How did you become a Wests Tigers fan?

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benji_da_gun

New member
This has probably been done before, but I thought it would be interesting to hear how a lot of members here became Wests Tigers/Balmain Tigers/Wests Magpies fans initially?

My Story:

My father played reserve grade for Balmain way back in the 60's and has always been a staunch Tigers fan. Despite this connection, I was a headstrong lil guy from a young age and idolized Phil Blake when he played for Manly. At the time, Manly and Parra were the 2 top teams and I was initially a Manly fan up until about 12yo (disgusting i know! haha)) Then, in 1988, my Dad took me to my first Tigers game live at Leichhardt. I will never forget that day. The feel, the sights, the smells. I also got my copy of Big League signed by Garry Jack, who i believe was out injured that week and was sitting in the stands. From that moment on, I was a Tigers fan for life. Our form during the remainder of 1988 and the crushing defeat in the 1989 GF only reinforced my love for the Tigers.

Pretty crappy story i know, I'm sure there are more interesting ones out there.

So how/when did you become a :sign: fan?
 
Just started getting into league in 1999 and was quite confused didn't know what way to go uncle played in reserve grades for st george back in the day and the whole family supported the dragons, went to school in the bankstown area and everyone supported the bulldogs. Was really confused didn't wanna break the families heart by supporting dogs and at the same time I didn't want to disappoint my mates so I guess I just did both when I found out there was going to be two teams merging to become one, they were the underdogs and everyone laughed when I told them who I supported because it wasn't the bulldogs and my uncle had a crack at me when he found out paid him back in 05 when his st george Illawarra still had not won a gf!! That was till last year!! Still till today I'm proud to be a tiger!!!
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I used to live up the road from Orana Park. My pop used to take me to Wests Magpies home games, I loved the Maggies. I was upset that the Magpies had to merge with the Tigers, however I was only a young tyke and didn't take me long to get over it. Naturally I supported the Wests Tigers from there on - it was simply a natural progression for people my age.
 
My love for the Tigers started around 6 and was born from rebellion. My entire family are dragons apart from me. Some of my earliest memories are of Kogarahs Jubilee oval with my parents and cousins on the hill.

I know early that I was destined for greater things.

Now 30 years later I am breeding / brainwashing the next generation and spreading the Great Wests Tigers Cause.
 
@Spartan117 said:
My love for the Tigers started around 6 and was born from rebellion. My entire family are dragons apart from me. Some of my earliest memories are of Kogarahs Jubilee oval with my parents and cousins on the hill.

I know early that I was destined for greater things.

**Now 30 years later I am breeding / brainwashing the next generation and spreading the Great Wests Tigers Cause.**
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Nice work Spartan! I am doing exactly the same in taking my two boys to a lot of home games. And I am happy to report that Tiger blood runs through their veins! Took them to the SFS v/s the Dragons the other week and they had an absolute ball rubbing it in to all the Red V supporters. :smiley:
 
My dad was born and raised in Rozelle so his family were all Balmain fans. My mum's family lived in Leichhardt when they first came to Australia so they also started following Balmain.

Flash forward a whole bunch of years and I was a Balmain supporter as well, naturally. I must admit that I never really liked the Magpies, but I had no choice but to embrace the joint venture when it was formed. Now I'm a proud Wests Tigers fan.
 
I moved to Sydney from the small North Queensland town of Ayr in the late 1950s. At that time Ayr’s favourite son, Kel O’Shea, was playing for Wests (and was also a current Australian second-rower). Dad knew Kel and his family well (Ayr was a small town).

We lived not far from Pratten Park and so it was only natural that we followed the Magpies. I have many fond memories of sunny Saturday afternoons as a small boy watching the Magpies play. I have followed the Magpies ever since – through thick and thin (mainly thin).

I supported the merger of the Magpies with Balmain. It was clear that the Magpies could achieve nothing on their own, and that together, we may achieve something great. In the early days of the merger I always referred to the team as Wests. But nowadays I happily refer to them as the Tigers – my team.

Best regards

Fibro
 
I was raised in Dragons territory but the supporters are like they are today: Arrogant.

Went to Leichardt to watch a Tigers game and fell in love with the the ground, the passion of the supporters and the team, even though they were at the bottom of the table.

Love at first sight.
 
