How you became a Demon

[WonnaJurah 5]

How did people become Demon fans?

Was it when they were born, swapped clubs etc.

Tell your stories!

Mine was my mum who was a big fan of Demons because of Ron Barassi on TV. I've followed them pretty much since the day I was born.

How about you?

[Madness 44]

My dad become a supporter during our glory years as a young lad, oh how he has suffered since then...

[beelzebub 23,313]

Well I suppose its 'fess up time

By pure luck (which I have never regretted by the way although a premiership WOULD be nice !!)

Arrived as a lil pom (5yo) at the very end of 64. Started school in 65.

The second question ... actually probably the first question I was asked in the school yard was what footy team do you barrrack for?

Well even as a kid I inherently understood the gravity of this question. It may make or break my very existence ... I tried to think quick ... well ffs only 5 years old! Let's see...every city has a football team I figured...so therefore I'll play safe and say Melbourne (not realising they were all in bloody Melb !! lol ) and having even less idea we ( already..the 'we' ) were reigning premiers.. . With much applause etc I was accepted into the school yard fraternity!!

Been Red and Blue ever since that day!! :-))

Funny though....never won a premiership either ...hmmm !!!!!!

[don cordner 204]

I was an Essendon supporter up untill I was about ten years old. Had all their footy cards etc.

Then my dad told me that our family married into the Cordners so I obviously chose to switch, especially since my second cousin is David Cordner and he played for Melbourne when I was a kid and I used to watch him play..

[gOLLy 401]

I should have been a Hawk from my grandfather but my uncle converted my dad so, when I was born, Deez it was and now ...30 years later......

[timD 994]

My father was born in Adelaide and as a child barracked for Norwood (or Sturt - however has Melbourne socks). He came over to Victoria when he was eight years old and followed the team with the same socks (I think Norwood are the redlegs - anyway the point is that he followed the socks).

Mum kinda liked the bumbers, but in a general way, not really interested. SHE decided that there would not be football rivalry between children, and Dad decided upon the team. My interest in footy really flaired when dad started taking us and we started winning (1987). THe beginning was the last game of 1986 though. A primary school friend took me to see the melbourne/nth game. From memory we pounded them. Signed, sealed, delivered. The perfect trinity: dad's enthusiam, mum's rule and a bloody good win.

[Whispering_Jack 29,765]

My father was born in Adelaide and as a child barracked for Norwood (or Sturt - however has Melbourne socks). He came over to Victoria when he was eight years old and followed the team with the same socks (I think Norwood are the redlegs - anyway the point is that he followed the socks).

Mum kinda liked the bumbers, but in a general way, not really interested. SHE decided that there would not be football rivalry between children, and Dad decided upon the team. My interest in footy really flaired when dad started taking us and we started winning (1987). THe beginning was the last game of 1986 though. A primary school friend took me to see the melbourne/nth game. From memory we pounded them. Signed, sealed, delivered. The perfect trinity: dad's enthusiam, mum's rule and a bloody good win.

It's Norwood who are the Redlegs in SA.

I enjoy reading topics like these and it's stirred me into writing the next chapter of my "science fiction" novel in which I reveal how I became a Demon supporter.

It should be on Demonland soon!

[Gorgoroth 12,920]

well my mum is a swans supporter as she grew up across the road from the ground, my sister chose richmond, it was dad who choose melbourne which was a big thing in dads family as they were all carlton, then dads youngest brother chose the bullies.

dad said to me you can follow anyone except carlton and collingwood but if you ever want to go to a game you better follow melbourne, the sealer was dads best mate lived behind robbir flower and he game me an autograhed melbourne plaque and i was then a demon for life. all of this occured when i was about 5, but i had said demons from birth pretty much, that was the sealer!

[mauriesy 7,256]

I was indoctrinated into the Melbourne Football Club by my mother from a very young age ... by the time I was a teenager Melbourne had won six premierships. I'm still waiting for the seventh.

[Tracca 841]

Well my situation is quite funny. I was a bulldogs supporter when i was really really young, then I went to Essendon cause my friends went for essendon, then when I was about 7 or so, my mate gave me $5 to go for melbourne in the schoolyard, I havent looked back since!

[Deelusioned 0]

come from a long line of Demons, whole fam is melbourne - i don't recall a question ever being posed to me about who to support, it wasn't optional, but i didn't feel like it was forced either, it was just what was done, i wasn't the reblellious sort.

In the early days it was just dad and i who would go as my brothers were always playing sport on the weekend. I think dad helped the love by kitting me out in scarves, jumpers and allowing me to take people out with a flag.

I remember in the early 90s, I told dad I wanted to go for the cats bc in my 10 year old eyes they always seemed like winners (foolish child). He told me i wouldn't be able to go to the footy anymore if i did that and i never considered changing again.

couldn't fathom being anything other than melbourne, love 'em..

[WonnaJurah 5]

my family is very mixed, my grandpa was a mad fitroy supporter/lions granma mad tigers fan my 2nd cousin currently plays for the bulldogs cousins are collingwood ,hawks pies fan, so iots very mixed in that household

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Two of my ancestors were presidents of the Footscray Football Club, however somewhere along the line my family switched to Melbourne and I am about a fourth generation Melbourne supporter.

[Jarka 767]

When my dad was very young his doctor (or dentist, can't remember which one) was one of the Cordner's (also can't remember which one, next time I see him I'll ask), so dad naturally started to barrack for the demons because by the sounds of it he was a very impressive gentleman. When I was young, dad worked at Rusden, which had the best PE course in Australia at the time. He got to know alot of the footballers and alot came to our house, guys like the Healy's, Connoly etc. There was no way I was going to follow any other team.

