Thanks for that. My sister and I were there. The most embarrassing and disappointing football day ever. But don't worry, we followed it up with another in Round 2 of 2013.

wow we have come a long way...

Almost threw up when I opened the thread

Until then 186 connoted the cc capacity of a Holden engine. After that 186 took on a very different meaning for me.

Eerie memories of a previous “Day of Infamy” for our great club, 28 July 1979 out at Waverley against Fitzroy where we conceded 238 points and lost by 190. What is it about the last week of July for us? 

7 minutes ago, Tim said:

Until then 186 connoted the cc capacity of a Holden engine. After that 186 took on a very different meaning for me.

Eerie memories of a previous “Day of Infamy” for our great club, 28 July 1979 out at Waverley against Fitzroy where we conceded 238 points and lost by 190. What is it about the last week of July for us? 

I was at Waverley for that one...the 1988 GF is another.

Many other disappointing games through the late 60's, 70's & 80's.

 

I've got this date marked in my calendar so I get a reminder every year, it's good for perspective.

If you told me we would win a flag in 2021 back then, or the 5 years after, I wouldn't have believed you.

We've come a long way as a club, which is great, but it's also good to look at how the competition has changed.

The Geelong and Hawthorn teams from that era were ridiculously good, so much better than the rest.  Look at the competition now - incredibly even.  I'm not sure if we'll see those dominant eras again.

The competition is so much more professional now, although the AFL does seem to be resisting with its fixturing, management of match umpiring etc. 

 

Sharemarket today is red today as well, I thought there was a reason.

I was so close to going to this one but for a 1st birthday party I felt obliged to attend.

Massive Bullet dodged.

 

 

10 years and 2 days later it was the start of our 7 game run to winning the 2021 flag.

Yep that's the day 

Makes you appreciate the flag even more when you revisit infamous defeats like this.

We were surprisingly accurate

The morning after our 2021 prelim win I was on my lockdown (5km radius) walk and came across another Dees supporter, a rarity in our suburb. We talked excitedly about the forthcoming grannie and all things Demons.

Then he took his shirt off to reveal a full Demons back-tattoo, literally covering every square inch of his back. It was a little faded but absolutely spectacular.

He told me he sat through 186, right ‘til the very end, then went straight to get the tattoo done. He said he thought to himself “If that match doesn’t make me give up on Melbourne, NOTHING will.”  ❤️💙

16 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

The morning after our 2021 prelim win I was on my lockdown (5km radius) walk and came across another Dees supporter, a rarity in our suburb. We talked excitedly about the forthcoming grannie and all things Demons.

Then he took his shirt off to reveal a full Demons back-tattoo, literally covering every square inch of his back. It was a little faded but absolutely spectacular.

He told me he sat through 186, right ‘til the very end, then went straight to get the tattoo done. He said he thought to himself “If that match doesn’t make me give up on Melbourne, NOTHING will.”  ❤️💙

What a f'n legend!

6 hours ago, Demonland said:

8 hours ago, Demonland said:

10 years and 2 days later it was the start of our 7 game run to winning the 2021 flag.

And in 2 of those 7 games we got some revenge against the Cats, with M. Gawn front and centre in both!

(And btw, Max was lucky enough to miss 186, but was called up for the next game, a 76-point relative cliff-hanger loss against Carlton.)

Edited July 30, 2024Jul 30 by Tim

That's the last time I've been to that ground.

Was that the game Brent moloney said he was fine to play & he basically slept in the rooms?

My Facebook “memories” reminded me of this day with a status update that simply read “FML why do I support Melbourne” 

Facebook is just a great way to remember what an embarrassing human you were in youth. 

12 hours ago, Nascent said:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

I was in the Geelong Presidents lunch that day.

I had an interesting interaction with the then MFC CEO prior to the game followed by watching an even more interesting one at the end. It was a massive mistake by Jimmy to bring that man back to the club.

Re the game, I don’t recall much of it. I sat in my seat and watched the game in preference to the ear smashing I was getting from Geelong people inside. Board members, staff etc it didn’t matter, if they saw someone wearing red and blue at the function we were fair game to those people. As a result I will barrack for any team in the AFL who plays Geelong. Except for Essendon. In that case I hope for scoreless draws.

5 hours ago, Demonland said:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

I know it wouldn't be easy or likely - it would require us to win all four remaining games and for Geelong to drop two - but with both Collingwood and Essendon wilting while facing three top-4 teams still to come, could we please pull off the ridiculous miracle and sneak into finals at the specific expense of Geelong?

16 hours ago, JJJ said:

I was in the Geelong Presidents lunch that day.

I had an interesting interaction with the then MFC CEO prior to the game followed by watching an even more interesting one at the end. It was a massive mistake by Jimmy to bring that man back to the club.

Re the game, I don’t recall much of it. I sat in my seat and watched the game in preference to the ear smashing I was getting from Geelong people inside. Board members, staff etc it didn’t matter, if they saw someone wearing red and blue at the function we were fair game to those people. As a result I will barrack for any team in the AFL who plays Geelong. Except for Essendon. In that case I hope for scoreless draws.

I got in a fair stoush with the then-CEO years ago too.  The bloke is a the pied piper of disaster, it follows him everywhere.  Him getting hired by us, the 3rd club to do so, shows how small minded the execs in the AFL can be.  You can link this to the Craig Kelly post (if its still up). 

I'm glad he's gone & that we've (largely) moved on.