Your Wests Tigers Story and When you started supporting them

[Tigersman]

For me it was back in 2010, when I was a kid 9-10 I was into WWE (Pro-Wrestling) and AFL I used to love Batista and the Swans If Batista lost a match that week and the Swans lost a game I would be sad for the rest of the week until I watched them again, Back in 05 I saw Batista win the Royal Rumble and I saw the Swans win the Gf I seriously was over joyed that year.

I used to watch a bit of league but mostly WWE and AFL my grand father had foxtel and I would come over to his house and watch Raw and Smackdown on Wednesdays and Fridays we both loved it and on the Weekend i used to watch the AFL with my dad i used to love Adam Goodes and Barry Hall and Ryan O'Keefe I remember in 06 I was watching the AFL Gf and the Swans lost by 1 point I was hysterical I started crying (I was only young 7-8 years-old) but as I grew older I started to like league more and more and like AFL and WWE less and less.

there was this 1 game I remember some guy named Benji something was playing I was in awe he just terrorised the opposing team stepping and doing flick passes and throwing 20 metre long passes it was crazy I fell in love with the game because of him.

I didn't really start to support the Wests Tigers until 2010 I was watching the Match against the Roosters that went for 100 mins and I really thought we where going to win when Dwyer sat Waerea-Hargreaves on his ass and he knocked on with 30 seconds to go I was cheering and jumping up and down my dad thought I was crazy.

But then I saw the scrum and the roosters won it and as soon as I saw Nuuausala dive onto the ball (I had never seen a scrum being won against the feed) I couldn't believe it My heart was pounding I was so anxious there was like 100 passes and it finally went to Anasta who was in Position to kick a field goal and as soon as he kicked it I felt numb.

I couldn't look at the replay after about a 30 seconds I said to my self we can still win this it's only golden point then after 20 excruciating minutes of Extra-time I see Fulton throw a 10 metre pass and it got intercepted by Shaun Kenny-Dowall I just couldn't believe it I was literally screaming out no no no! I saw Dwyer flying trying to get him and he was so close! I just felt depressed and went into my bed and slept.

My first ever live game that I went to was back in 2010 I went with my dad when we where Verusing the Dragons in the Prelim. I didn't even have a jersey back then so I just bought an orange and black shirt I cheered my heart out all game
As soon as Soward kicked that field goal to get 1 point ahead of us I was like who cares Benji will level the scores up there is still 7 mins left, 7 Minutes had gone by and still they where leading.
2 weeks in a row I just felt numb it was a horrible horrible feeling I can't even describe it.

Then in 2011 I went to a game against the Knights with my dad I forget which round it was and we were losing by 6 with 7 to go and we were on the Knights Try-line and Farah got the ball late in the tackle count and threw a 15 metre pass to Fulton who saw a gap and ran straight through it to score and level the scores up, there was still a couple of minutes left and the scores we're still locked up and Farah was on our 40 and went for a 40/20 and just missed and kicked it out on the full so the Knights got a penalty and had the ball inside our 30, I knew they where going to go for a field goal I was sitting right in front of the posts where the bench's are they where lining up to take a field goal Gidley was in Position to take the ball to kick a field goal someone threw it to him and it just slipped out of his hands and went forward I cheered so bloody hard and 20 thousand people cheered with me.

I thought to myself we are still in this it went to golden point Farah had the ball on the knights 20 metre line and did the quickest kick ever and it went straight through the posts I don't think I screamed/Roared so hard in my life the crowd was roaring it felt like there was 40 thousand people there not 20 thousand.

I remember another game We where verusing the Warriors in the Semis and we were winning by 2 with 4 mins to go and a bomb goes up I though Tuqiri would catch it easily but Inu came flying he hit the ball backwards into Tuqiri and it bounced off his chest and fell on to the ground Inu was on the ground he saw the ball picked it up and put it right on the tryline. I was on the couch I looked at my dad and he looked at me and we where just shocked we couldn't believe it after the game he said to me in a smart alecky voice last year you lost by 1 point this year by 2 point I reckon next year it will be by 3, I gave him a sarcastic laugh.

Then in 2012 I went to the game Against Crounulla in round 1 it took only 1 and a half minutes for us to score it was the quickest try I had ever seen then with 4 to go the sharks were leading by 4 with 4 to go and Beau Ryan got the ball 20 metres out from the sharks line and grubbered for himself and scored to lock the scores up the game went into golden point when Benji missed the conversion from the side-line a couple of minutes into golden point Marshall got the ball from 40 metres out and smashed it right through the posts to win it I went crazy and just clapped and screamed as hard as I could I don't really remember alot about 2012 and Tbh I don't really want to.

