What made us 'Collingwood people'? from '01 - Add your story

[Row 's' Army]

I only moved to Australia from England in August 2005, so my Collingwood story doesn't really date back very far but here it is...

With the 2005 season almost over I didn't really pay must attention to AFL other than catching a little bit of the Grand Final on TV and seeing the odd finals headline in The Age.

When I started my 1st job in the October of 2005 it became very obvious pretty quickly that Melbourne was in love with Aussie Rules. It may have been the off season but most of the office sport talk was about footy, the draft, last season and the thoughts of the next season. I was told if you like sport and live in Melbourne you've got to pick a team to barrack for. Fair enough I thought, I love sport so that's what I'll do.

As I was born and brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and its in your blood to love football(soccer) and you support your local team, ie: Newcastle United. So using that logic and living in St Kilda I decided to pick my local team and support the Saints.

Some months later and the 2006 NAB Cup started. I sat down and watched the Saints first game on TV, which was against Collingwood. Not knowing too much about Aussie Rules I didn't really understand a lot but what I did notice was it was a very close game. However, the more the game went on the more I found myself wanting Collingwood to win. It felt totally wrong to not want the Black & White stripes to win a game of football. As we all know Collingwood won by 1 point and I was hooked, Collingwood FC it had to be if I was going to get into AFL.

After that match I did some research into Collingwood Football Club and I was fascinated to find out that there was so many similarities and links to Newcastle United.

Both Collingwood and Newcastle United wear black & whites, the clubs were both established 1892, both have the nickname the Magpies and most fascinating of all was I found out that the suburb of Collingwood in Melbourne was named after Lord Collingwood who was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. Now it really was destiny and it felt like my club

My first game was ANZAC Day last year when my friend, who is an AFL member, got me tickets. What a brilliant day and it felt great going to a football match in my black & white Newcastle United top. Last year I ended up going to 6 home & away games and never saw us lose and every time I went the more I was getting into watching the sport and loving being a Collingwood fan. I even manage to get a ticket for the finals game against the Western Bulldogs and to this day it's the only game I've been too where Collingwood have lost!!

Newcastle United will always be the team I love and I know I'm using going to Collingwood games to recreate being at a Newcastle match because I do miss it so much. However, it's safe to say Collingwood is now a big part of my life and I'm loving being a fan and part of the Magpie Army with you guys.

HOWAY THE PIES!!!

[RudeBoy]

I had no choice as I was a fourth generation raised in Collingwood (Langridge street) and branded at birth. My mum's family placed a photo of the Collingwood team in my crib at the hospital with these words written on the back "we're expecting big things from this boy". What a disappointment I turned out to be!

To continue the tradition, when my son was 2 weeks old I took him down to Victoria Park and had a photo taken of him with his feet (which had never touched the earth before) placed on the hallowed turf between the goal posts at the Bob Rose social club end. Later when he was a bit older and his mongrel kindergarden teacher tried to convert him to the Bombers, I pulled out the photo and explained to him that he had already been baptised as a Magpie, end of story.

[Cannibal]

[jimbeam]

born collingwood. not much more to say. this thread is massive, will read it one day.

[emdeem]

Mine is simple.

My son barracks for Collingwood
I barrack for Collingwood
My dad barracks for Collingwood
My grandfather barracked for Collingwood
My great grandfather barracked for Collingwood.

This year is the celebration of my family barracking for Collingwood for
100 years.

Go Pies

[malteaser]

What a wonderful source of information. I hope cultural and social writers use some of this to source as way to see how religion is not just for theologians but it also can be applied in a sporting sense. Absolutely fascinating stories.

I myself back in 1999 could have used some of these fabulous stories for my documentary I made about what it means to be part of the Collingwood fraternity.

I like some of the others was lucky I supported Collingwood. If it was not for my Aunty bashing up my dad everytime he bagged her favourite St.kilda player and St.Kilda failing over and over again in the forties and fifties I might be reliving the days I could have spent in the cage down at Morrabin.

I have spent some wonderful times in the Members stand of Morrabin, watching as Fabulous Phil kick (I think) 9 goals in the final quarter with his white boots. My Grandmother (50 yr member of saints) detesting the stagger of confidence I had everytime we played the saints. From the late 70's to the time I left Oz in 89, I never went to a Saints/Coll game without us winning. I have in my 43 years of following the Pies have never been to a game between these two and seen Coll loose. Recently, I have decided, considering our appalling record, not to go to a game just in case my record is broken.

Anyway, I remember with pride wearing my Coll jumper with 6 on the back, Peter McKenna, what a star.

