Around the grounds.

[Fork 'em]

21 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

Also we had to play all our finals that year at crappy Waverly which cost us.

C'mon.
Waverly was the 2nd best ground in the league.

[He de mon]

I went to Windy Hill once, it was the game Steven Clark was kicking for goal after the siren, and the bombers fans ran onto the ground and made sure it wouldn’t go through the sticks. Feral Bombers fans, it was a scary escape.

I went to Princes Park several times. I didn’t mind it except when we had to play home games there. I remember a game versus West Coast and they thrashed us by100 plus points.It was the angriest I have ever been at the footy.

Waverley wouldn’t have been bad if it wasn’t at the a.. end of the world and a mongerel  to get out of the car park, especially in the wet. It had a beautiful playing surface though. 

[4_Kent_Watts]

58 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

C'mon.
Waverly was the 2nd best ground in the league.

I enjoyed Waverley as well. Round Robin tournaments, pre season night games which I could never wait for due to the previous seasons efforts and it was easy to just put a few ice cold ones in the bottom of your bag as security never checked. I even liked going to games when we weren't playing I loved watching Footy live so much. Now I just wanna get to the MCG for live Football again. I'll even take Marvel if it's offered. Not long now.

[tiers]

2 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Also, I left out the great Kevin Joseph Murray MBE is because he’s still with us so he doesn’t yet qualify as a “ghost”.

Even though he is not yet a ghost, his spirit is alive and well at the ground.

[Winners at last]

8 minutes ago, tiers said:

Even though he is not yet a ghost, his spirit is alive and well at the ground.

He was/is a lovely man. I bumped into him in the CBD in 2010 with my son. He insisted on showing him his Brownlow Medal and suggested I take a photo of him wearing the medal. Legend in every sense of the word.

[Neil Crompton]

4 hours ago, Demonstone said:

Darren Holmes I believe.

Lockett didn’t even play - he was out injured.

[leave it to deever]

17 minutes ago, Winners at last said:

He was/is a lovely man. I bumped into him in the CBD in 2010 with my son. He insisted on showing him his Brownlow Medal and suggested I take a photo of him wearing the medal. Legend in every sense of the word.

He looks quite well for his age. You my friend look very tired and that tie isn't doing you any favors.

[leave it to deever]

 It's strange that there was only one replay every week. Imagine no footy on demand. What a horrible world that would be.

[Winners at last]

11 minutes ago, leave it to deever said:

He looks quite well for his age. You my friend look very tired and that tie isn't doing you any favors.

Haha .. the medal is round my son's neck !! 

[tiers]

16 minutes ago, Winners at last said:

Haha .. the medal is round my son's neck !! 

Kevin did that often - my son in law also had the thrill to wear the medal.

And for those too young to remember, Kevin was a champion of champions. He was that good.

[dazzledavey36]

Back in my TAC Cup/VFL days I had the pleasure of playing on ground's like Optus Oval (Princess Park), Whitten Oval and Victoria Park and Waverley. Then there's a couple of current VFL grounds as well like Port Melbourne and Sandringham which are just amazing to play on in terms of surface.

Out of all the grounds my favourite was Princess Park. It's still like a mini stadium compared to the other grounds and the surface is a lot softer compared to Vic Park which I found ground to be quiet hard. 

Wish they brought back Princess Park into the AFL for official games. I like the heritage old school feel about it and its a ground that's still rich in history. You get a decent enough crowd and the atmosphere is pretty exciting. 

[Demonstone]

10 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Princess Park

* Princes Park   (well. some pedant had to say it)

[dazzledavey36]

2 hours ago, Demonstone said:

* Princes Park   (well. some pedant had to say it)

Well there you go.. here I am thinking all this time it was called Princess Park 😅

[leave it to deever]

19 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Well there you go.. here I am thinking all this time it was called Princess Park 😅

#Me Too

[La Dee-vina Comedia]

4 hours ago, Demonstone said:

* Princes Park   (well. some pedant had to say it)

I suspect it might originally have been  Prince's Park (if named after Prince Alfred who visited Melbourne in 1867-1868) or Princes' Park if named after the visit of two members of the Royal family (Prince George and Prince Albert) who visited Melbourne in 1881. 

Update: It's actually named after Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert (not the Prince Albert who visited in 1881) and was originally called "Prince's Park" (according to Wikipedia).

I now fully expect my status to increase from "pedant" to "nerd".

Edited January 18 by La Dee-vina Comedia

[Kozzie4PM]

On 1/16/2022 at 8:59 PM, 4_Kent_Watts said:

I remember there would of been around 10 Melbourne Supporters shoulder to shoulder, across, then going down  from the Hard Yakka signs behind the goals to the fence at the ground. I thought if it kicked off we'd be in real trouble. But at 22 you think you're invincible (my Dad refused to go with me) and by the time we got those 2 last Qtr goals, the Hard Yakka sign nearest to me got pummeled with an open right hand. All respect to any Magpie fan who was there that day from the way I was treated as I don't remember any eyes or verbal coming towards my direction. I remember walking out proud as punch just wishing my Dad had come and my Boss had come to experience one of the best days I'd had at the Footy. I enjoyed all the missions of going to all the Suburban grounds. Geelong is the only ground i haven't got to but would like to. 

I was at this game as a 7yo! I was also behind the goals at the Yarra Falls end. Was a real eye opener! One of my favourite days at the footy. They were closing these grounds just as I started going to the footy so I've only been to Vic Park, Princes Park, Western Oval, Kardinia Park and Waverley if that counts. I loved the old grounds with their rawness and idiosyncrasies. I've watched Melbourne in Hobart and Canberra which are similar in some ways but don't have the same passionate atmosphere because there are so many neutrals. I'd love to watch Melbourne play a Tassie team down there.