In 2013 I didn't go to a game in 2013 i was either to busy or couldn't be bother like 2012 i wanted to forget 2013 but how could I with so many magnificent tries from Nofoaluma and Simona we scored alot of great tries that year and then the long awaited debut of Luke Brooks I watched the game on tv Brooks terrorised the Dragons all game he set up 2 tries and scored one himself.

In 2014 not much to say about 2014 just yet but lets hope there will be soon.

And that's my Wests Tigers (Long) Story
What's yours?

 

[alex]

My old man was a Wests supporter (grew up around Lidcombe Oval) so I followed them as a kid. I grew up in the Inner West so Balmain was always my second team. The merger was perfect.

 

[tiger_jim]

Started following the tigers in 1954 so it was quite easy to be a west tiger as west were my second team,seen some great teams in that time and some bad teams but never once considered not supported them. The worst time loosing the 89 grand final the best the 05 grand final win,and looking forward to many more years supporting the tigers come what may .

 

[Newtown]

I originally followed Newtown from the mid sixties and have some very good memories of them. Their best year whilst I was following them was 1981 when they made the grand final against Parramatta. However by 1983 Newtown were out of the first grade competition but for the next few years I continued my interest in rugby league without following any particularly team. I have been living in Concord since the mid 80's and in 1988 I turned to coaching junior rugby league for Burwood United. Around this time one of their products, Tim Brasher, who was finishing his last year with the club was signed with Balmain. I followed his progress with Balmain and this led to my allegiance with Balmain and of course later on, Wests Tigers. The first team I coached at Burwood United were good enough to become undefeated premiers that year. Their captain was a young kid named Mark O'Halloran who went on to play first grade as a centre for Wests Tigers during the time Terry Lamb was coach.

 

[Demps]

My story….. take a minute to read, lol.
Not as long as original post though.
\
\
Growing up, never really followed any team.
Liked the Balmain & Bears jerseys purely for no reason.

Liked watching Fitler and Johns play but rarely watched entire games on TV, only in person.

When I moved to Newcastle from QLD, when I was in primary school.
I was the new kid but there was another new kid, who had moved up from West Syd.
We became best friends and he was a tigers supporter.

Still a good friend to this day and we go to some games in Newcastle from time to time.
I got tickets for the tigers vs knights game last year and my Mrs was working and couldn't come, so me and him went.

He seemed like he doesn't really support the tigers anymore.
Kinda just watches the game and gets involved in gambling and tipping.
Defo think he likes the game but is more involved with other things now.... such as drugs.
Good bloke tho.

There ya go

 

[innsaneink]

This was the view from my front yard as a kid growing up, left is Wests Leagues, right is Ashfield BHS, we wore black & white ties and our grey school jumpers had b&w trim

In those day you followed the local team

Jim Murphy - Magpies 2nd rower and his mates collected our garbage on their Ashfield council truck, players worked in them days


I decided long before I got to high school I was a Magpie


Went to primary school at Five Dock, Balmain territory

I was a Wests junior, played for a club at Enfield called Holman Juniors, the club was formed in honor of this bloke.


Lost interest a bit when they moved to Cambo, I eventually ended up in the beachside suburbs….but always followed them

2000- took me a couple of years to really get into WTs, probably from about 03 onwards

 

[BrissieTiger67]

Growing up Lennox Head NSW but immigrated from Scotland none of my family were in to rugby league but one of my teachers was a huge EELS fan so I started watching NRL. It was May 2005 and I loved the way the Tigers played. The flamboyant and creative attack was amazing to watch as a 15year old and the year ended amazing as we all know. Since then its been a rollercoaster watching a team rise and fall and I have had so many heart attack moments that I would not trade for anything. I love watching this team on the weekend and reading and chatting on the forum about the game and player movements during the week.

I am expecting my first child in October and have already got a wests tigers tshirt for them and can't wait to take them to a game in the future. :sign:

 

[tig_prmz]

Moved to Australia in 05- like the animal tigers.
Wasn't much into NRL until later though

Have always only had bad experiences with the tigers.

Loved hodgo as a player but when I really started to get into the tigers he went to super league.

Then moved to Liverpool and started liking them even more- tuiaki became my favourite player- he got injured.

2010-11 I had my hsc so didn't really follow tigers much.

Only been to a couple of tigers game and they've lost both. Got ready to go to the rabbits game this year but didn't find transport so I missed out on one of our greatest wins in recent history.

Overall not a good experience with the tigers though love this forum- learnt a lot from here tbh. To you guys, schoolboys like milky tigersman etx may see annoying but from my experience they learn a lot from here.