Forgot to add, one of my relatives played for Melbourne and made it onto the bench of the team of the century - his name was Wally Lock, so Melbourne has been part of our family for quite a long time.

[Deefeast 0]

Was unfortunatly a Colligwood supporter early on due to my first junior club wearing the black and white jumper.

At about age eight I was asked to leave the club, so I chose the club that hated the pies as much as I did .

Been a Demon supporter ever since

Now I have 3 children who are all passionate demon supporters

[Little Goffy 14,443]

The story is that my grandad played reserve level for Melbourne around when Julius Caesar was asassinated.

Seriously, the best detail I ever got was 'between the wars'.

He's passed away now so I'll never be able to say for sure, I guess. There is a terrible possibility that he might have actually played for South Melbourne, that would be embarrassing. Particularly since I'd still stick with the Demons without a blink.

Anyway, my brother was introduced to AFL when visiting some friends in Melbourne. He kind of brought it back with him, the problem being that these friends were Carlton supporters, and he's been a Blue ever since.

It was only when he started yacking endlessly about the Blues that mum mentioned grandad's playing history. Damned if I was going to support my brother's team, so Melbourne it was.

And that happened... wait for it... early in 2000.

So the support was set firmly in my mind, and I have serious issues with anyone who talks about trading Green or Bruce!

A side note - having grown up in Rugby League land, with the bloody Canberra raiders winning everthing and the neighbours going berserk, I built up a good understanding of both games.

AFL really is, without a second thought, a much, much better game with a much, much better culture.

I laugh at Rugby League anytime I see it - watch for ten minutes, have a chuckle at how drab it is, then flick it off.

[pantaloons 2,019]

Until the age of 6 or 7, I was an Essendon supporter. After suffering through the dark ages of the club, my father vowed that he wouldn't force his children to endure the same pain he had been through for 20 years. However, there was no way he was ever going to take me to watch Essendon, and I was desperate to go along to games. My best mate at the time was a Demon supporter who would trot off to the MCG each home game with his dad. He took me along a few times, and I was converted. I still go to the footy with him to this day, 20 years later, along with other family members and friends, almost all of whom are also Demon converts.

While the change of club cost me the opportunity to see my side win a couple of premierships, I wouldn't change my decision for anything. Sharing the highs and lows of the Dees with the people closest to me has made the cold winters far more special.

[71 Molloy 266]

My fathers family are all mad Melbourne whilst my mothers father played for North Melbourne. Early childhood was all Dees until my Grandfather got in my ear. My dad played for a team that wore North jumpers and I sort of began following them. One of my 1st memories is being on my dads back walking out of the 75 GF with people slapping me on the back!

From then on my grandfather would take me to games and into the North rooms. Getting to hear Barrasi and meeting stars like Blight, Schimma and Keith Greig whilst they dominated the competition made the task of bringing me back to the fold one that my father tells me now he had just about given up on. But to his credit he never gave up and around the time of grade 5 a school yard friend of mine from another Dees family that followed Hawthorn made a pact to return to the Dees with Barrassi.

Since that day I have been true red and blue. Any regrets, absolutely none.

[praha 11,229]

I guess it's based around my dad.

He came to Australia in the early 50s with his parents and 2 younger brothers from Italy. Went through primary and high school without many friends because of his accent and culture. Of course everyone played football and barracked for a team. There were really only two teams that people seemed to follow, and that was Melbourne and Collingwood. Of course Melbourne always had the wood over Collingwood, so it always seemed as though Melbourne had more supporters. My dad, trying to fit in, used to play football and when people would asked who he supported, he'd say Melbourne because, well, everyone else did lol

It became more than just a popularity thing, and soon my dad became a die-hard, going to every game during the 70s and 80s and although he has died down a bit in the last decade because of illness, he still has red and blue blood and it's moved over to me, my mum, two sisters and everyone else on my dads side of the family, and I'm a melbourne tragic.

[demonfanjezza 1]

I guess i was just looking for another sport to follow

I was in kmart about 3 years ago and i saw on special a demons video of hilights of the 2002 season

Enjoyed it and since then ive supported the demons

No one else in my family supports the dees, and so my heart beats true for the red and the blue

[Jaded No More 68,862]

It's a long story, which can be summed up in one word: Robbo.

Got my dad into it as well, and my mum hates me for it! :D

[deanbarber 37]

How did people become Demon fans?

Was it when they were born, swapped clubs etc.

Tell your stories!

Mine was my mum who was a big fan of Demons because of Ron Barassi on TV. I've followed them pretty much since the day I was born.

How about you?

My great grand dad played for melbourne (Les Meade) and its just being going on for 3 generations

well he did play for the hawks as well but he was always a dees supporter

and in fact he went from melbourne to the hawks, he went to the hawks because he was a wingman and melbourne picked up barrassi and the very first game he played for the hawks he played on barrassi and meade was BOG

[deanbarber 37]

I guess i was just looking for another sport to follow

I was in kmart about 3 years ago and i saw on special a demons video of hilights of the 2002 season

Enjoyed it and since then ive supported the demons

No one else in my family supports the dees, and so my heart beats true for the red and the blue

yh ive got that video

after i watched it i relised that the carlton vid. wouldnt have any highlight reels

[WonnaJurah 5]

i remember when i was young at a game at morabbinvs the saints that a big fat man was ruining the game for me

the fat man was lockett hehe

[Nasher 33,607]

I was born into a family of Collingwood (mother and brother) and Richmond (other brother and sister) supporters. My Dad was a British immigrant who took a passing interest in North, but preferred to watch grassroots footy live rather than the AFL on TV (in Tassie).

Not sure what happened to me, -- perhaps it's just a curse -- but I've followed the Dees for as long as I can remember.