Going to the footy with my dad in the outer running around out the back with the other kids, whilst the adults drunk their slab without a worry in the world. The drive back to Bayswater was a beauty.

If we won Dad and I would race back to the car to listen to the radio, and hope to catch the footy replay and also hope to see my face on the screen. Of course Sunday was the biggy, World of Sport, wow.

[piester]

It was a bit of a competition between my parents I think. My Dad was born and raised in Kay St Carlton, and my mother was a ten quid pom. My grandad (pommy one) has always been a sports fanatic and upon arrival in Oz in 1952 decided the Pies were the ones to follow. My mothers influence ultimately won out, and I was brainwashed from birth. Spent my youth (1970's) in a state of anguish after so many near misses in Grand Finals, but loved my Saturday arvo's at Vic Park watching the boys go around. Haven't lived in Melbourne since 1978 but the times I have been back have been able to catch the Pies most times, and love the atmosphere of sitting in a crowd of wonderful Pies suppoters. My partner is also a Collingwood supporter (was one of the first questions we asked each other when we met in Sydney), and have also passed the tradition on to my son and daughter. Both of whom now aspire to moving from Perth to Melbourne and be members and see the boys go round most weekends. I am in Melbourne this week on business, and my daughter wants me to go to training and call her when training is finished and give my phone to Daisy so she can talk to him!! I feel a great pride in the family tradition, and am indebted to my 94 year old grandfather for his wisdom and foresight in guiding his descendants to join the Collingwood family!! Go Pies!!!

[Dragme]

Well my parents set up home in Fitzroy in the 60's after marrying. When my brother started school he asked mum about footy. Not knowing anything about the game she thought it logical that he barrack for the lions since we lived in Fitzroy. Good old Fitzroy. I hated them with a passion and that was before the Brisbane years. Well being the difficult brother that he was, he decided he didn't want me to follow his team, so I was Christened a Collingwood supporter. Thank you mum.

My fondest memories are of primary shool playgrounds and the hype that surrounded footy season. Tribal group against tribal group, it went on for weeks. 1980 was the birth of the Richmond/Collingwood rivalry for me. My favourite years were the late 70's and 80's for so many reasons.

Makes me wonder if it has gone full circle after the 2002, 2003 years.

As Dr Alf said so long ago on page 1 of this enormous thread. "A Collingwood win is the best drug."

[Cannibal]

I came to Oz in 1964 as a young kid (it's surprising, reading this thread, how many of us are migrants), staying first of all at the Migrant Hostel in Brooklyn for six months before my parents found a flat in Elwood. My best mate at my new school, Elwood Central as it was then, was the only Collingwood barracker in a school full of St Kilda-ites. So he asked me to barrack for the 'Pies to back him up and I've been barracking hard for the club ever since.

Although we lost the 1964 GF to Melbourne, it didn't really mean a lot to me at the time, as I'd barely moved into the area. However, 1966 really got up my nose. As I said, we lived in an area full of bloody Saints supporters, so letting them win their first flag at our expense was a huge blow.

Sometime in the late 60's, I ventured to Vic Park for the first time. It might even have been the early 70's. I can't recall the year, let alone the date. My memory must failing me! At Elwood High School, one bloke I became friends with was a Carlton supporter. I remember his mum inviting me to go with them to Waverley Park for the first ever game out there. Gees, that was a good game to go to, except for the fact that the beaten supporters wanted to leave early! So, between that experience and the 1970 GF, I really developed a dislike of Carlton.

In my early working days, I got the chance to mix professionally with Craig Stewart, as the printing company he was working for were suppliers to us and Craig became our "rep". Once he found out I barracked for Collingwood, he happily invited me to a few player functions, so I got to mix with the blokes. Even though by this time I was in my mid-late 20's, it was wonderful meeting the players, having a beer and a chat with them. It's no wonder that young kids come to idolise players if they get to meet them because, even at that age, it was pretty good stuff for me!

Over the years, I've progressed from being an ordinary member with a cardboard member's ticket to becoming a Legends member a few years back when my brother's boys got old enough to start going to the footy. I made damn sure my brother barracked for Collingwood but he slipped a bit and one of his three barracks for another lot. The little sh*t. In between, there have been years when I haven't attended a game to years when I've not missed one at all.