UP THE TIGERS!

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[Tigersman]

Moved to Australia in 05- like the animal tigers.
Wasn't much into NRL until later though

Have always only had bad experiences with the tigers.

Loved hodgo as a player but when I really started to get into the tigers he went to super league.

Then moved to Liverpool and started liking them even more- tuiaki became my favourite player- he got injured.

2010-11 I had my hsc so didn't really follow tigers much.

Only been to a couple of tigers game and they've lost both. Got ready to go to the rabbits game this year but didn't find transport so I missed out on one of our greatest wins in recent history.

Overall not a good experience with the tigers though love this forum- learnt a lot from here tbh. To you guys, schoolboys like milky tigersman etx may see annoying but from my experience they learn a lot from here.

UP THE TIGERS!

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Don't worry my friend you will have alot of good experiences with the tigers in the coming years we are in a Blooding phase atm in the next 2-3 years we will be Premiership contenders.

 

[Easy_Tiger]

Started following Balmain Tigers in the mid 80,s just a little kid from QLD sat through the 88-89 grand finals cried like a baby in the 89 gf… 2005 was the best night of my life . Can't wait till we make another gf so these bloody Broncos lovers here in a Brisbane don't believe 2005 was a fluke :frowning:

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[Easy_Tiger]

Started following Balmain Tigers in the mid 80,s just a little kid from QLD sat through the 88-89 grand finals cried like a baby in the 89 gf… 2005 was the best night of my life . Can't wait till we make another gf so these bloody Broncos lovers here in a Brisbane don't believe 2005 was a fluke :frowning:

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By the way both my parents are Tasmanian & moved to Qld 38yrs ago with my 2 brothers & 2 sisters … One of my brothers is also a massive Tigers fan lives in Yeppoon in central Qld.

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[Cultured_Bogan]

I follow this club because I enjoy high blood pressure, transient ishaemic attacks and heart arrythmia.

 

[Tim Sheens]

I originally followed Newtown from the mid sixties and have some very good memories of them. Their best year whilst I was following them was 1981 when they made the grand final against Parramatta. However by 1983 Newtown were out of the first grade competition but for the next few years I continued my interest in rugby league without following any particularly team. I have been living in Concord since the mid 80's and in 1988 I turned to coaching junior rugby league for Burwood United. Around this time one of their products, Tim Brasher, who was finishing his last year with the club was signed with Balmain. I followed his progress with Balmain and this led to my allegiance with Balmain and of course later on, Wests Tigers. The first team I coached at Burwood United were good enough to become undefeated premiers that year. Their captain was a young kid named Mark O'Halloran who went on to play first grade as a centre for Wests Tigers during the time Terry Lamb was coach.

Long story posted in an earlier thread, but basically a Tiger supporter in both forms for as long as I can remember, literally. The first memory of my life is the 1969 grand final day.

Newtown. Not sure about your side, but the Burwood one that included Brasher was a good one. I was coaching on the Balmain side the year that the competitions merged (at least that age group) and we came up against that team and got done ninety six to nil first up. A few of his teammates also went on to play grade and some firsts, one a half or five eight for the chooks.

The score differential slowly decreased, and I think we finally notched up a win against them near the end of the third season, after many early hidings. We had one kid who IMO better than the lot of them, sadly he had bum shoulders that never allowed him to continue, despite his willingness to play with pain.

 

[NJLM78]

I was a Balmain supporter but didn't move to Sydney till 2000 for work. I went to Leichhardt Oval for the first time early that year to watch the newly merged WT first game there. A narrow win over the Raiders. I went to every game I could that year. I thought we were going to make the semis! I became a WT member or season ticket holder (as it was then) in 2001 and have sat in the same seat at LO ever sense. They have moved me around at Campbelltown a few times. I was fortunate enough to be at all of semi finals and gf in 2005\. Found this forum in about 2008 and this has really added to my knowledge an insight of the Tigers.

 

[kingbeej]

I was hypnotised by wests tigers stickers and posters all over my brother's room from when i was little but I never really watched them much… until he told me to watch this guy called Benji - my first memory of the tigers being his sidestepping try and no look pass against the Sharks. I was a fan from then and ended up going to the final in 2005 as a 10 year old. I got a jersey and 9 year later I'm purchasing tickets to the first leichardt game of the year with our next new half prodigy!

 

[Newtown]

@formerguest:

Newtown. Not sure about your side, but the Burwood one that included Brasher was a good one. I was coaching on the Balmain side the year that the competitions merged (at least that age group) and we came up against that team and got done ninety six to nil first up. A few of his teammates also went on to play grade and some firsts, one a half or five eight for the chooks.

