THE PERFECT FLOWER ARRANGMENT

I'm not so sure about the title to this article but it brings back some great memories of the day we beat the Bulldogs to make the finals for the first time in over two decades. Even after we'd won the game, we were no certainties and had to rely on hawthorn beating Geelong. I remember listening to that game on the radio in the crowd and throwing my young son over the fence when the siren went and we'd made it at last. Never did find out what happened to that boy!

HAHAHAHAHA that last line is gold!

  Whispering_Jack said:

THE PERFECT FLOWER ARRANGMENT

I'm not so sure about the title to this article but it brings back some great memories of the day we beat the Bulldogs to make the finals for the first time in over two decades. Even after we'd won the game, we were no certainties and had to rely on hawthorn beating Geelong. I remember listening to that game on the radio in the crowd and throwing my young son over the fence when the siren went and we'd made it at last. Never did find out what happened to that boy!

Remember it like yesterday. A 17 yo who should have been focusing on the Year 12 exams coming up in 2 months time, instead squashed against the fence on the Hawkins wing watching one of the more amazing games I have seen. The unbridled emotion afterwards topped anything I've seen at a Demons game before or since (including 2 prelim finals wins). The devastation and sense of disbelief three weeks later has also never been repeated. It was a tremendous year for the Demons, winning the night GF against the Bombers by 4 points as well.

dont forget the world famous gary lyon incident

  Whispering_Jack said:

THE PERFECT FLOWER ARRANGMENT

I'm not so sure about the title to this article but it brings back some great memories of the day we beat the Bulldogs to make the finals for the first time in over two decades. Even after we'd won the game, we were no certainties and had to rely on hawthorn beating Geelong. I remember listening to that game on the radio in the crowd and throwing my young son over the fence when the siren went and we'd made it at last. Never did find out what happened to that boy!

Just like to correct you on the game Jack. I was watching it on TV and there was an almighty roar from the crowd when people listening on their trannies spread the word that Hawthorn had beaten Geelong. We were in front at that stage and it was then just a matter of staying there which we did. Ironically, it was the Hawks who got us into the finals but sadly, it was them who kicked us out in the prelim. Regards mate.

  Whispering_Jack said:

THE PERFECT FLOWER ARRANGMENT

I'm not so sure about the title to this article but it brings back some great memories of the day we beat the Bulldogs to make the finals for the first time in over two decades. Even after we'd won the game, we were no certainties and had to rely on hawthorn beating Geelong. I remember listening to that game on the radio in the crowd and throwing my young son over the fence when the siren went and we'd made it at last. Never did find out what happened to that boy!

Magical round of Footy

I will never forget the roar around the Western Oval when confirmation of The Hawks victory flooded through.

Then we still had a couple of nerve racking minutes to negotiate.

Time to Repeat Robbie's campaign

2008 - LETS DO IT FOR NEITA

What amazes me about that game, and I was only a young lad, is that no-one but me seems to remember Justin Charles' behaviour at 3/4 time.

He broke from the bulldogs huddle, came up to the grandstand (is that the Hawkins Stand, I don't know...) and started jumping around fist pumping and trying to fire the crowd up. He was acting like an absolute lunatic, and it was gold. No-one else remember? I was sitting in front of an injured MFC player (forgot his name, tall backman, older by 1987, ex-Nth Melb), and he and his mates were laughing at what a "fruitloop" Charles was. it was like he wason drugs or something!

Does anyone else remember?

  Choko said:

What amazes me about that game, and I was only a young lad, is that no-one but me seems to remember Justin Charles' behaviour at 3/4 time.

He broke from the bulldogs huddle, came up to the grandstand (is that the Hawkins Stand, I don't know...) and started jumping around fist pumping and trying to fire the crowd up. He was acting like an absolute lunatic, and it was gold. No-one else remember? I was sitting in front of an injured MFC player (forgot his name, tall backman, older by 1987, ex-Nth Melb), and he and his mates were laughing at what a "fruitloop" Charles was. it was like he wason drugs or something!

Does anyone else remember?

History probably now tells us HE WAS ON DRUGS

  Choko said:

What amazes me about that game, and I was only a young lad, is that no-one but me seems to remember Justin Charles' behaviour at 3/4 time.

He broke from the bulldogs huddle, came up to the grandstand (is that the Hawkins Stand, I don't know...) and started jumping around fist pumping and trying to fire the crowd up. He was acting like an absolute lunatic, and it was gold. No-one else remember? I was sitting in front of an injured MFC player (forgot his name, tall backman, older by 1987, ex-Nth Melb), and he and his mates were laughing at what a "fruitloop" Charles was. it was like he wason drugs or something!

Does anyone else remember?

You would have been sitting in front of Steven Icke, who was recovering from a knee reco at the time, and didn't play for us again. He had been a very good player. Don't have a great recollection of Charles carrying on like a goose but it wouldn't surprise me that he did. I more remember the coulda been great Warren Dean playing a blinder - 2 Brownlow votes!

I've got that game on VHS

Pity I don't have a VHS player to play it god damn technology!

  bobby mckenzie said:

Just like to correct you on the game Jack. I was watching it on TV and there was an almighty roar from the crowd when people listening on their trannies spread the word that Hawthorn had beaten Geelong. We were in front at that stage and it was then just a matter of staying there which we did. Ironically, it was the Hawks who got us into the finals but sadly, it was them who kicked us out in the prelim. Regards mate.