With the exception of Fitzroy's Brunswick Street Oval and Richmond's old Punt Road ground, I've been to all the old suburban grounds, even all the way down to Kardinia Park. Frankly, whilst there were some great days, I don't miss them. I've also been to GF's where there were only standing room tickets available and, I can tell you, we were packed in like sardines. It got nasty when all the piss-pots (I've never understood why anyone would want to go to a GF and get so pissed off their brain that they wouldn't know what day it was, let alone be able to watch the footy) needed to go and had only cans or those old foam eskies to piss in. Pretty inevitably, these got kicked over and the stench was unbearable.

Now, I sit in the 2nd level of the Ponsford Stand, front row, perfect view of the cheersquad which, in all honesty, often seems to be a pale imitation of the kids behind the Vic Park station end goals with their huge floggers, streamers and torn up paper. However, even at my age, one can't quite get over the sense of anticipation in the pub before a game, in the train on the way to the MCG, chatting about who's playing, how we think we'll go, who we need to play well, buying a "Footy Record", a hot dog, taking my seat, observing the crowd, wondering how many are there, watching the cheersquad bring out the run-through banner, wondering what's on it, roaring approval at a particularly appropriate sentiment or quip against the other side, booing the umpires, waiting for the players to run out (from just to my left these days), the toss of the coin, shouting approval if we win it, the hush before the bounce of the ball, then the huge roar as the big men fly. Ah yes, everything has changed in 43 years and yet, nothing has changed. The game is still the same. Collingwood is still the same. Memories never fade.

Thanks, Andy, for making me a 'Pies supporter all those years ago.

Now, if someone could just toughen the effing club up a bit, make us as ruthless as we were 70-odd years ago, find some tough little pr*cks to play for us and steam roller our way to a few flags, I'd be much happier.

[blackandwhite4life]

Being a Sydney boy, my only VFL experience used to be sat arvo footy on Ch 7 with Lou and Peter Landy.

My local footy colours were black and white and our team came 2nd seven times in 10 years. I also followed the magpies in sydney rugby league. In 1977 when the finals came around I heard that Collingwood had come from last to make the grand final and also about their tragic grand final record and the Colliwobbles. That was enough for me. They had to be my team.

I remember the dread in Lou's voice when Twiggy Dunn was lining up the tied kick, and then his pain over the next few GF losses as well.

I was convinced that no team I ever followed could win a GF so when 1990 finally happened it was quite surreal; expecially being in Sydney.

It wasn't really till the late 90's with Fox footy, the internet etc and travelling to Melbourne for games that I became a regular fanatic, and it coincided in my loss of interest in rugby league up here after the Super League war. Collingwood represented the only true passionate club that I had left.

One of the greatest days of my life was the prelim final in 2002 against Adelaide at the G. I was there with my girlfriend of the time and the only place we could watch the game from was underneath the grandstand behind the posts at the city end. When the ball was kicked high you couldn't see a thing! But being there amongst the hardcore Pies faithful was awesome.

In the 3rd qtr someone said there were a few seats empty up in the stand so we wandered up to grab them. That period when we kicked a few goals and lonie passed to Rocca and goaled still gives me goose bumps. The roar and the pure joy on what seemed like 90,000 people was something else!

After the game we went back down to our early spot and stood there singing for probably an hour before we got swept along to a pub in flinders st where we spent the rest of the night in the bar with our extended Black & White 'family'.

Passion = Collingwood; that's it!

[die4pies]

Die4Pies - Shane Barrie
My Mum: Mary Barrie (maiden name Brown)
My Grandfather: Frederick Eales Brown
My Great Grand Father: Frederick Trenerry Brown
Great Grand Dad's Uncle: Edwin Trenerry.

Great Great Uncle Edwin bought 12 hectares of land in 'Dight's Paddock' on the Collingwood Flat, known today as Abbotsford in 1878. Between Johnston Street, the Yarra, Hoddle Street and the Eastern Freeway. It was one of the last of the subdivisions of land by John Dight who had bought the land at auction in Sydney after it was stolen from the Wurrunjeri people in the 1850's.

Edwin went on to further subdivide the land creating the shoe-boxes that exist today. During the early years, before the yuppies took over, these houses were the slums of Melbourne. In no other areas of Melbourne did the depressions of the 1890's and 1930's hurt more.

In 1882, in return for the building of roads, namely Lulie St, Abbott St, Bath St, Turner St, Trenerry Cres and Rich St, Edwins solicitor and nephew, Frederick Brown and solicitor, David Abbott gave the council 10 1/4 acres of land for use as a park for the resort and recreation of the people of Collingwood. The park was named Victoria Park.