The side I was coaching was quite a few years younger than the Brasher side you are talking about so I don't know too much about it. The one thing I do remember though was that Brasher was so keen on playing footy wherever and whenever that he would often play in a Rugby competition match on the day before he was to play for the Burwood junior team. Needless to say that his Burwood coach wasn't impressed with this idea.

 

[Flippedy]

I originally followed Newtown from the mid sixties and have some very good memories of them. Their best year whilst I was following them was 1981 when they made the grand final against Parramatta. However by 1983 Newtown were out of the first grade competition but for the next few years I continued my interest in rugby league without following any particularly team. I have been living in Concord since the mid 80's and in 1988 I turned to coaching junior rugby league for Burwood United. Around this time one of their products, Tim Brasher, who was finishing his last year with the club was signed with Balmain. I followed his progress with Balmain and this led to my allegiance with Balmain and of course later on, Wests Tigers. The first team I coached at Burwood United were good enough to become undefeated premiers that year. Their captain was a young kid named Mark O'Halloran who went on to play first grade as a centre for Wests Tigers during the time Terry Lamb was coach.

Ah I loved going to Henson Park to see Wests play the old Bluebags! My uncle was a big Newtown supporter, he used to drive into the ground and watch the games sitting in his car :laughing: I also went to that 1981 GF, great match -Tommy scored his try right in front of me. I thought Newtown were going to go on and win after that, but then the Eels backline clicked into gear 😱pen_mouth: I took forever to get home that day for some reason :wink:

Back on topic, I tentatively started following Wests Tigers from their inception, after supporting the Magpies since I was about 4 years old. Initially, I wasn't real happy with the merger, but I reasoned that it was better than total demise, like Newtown, and I certainly preferred it to be with Balmain, rather than Canterbury or Parra. It didn't take too long for them to get into my blood and now I support them in the exact same manner, with the exact same passion as I did the Magpies for all those years beforehand.

 

[Stripes96]

My Father grew up in Balmain, and so did his father, so naturally, they were both Balmain supporters. I was brainwashed from birth, basically. The earliest memory I have of footy is a PS2 NRL game that my Dad bought in 2003 for my 7th birthday. Didn't really know much about what was going on, but apparently the Tigers were supposed to be my team, so they were simply that. My team.

Haven't looked back since.

First games I can remember going to were when we spanked Souths 50-something (I can't remember the exact year) and then rolling North Queensland a few games before the semis of 05\. I remember being at my Grandparents' place decked out in black, white and gold (most of them were just in black and gold, being former Balmain supporters) for the 05 final, and screaming the house down when Patty scored off 'that' pass.

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[Guest]

I remember turning on the TV on a Sunday arvo back in 'nam…1986 to be exact! Anyway it turns out Balmain were playing the Bulldogs and were well on top. I didn't really know anything about league then but I liked the colour of their jersey and started to follow Balmain from that point. I remember them winning the Panasonic Cup in 87...good times.

Anyway I never felt any animosity towards Wests, so I was happy to follow the merger and despite the mostly tough times, I've never turned coat.

 

[Tiger_Watto]

I've been a Tiger since I was 7… Not the Sydney type, but the Brisbane type from Eastern Suburbs Tigers at Scott Park [juniors] and then onto Langlands Park [seniors]. Through many years of playing with the Tiger Emblem on my chest with pride, Balmain was a natural progression from the late 80's when the Brisbane Broncos ruined the old BRL by selling out to the NSWRL.

We hardly ever watched NSWRL prior to the Broncos up here, and I think we only got the ABC Saturday Arvo game with Warren Boland as the commentator? Sunday Football would be played out of Lang Park between some of the fierce rivalries from around Brisbane. Wynumm vs Redcliffe; Easts vs Souths; Wests vs Norths were the traditional rivalries which filled our screens every week.

Anyway, as the merger was announced, I basically stopped supporting a team as I hated the Magpies [Souths] & Wests [Panthers] the most out of all the Brisbane teams. I had many mates who played for Brisbane, but throughout the whole period, I never supported them from a football team perspective. They ruined my local league, and Uncle Wayne didn't like me from my Schoolboy years. [holds a grudge that old bugger]

By the time the 2003 season came around, my boy was turning 2 and had many questions about who do I support if I don't like the Broncos. [we raised him as a bronco supporter being born in QLD]. After I told him "I'm a Tiger", he secretly asked his mum if he could buy dad a Tiger Jumper. From there, I would start to watch and got in the swing of supporting the Tigers. By the end of the 2003 season, I was in love again and have continued my love for the Tigers until today.

FIRE UP TIGERS!!!