I'm with Jack on this small matter: the Hawks were trailing all day and my recollection is that they hit the front just before our game finished (hence the cheer - everyone was listening to a tranny whilst watching the game) and then the Hawks won a few moments after the Melbourne v Footscray match finished. That game was the best game I ever witnessed; the roar on the outer wing from the Melbourne faithful when Robbie Flower led the team out was nothing short of exhilarating. The match was a tight affair and early in the third quarter we seemed up against it. I remember Stephen Newport playing well and Warren Dean staging for a free in the last quarter and not getting it (I was after the ump's blood at the time but the TV replay proved the white maggot right - for once). Spalding and Viney played well, the team dug deep when it mattered most - geez, the whole match was fanbloodytatsic as twenty three years of disappointment and frustration were finally and magnificently expunged.

i have only read about it, but i remember reading that the roar when the hawks won was so great that the doggies players thought they had lost, but didnt hear the siren go, a couple of players even stopping for a moment...

And what about the week after, when Robbie ripped through the banner to take on the Kangaroos.

My god we yelled and scream with pure elation. Glory, glory, as Elvis might say.

Biffinator.

  deanox said:

i have only read about it, but i remember reading that the roar when the hawks won was so great that the doggies players thought they had lost, but didnt hear the siren go, a couple of players even stopping for a moment...

Yeah, Hawthorn had won BEFORE the Melbourne v Bulldogs game had finished. No big deal Styx but that's how my video shows it.

  bobby mckenzie said:

Yeah, Hawthorn had won BEFORE the Melbourne v Bulldogs game had finished. No big deal Styx but that's how my video shows it.

my memory of that day was the crowd cheered the fact that the hawks had hit the front for the first time before the Demons game had finished but the Hawks hadn't actually won until after the game.

  demonologist said:

my memory of that day was the crowd cheered the fact that the hawks had hit the front for the first time before the Demons game had finished but the Hawks hadn't actually won until after the game.

My video says otherwise.

You must have a different video then Bobby. My old man was there at the game and has the tape of it (he's on it too!!!). The first raw from all the melbourne members is when Dunstall puts the Hawks in front for the first time that day, with about 90 seconds to go.

Melbourne were up by almost 3 goals at the time (so most members knew that we had the game sewn up) and most supporters were on the radios listening to the Geelong v Hawks game. Our game finished before the Hawks game.

Most of the Dees supporters stayed at the Whitten oval waiting for the siren after our game, and when it did.........Pandemonium!!!

  Demon Disciple said:

You must have a different video then Bobby. My old man was there at the game and has the tape of it (he's on it too!!!). The first raw from all the melbourne members is when Dunstall puts the Hawks in front for the first time that day, with about 90 seconds to go.

Melbourne were up by almost 3 goals at the time (so most members knew that we had the game sewn up) and most supporters were on the radios listening to the Geelong v Hawks game. Our game finished before the Hawks game.

Most of the Dees supporters stayed at the Whitten oval waiting for the siren after our game, and when it did.........Pandemonium!!!

I rest my case DD. Just watched it again tonight.

now admittedly..it was an era when beer was still availble in better qaulaties and quantities..lol.. but i rememebr various cheerings.. firstly when the hawkers hit the front as many like myself had the trannie tuned to the hawks game even though we were there watching the dees.. but an almighty roar went out when we knew they had won !! but its all a bit of a blur...think it was my last venture to the kennel too. Crap gound marginally better than Vic park !! lol

Some only knew by the scoreboard

  calabreseboy said:

I've got that game on VHS

Pity I don't have a VHS player to play it god damn technology!

Is there any way u could put this on here thanks.

Anyone please

Its the greatest MFC game I have attended.

The energy and emotion that carried over and drove the side to thrash North and Sydney in consecutive weeks is something I have never experienced before or since.

It was an extraordinary afternoon - agree with RR comments. Particularly remember 3 things:

players in their warm-up lap running down the outer wing (I was under the Malthouse coaches box) - they were clearly impressed by the intensity of the welcome by the Demon fans, who considerably out-numbered the Footscray ones;

Robbie Flower taking the game by the scruff with some individual brilliance in the second half when we were struggling;

the raw emotion all around the ground when the siren went, with 30-something types engaging in primeval roaring, having expurgated some very evil emotions. To look around the ground and see thousands just roaring and waving their arms in the air - amazing!

I was expecting to just go through the motions in the EF, but wow, the festival of the boot sure continued deep into September.

Which also unfortunately reminds me of the Hawthorn prelim, where the intensity at Waverley in the last quarter was so great that if you wanted to be heard by the person next to you, you had to cup your hands over their ear and speak right into your hands.

Can we get some of that intensity back at the club?

I wish I could remember it more clearly, I wasn't actually at the game and listened to it on the radio. I was only 8 at the time, and my only memory of the game was jumping up and down on my bed with a mate after the final siren (we'll be going along to the footy together today). I seem to remember having the back page of the Sun stuck on my wall for the next year - a picture of some Melbourne players celebrating, and the headline reading "IT'S THE DEMONS!"

Great stuff.

  DemonStorm said:

dont forget the world famous gary lyon incident

Yes that thing is funny, especially by bert, but it is wearing a bit thin