I am inextricably linked to the Magpies as a descendant of one of only four owners of our spiritual home, Wurrunjeri to Dight to Trenerry to Collingwood People. Despite this fact my love for the Black & White goes back to well before I even knew of our family's connection. While my father, who was born in Brisbane, shares no connection what so ever to Collingwood, it was he who first introduced me to the Mighty Magpies. It was a trip to the Western Oval in the late seventies when the Pies came to town to watch Wearmouth, Shaw, Moore, Picken and co take on the Bow-wows.

Collingwood for me was beyond Victoria Park and actually lived across the road from me in Tasman Avenue, Deer Park. Rana McGoldrick, life long Magpie devotee was my idol. I loved nothing better than to go to her house and marvel at how everything was a well co-ordinated Black and White and I wished my house could be like that too. She sold me her son's old duffle coat for $10. On the back was #8, Allan Edwards, I replaced this with #21, Mark Choco Williams. Rana's passion for Collingwood seemed endless and left a lasting impression on me.

My best memory of Collingwood goes back to 1984 and again, with my Dad, we were at the Western Oval and Denis Banks leapt into the heavens to pull down what will forever be my mark of a lifetime. I still have the In Black & White with the photo on the cover.

I played the round ball game from age 6 and conflicting fixtures meant that I could see less and less of my Magpies live, except for the odd trip to Vic Park, PP or back to the Western Oval. Watching Gordon Strachan, Gordon McQueen, Ray Wilkins and Frank Stapleton, I quickly developed a passion for the Red Devils and dreamed of one day playing alongside Captain Marvel, Bryan Robson at Old Trafford. In 1989 I met the great Sir Bobby and had a conversation that promised so much that would never eventuate after an ankle injury that forced my retirement from the game at just 20. At 18 I was pushing the age barrier, but United, under new coach Alex Ferguson were under enormous pressure to rebuild through youth and they were considering all their options. From these early days of Fergie's Fledglings names like Giggs, Beckham, Scholes and Butt would emerge and are now mentioned in the same breath as Best, Law and Charlton. It is painful to think what may of been had I not tried to make that tackle in a practice match of all games. I find there is much in common with Sir Alex and MM. MM has at his disposal the same quality of untapped talent as Sir Alex had back in the early 90s.

All this around the most celebrated year I have known as a Collingwood supporter. At the time all I could think was how much Peter Daicos deserved that cup after everything he had done for not only Collingwood, but football of all persuasions. 1990 was a welcome relief during a tumultuous time for me personally.

So as a child my love was torn between Collingwood and Manchester. Now we add Williamstown. There is so much that shapes us and our devotion to our club and for me these influences have been many and varied.

The Reds are heading towards another treble and Collingwood will battle hard towards September as always and I will be there to savour every moment.

Go Pies!!!
Glory, glory Man United!

die4pies

[daics cousin]

Quite simply for me it was family.My family bleeds black and white,so when a relative is the great daics who else could you barrack for.Although from my mother's side we did have a renegade who was also a collingwood supporter when he was young.....But then he defected to our arch ememy carlton...was a good player in his time his my is Ange chrsitou.Well even though my family are all into footy ,my path lead me to be a staunch supporter but not a very good player.My strengths lie in buisness and music and barracking for my beloved collingwood.

[KYPREO]

My dad arrived in Australia in 1959 and like many other migrants from the mediterranean settled in working class Collingwood.

He spent the first few years in Australia living there, before they moved to Richmond, behind the Cricketers' Arms hotel.

He barracked for Collingwood from the beginning and all us kids grew up supporting collingwood too.

PS..really interesting story there die4pies

[HAL]

Tell me more about your father.

[wood duck]

My father migrated to Australia in the early 1950's and settled in Shepparton, a Melbourne FC stronghold and it seems that it pissed him off at the time, that everyone followed Melbourne..... so to be different he thought he would follow the Pies, when I was 5 we moved to Melbourne and I started school and some of my clasmates asked me who I followed, to which which I replied I don't know, that night I asked the old man who he followed and he told me Collingwood, so I thought if its good enough for the old man its good enough for me.
Over the years I've never regretted my decision and yes the grand final losses were devasting, however I could never follow or support anyone else.
My older sister has 2 boys and when they were born and grew up, I bought them the jumpers, scarves and beanies of the magpies...... one now supports the Saints and the other the Hawks.
My wife and I have a daughter and son of our own and when they were growing up it coincided with me running a business, which left me with little time for anything else, however my kids are now both rabid Collingwood supporters without any real prompting from me.
All which leads me to believe that Collingwood supporters are born not made.
Go Pies!!!!!!!