« The Dream Is Alive | Main | It begins »
January 18, 2006
What Would Jebus Do? BURN SOME SHIT DOWN THAT'S WHAT
I am forever in shame that from about five rounds into 1995 until halfway through 1997 I fell out of love with football. I blame the delisting of Allen Jakovich, I really do. Once the great man was gone I showed up and realised that it just wasn't the same without him kicking 5.6, having an argument with somebody and getting injured. Didn't help that I was 14 years and probably spending Saturday afternoons sleazing onto myself. And thus it was that I ended up watching the Hawthorn merger fiasco from the sidelines.
Seems ludicrous now, but it was probably Don Scott ripping velcro Hawks off Melbourne jumpers that saved us. Rampant stacking of the vote and apathetic knobbery caused our members to vote for it, and if you think we're ever going to hear the end of that you're sorely deluded. In 2056 we'll win the flag - at last - and it'll be "Yeah, but you voted to merge!"
The point of this is that I saw the R22, 1996 game against Hawthorn for the first time ever last night and it looked like nobody cared that both clubs were about to be dicked. Granted most of the people in the ground were probably bleeding about it but where were the mass protests, sit ins on the ground and threatening banners reading "MFC BOARD: WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE"? Just a few dinky "No Merger" signs being waved around. I'd like to go back in time and just lose the plot. Organise a mass pitch invasion when Dunstall kicked his 100th and refuse to leave. Burn effigies of the board etc..
Do you think we'd so apathetic now? I'd like to think not.
Your memories of the time please. Fill me in on what people were thinking, and what was going on. Would Danny O'Brien have gotten a guernsey in a merged squad?
Posted by Supermercado in MFC History at January 18, 2006 09:27 AM
Comments
Could never understand the logic being presented by both clubs of the benefits of the merger.
If both clubs management were so inept that they were unable to deal with the issues of no money, no sponsors, no members and no recent success (Melb), huge financial questions hanging over them(Hawth), and no future, why the hell would you trust them to run the new merged identity any differently.
Surely 1 basket case + 1 basket case = totally hopeless huge basket case.
Posted by: Spirit of 26 at January 24, 2006 03:23 PM
I was only ten at the time, but in response to asking where the mass protests were, I think nobody thought that the merger would really happen, that we would all be at the MCG next year. It was like this: "who the hell would vote their club out of existence?" I only personally knew one person who wanted a merger, and he was being a bit silly about it (no, he wasn't anywhere near my age, but he was formerly a Richmond fan).
I also spoke to my Uncle, a very passionate Melbourne supporter, not too long ago about the merger and whether he would still follow Melbourne after it, and he feels that even if we merged, which would be devastating for him (you should see his all of the superstitions he carries out in the week leading up to a game... if he doesn't do them all, it is guaranteed that we will lose... we're only in it if he does whatever he needs to do, like watch the replay of the match, turn the radio on to a certain radio station every morning, etc., etc.) he would still support Melbourne. That is simply because we have the name "Melbourne", and any club that merges with us would be swallowed up, much like Fitzroy to Brisbane. It was always the Hawthorn members who had more to lose.
But as for the match itself, it would have to be one of the most memorable matches I've attended (probably second to the 2004 Queen's Birthday clash where I really got stuck into the atmosphere and the fantastic comeback... thought we had no chance sometime into the last quarter for that one). I have no idea what it looked like on television, but I was there in the red seats in the Olympic Stand and I'm sure we got stuck into it, because it was the most heart-wrenching match I have been to, and that can't happen without the rest of the crowd reciprocating your feelings, surely?
To top it all off, the match was fairly even and even though on paper the score shows the match was climatic, it really wasn't like that. It was anti-climatic and frustration, because from memory we needed only one goal to win the match. Just that one string of play that was brilliant enough to get it down there and win the match, right on the diren. But Hawthorn kept punching the ball out for a throw-in. These days it would be paid deliberate. Heart-wrenching stuff indeed.
Posted by: J Demon at January 27, 2006 01:16 AM