Jaded said:

Unfortunately this is not such an uncommon occurrence. A 'friend' (no longer) of mine in high school was going out with a much older footballer who was also married with kids. Another friend had a fling with a Melbourne player, when she was only 17 and he was 25 or 26. He was single, so at least there is that.

This happens all the time, and I dare say it is more frequent now that footballers have social media and so are easily accessible. The only way to get it on with a footballer when I was in high school is to go out to nightclubs where they frequented. Knowing the promoter always helped, because you'd be let in even when you were underage. I knew a few of these promoters, so it was easy to get into clubs when we were 16 and 17, and players absolutely would hit on you and never enquire about your age. 

100% it always happens.

Had a good mate of mine who recently retired last year from a big Melbourne club.

Catch up for our annual Christmas cricket bash and couple of beers couple 3 years ago and he was bragging how he was shagging this 17 year old bird from Melbourne Girls Grammer School. 

Meanwhile he was recently engaged (and now married)

Think of Jake Stringer.

  On 12/07/2021 at 02:27, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Bumped into Clayton's Oliver's Mother while waiting around for an interstate game to start in 2018.

If he's anything like his Mum, then I'd imagine Clarry would be a ripping nice bloke.

Michelle is a really lovely lady. Got to know her when Clarry was doing bushies (Murray Bushrangers)

The sacrifices that lady went through to get Oliver to the position he got to in being drafted is phenomenal. 

Was down in Melbourne for a week of work in early 2020, just before Covid kicked off and finished early one day so legged it out to Stomping Ground Brewery in Collingwood.

Was standing at the bar and realised Neita was next to me. Said hello and told him I was a fan of the Dees and he chatted happily for about five minutes about the Demons and also beer/Brewmanity before he realised the rest of his crew were waiting patiently at their table for their beers. Got a selfie of course...even though I'm too old for that [censored].

What a legend!

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Kumamoto_Ken

  On 12/07/2021 at 03:59, Ethan Trembley said:

David‘s Neitz and Schwarz babysat me in 1994. 

Not sure if you’re serious (?)

But you do know that you as a little kid sitting in the stands alone while your parents went to buy food , with the players out in the middle, probably doesn’t constitute babysitting, right?

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by WalkingCivilWar

  On 12/07/2021 at 04:23, WalkingCivilWar said:

Not sure if you’re serious (?)

ethan was 18 at the time.....he had a very arrested development

  On 12/07/2021 at 04:33, daisycutter said:

ethan was 18 at the time.....he had a very arrested development

I was 10 thank you very much and played them Demon Attack ‘94.

Anyway, I’m off now to go and play with my Ninja Turtles. 

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Ethan Trembley

  On 12/07/2021 at 03:59, Ethan Trembley said:

David‘s Neitz and Schwarz babysat me in 1994. 

Or was it the other way around'

  On 12/07/2021 at 04:09, dazzledavey36 said:

100% it always happens.

Had a good mate of mine who recently retired last year from a big Melbourne club.

Catch up for our annual Christmas cricket bash and couple of beers couple 3 years ago and he was bragging how he was shagging this 17 year old bird from Melbourne Girls Grammer School. 

Meanwhile he was recently engaged (and now married)

Think of Jake Stringer.

Jake Stringer is next level. What he did to his poor partner is disgraceful. I got to know Abby through some content work we did with her at my old job. 
He is a lucky man that she is such a lovely and understanding person. In her position I would have thrown him out with yesterday’s garbage. 

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Jaded

Paul Callery

Carl Ditterich

spoke to Hassa Mann when he was CEO on the phone for about 2 hours

RDB When he had his Hotel in Bridge Road 

Sir Robert Flower

Robbo

David Neitz 

Bernard Vince

Brad Green 

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Sir Why You Little

Went to school from year 7 to 12 with Declan keilty and on the same bus home the whole time. 
also met Cam Bruce at an sfl game in Melbourne when my brother worked for them. 

  On 12/07/2021 at 02:27, demonstone said:

I also met Garry Lyon, but that may not really count as he was only five years old at the time.  (His father Peter coached the local footy team in the regional town where I grew up.)

I met Gary a few times. Well, met is probably not accurate. 

He was the year above me at Melbourne High back in the day.

Old mate gaz waltzed around the school like he owned the joint and was more much more likely to push me down the stairs than say g'day.  

As usual, Uncle Humphrey has a tune to capture the spirit of any conversation.

 

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Colin B. Flaubert
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  On 12/07/2021 at 03:18, demonstone said:

No, grew up in Portland where Lyon Snr. coached in 1972 and 73.

Greatest place on earth.... not enough footballers plucked from obscurity down that way (myself included).

Edited July 12, 20213 yr by Engorged Onion

I have met Glenn Lovett, Robbie Flower and Jim Stynes. Jim was thoughtful and took time to make conversation even though he was not well. That was in the Betty Cuthbert lounge. Glenn Lovett I met when I worked briefly at Monash uni library in Caulfield, he was limping.  The most interesting chat was with Robbie in his sports shop around Glen Waverley somewhere. I asked him why Gerard Healey kept, and he said for the money.

Have meet a lot of the players thanks to pre and post game functions in Perth

RDB was a special moment, he was flirting with my daughter, but Neal Daniher and Dean Bailey where very special people