WHAT A TOPIC! Congratulations benji_da_gun on coming up with the idea. I’ve read the lot to date and enjoyed all the stories!
My story starts in 1948 (this is true!), when my Dad took me to Brookvale Oval to see Wests Magpies play Manly. We lived in Auburn and took the train to Ashfield and then a special football bus to Brooky. I played junior football for Auburn, in an era, when Lidcombe had a very good team, because they stole some of the better Auburn players. Dad and I never missed Magpies games or representative games until part-time University got in the way in the late 1950’s.
In 1961, I met my (now) wife, whose family were mad Magpies supporters. Her uncle played first grade five-eight for the Magpies in 1930, when they won the competition and her cousin played first grade half for them in the late 1960’s. We hardly missed a match for years and cried through the 1961, 1962 and 1963 grand finals.
Being a member of Wests Ashfield, my wife and I spent many after match times at the Club with Gil McDougall, Jim Cody, Fred Norden, Rob McGuiness, Peter Dimond and many others. After we were married, we lived in Frederick Street, Ashfield, so Wests Ashfield became our second home.
With the birth of our two sons, the death of my Dad and our first home at Baulkham Hills, we stopped going to matches, but kept cheering for Wests from home.
In 1987, friends of ours bought season tickets to Orana Park, so we started going to matches again. The drive from Campbelltown to Oakville (near Windsor) was very long after losses, but much shorter when Wests had some of their rare wins.
Fortunately, both sons, daughters-in-law and grand-children are all Wests Tigers supporters, which does mean there are few arguments about football in the family. We attend some matches, but the grand-children’s sport and dancing gets in the way on many week-ends.