I was born & raised in Ryde. My parents always followed Balmain and dad took me to my first Tigers game when I was 7 at the old Sydney Sports Ground. Without giving my age away, I vividly remember the 1969 GF, so suffice to say that I've been a supporter for well over 40 years. My sister and I used to go to every game at Leichhardt (still do!!), taking 3 buses to get there. Also remember buying hot dogs from Junior Pearce. We always sat in the seats in front of the old stand. The games against Souffs were always good for a bit of a blue between the spectators, particularly one Rabbitohs supporter who wore a knotted handkerchief on his head and carried his lunch in the voluminous pockets of his overcoat. I've been married to a Saints supporter for 30 years, but still hold true to my beloved Tigers. There's nothing better than a Tigers game at Leichhardt on a sunny Sunday afternoon!!
 
Not having a shot at anyone, but i have never understood how someone can grow up supporting a different team to the one their family supports. If the whole immediate family supports one team are you not indoctrinated from a young age?
 
@the_scene said:
Not having a shot at anyone, but i have never understood how someone can grow up supporting a different team to the one their family supports. If the whole immediate family supports one team are you not indoctrinated from a young age?
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Some of us are called to go on to bigger and better things…

I am proud to be the Black (Gold and White) Sheep of my family.
 
My grandfather started following the maggies in the 1920s as he lived in Enfield not far from Pratten Park. My old man also followed the maggies and took me to my first game at Lidcombe in the mid 70s (against the roosters). Have followed them ever since.
 
I was born into a Magpie family, many many years ago. I grew up and worked in Doggies territory. I always loved my maggies though. Have followed the Weststigers since they merged. (had a bit of soft spot for Tigers as well), so it wasn't too difficult to accept my Weststigers.
 
Im an 81' model so i grew up in the 80's watching the Tigers play during a pretty good period for the club, with 2 grandfinals and a host of 'superstars' playing for us during that period. My old man is a massive parra fan and my older brother is a bulldogs fan. i think 88' was the year i decided to follow the Tigers purely because they were up against my brothers team in the 88 final and i had to go against the grain. i also remember my old man always hating on the Tigers, so that pushed me to them aswell.

I remember i coped a lot of flack for going for them just because they were a good team back then and i jumped on the 'bandwagon.' But ive stuck with them from the good days of the 80's and first couple of years of the 90's all the way through the horror years (during this period i coped the other sort of flack, i.e "your team is rubbish" ) of the mid to late 90's and then onto the Weststigers days. I grew up in the country but i always made sure i got to a couple of games a year. Wests were also like a second team for me (my home town plays as the Magpies) so the merger was perfect. Now i bleed weststigers.
 
My dad lived in leichardt as a kid and supported the tigers as did my granfather, Naturally from an early age i recieved a balmain jersey. Like the majority of supporters i have never strayed and always loved balmain. It was hard to tell my mates when younger i was a tigers man as they werent successful at that time even though i always did as i am a true supporter and was proud, I just hated the jokes about my beloved team.

I have lived my whole life out west So the whole merger between the two clubs did not effect me as the pies and tigs have always been the two teams every other club has a soft spot for so i accepted it with ease.

Mind you my mothers side of the family are all dragons supporters so i could have strayed …but how could i ever pick that nuffie team over the tigers.

Always am and always will be proud to support the tigers...no better team to support in the nrl.
 
It was only natural to become a tiger cub being brought up in drummoyne and then moving to ashfield . My mum and dad and extended family still go on everytime we go to liechardt about how they would push me in the pram up the hill to where my dad used to say welcome to gods country son . Dad used to work with John davidsons father and knew Gary bridge aswell but my hero was the great Kerry Hemsley . You know I still can't watch the 88 and 89 grand finals they scarred me til 05
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My grandfather and all his brothers grew up in Lilyfield, so there wasn't any question of not supporting Balmain. Because all the Dads and most of the husbands by marriage were also Tigers supporters, all the kids were indoctrinated.

The first game I remember was 1985, however I really got into footy 1987 when I started playing mini league and collecting the trading cards, with the crap stimorol gum. They also had those newspaper collection albums where you'd cut out a player in your team each day and stick it into your little album. They gave you a little Daily Mirror medallion with those albums, which I thought was the best.

Then 1988 was obivously a breakthrough year, I remember beating Manly and Brisbane in almost consecutive weeks, which was huge because Manly were the premiers and the Broncos had been carving their way through the competition in their inaugural season.

Still scarred by '89, I don't care how many premierships we might still win in my lifetime.
 
I used to support Penrith when I was little. Now thats disgusting. I started supporting the tigers for life, when my pop said he went for them, then I watched their 2005 Grand Final game against the Cowboys. I'll never forget it. it was a classic. And ever since then I have been a major Wests Tigers fan and will be one for life! Go the Tigers!
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