[Fork 'em]

18 hours ago, He de mon said:

I went to Windy Hill once, it was the game Steven Clark was kicking for goal after the siren, and the bombers fans ran onto the ground and made sure it wouldn’t go through the sticks. Feral Bombers fans, it was a scary escape.

 

I went to Windy Hill once.
The game Jacko punched on with Rotten Ronnnie Andrews and threw the VB can back into the crowd.
Highly entertaining

[mo64]

18 hours ago, He de mon said:

I went to Windy Hill once, it was the game Steven Clark was kicking for goal after the siren, and the bombers fans ran onto the ground and made sure it wouldn’t go through the sticks. Feral Bombers fans, it was a scary escape.

I went to Princes Park several times. I didn’t mind it except when we had to play home games there. I remember a game versus West Coast and they thrashed us by100 plus points.It was the angriest I have ever been at the footy.

Waverley wouldn’t have been bad if it wasn’t at the a.. end of the world and a mongerel  to get out of the car park, especially in the wet. It had a beautiful playing surface though. 

I remember that game with Steven Clark well. Pretty sure he had that kick for goal to tie the scores. I was up the other end and knew his kick was on line. However I had a flight to Perth that night, so immediately left the ground without knowing whether he kicked it.

I grew up within walking distance of Windy Hill, so aside from the MCG, that was my 2nd most attended ground. I'd go with school mates and we'd meet under the windsock at the scoreboard end. I never felt intimidated cause I knew most of the people around me, but I could understand why opposition supporters hated going there. The crowd was 95% Bombers supporters.

As a young tacker, I would go to either Footscray (Wester Oval) or Hawthorn (Princes Park) games with my 2 oldest brothers. I never found their supporters to be feral.

My 1st experience with feral supporters was on the train home from a Dees game at the G. I was on the Broadie line, and when the train stopped at North Melbourne, feral Richmond supporters and a few North supporters got on. The Richmond supporters directed every expletive under the sun at the North supporters. That was the only time as a youngster that I felt scared that a fight was going to start.

Edited January 18 by mo64

[Fork 'em]

2 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

#Me Too

And me.

[leave it to deever]

7 minutes ago, Fork 'em said:

And me.

Must be the pronouncement over the radio.

[Diamond_Jim]

A few years back (Goody was coach so it wasn't that long ago) I went to watch Frankston V Casey.

It's a beautiful setting and the sausage sizzle at a dollar a snag was fantastic.

The Frankston supporters however (luckily on the other side of the ground from me) were a real throwback to the old days. Have seen glimpses of it at the Port Melbourne ground but otherwise the crowds these days are almost genteel.

[tilly18]

13 minutes ago, mo64 said:

I remember that game with Steven Clark well. Pretty sure he had that kick for goal to tie the scores. I was up the other end and knew his kick was on line. However I had a flight to Perth that night, so immediately left the ground without knowing whether he kicked it.

I grew up within walking distance of Windy Hill, so aside from the MCG, that was my 2nd most attended ground. I'd go with school mates and we'd meet under the windsock at the scoreboard end. I never felt intimidated cause I knew most of the people around me, but I could understand why opposition supporters hated going there. The crowd was 95% Bombers supporters.

As a young tacker, I would go to either Footscray or Hawthorn games with my 2 oldest brothers. I never found their supporters to be feral.

My 1st experience with feral supporters was on the train home from a Dees game at the G. I was on the Broadie line, and when the train stopped at North Melbourne, feral Richmond supporters and a few North supporters got on. The Richmond supporters directed every expletive under the sun at the North supporters. That was the only time as a youngster that I felt scared that a fight was going to start.

I grew up a few suburbs down. Surrounded by cheats fans.

One of my close mates had a full beard in year 12. He would enter the ground via the Brewster street gates with beard, full slab of beer under his arm and a junior membership.

I stood with them all under the main scoreboard for neutral games and agree felt no intimidation because I knew them. But simply a horrible place to attend the football as an opposition fan.

[Demonstone]

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Update: It's actually named after Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert (not the Prince Albert who visited in 1881) and was originally called "Prince's Park"

The adjacent suburb Princes Hill was named after the same bloke.

That's not the only thing Prince Albert lent his name too, of course.

[leave it to deever]

12 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

A few years back (Goody was coach so it wasn't that long ago) I went to watch Frankston V Casey.

It's a beautiful setting and the sausage sizzle at a dollar a snag was fantastic.

The Frankston supporters however (luckily on the other side of the ground from me) were a real throwback to the old days. Have seen glimpses of it at the Port Melbourne ground but otherwise the crowds these days are almost genteel.

This will sound elitist but here goes.

A mate of mine and I used to have a running observation about Frankston being rougher than Dandenong. He had a vet practice in Franger and I used to visit both burbs for Fairfax digital.  We went out for lunch one day in Frankston and on our way saw a bloke at about 11 .45 drinking a udl...sitting in his kids stroller while mom and the kid pushed.

I think it's become a lot more civilized some almost 20 years on but needless to say good old Frankston got the chocolates.

Edited January 18 by leave it to deever

[Demonstone]

1 minute ago, tilly18 said:

He would enter the ground via the Brewster street gates with beard, full slab of beer under his arm and a junior membership.

I remember going to a game at Princes Park as a 16 year old. 

They let me in for the Under 14 concession price then served me cans of beer at the booth in the outer.