I Was There That Day....

Those of you who live in WA may remember a series of SGIO ads a few years ago with Ernie Dingo in them. They involved him reflecting on a great onfield moment in the Eagles' history and he finished with....."I was there that day."

I had my own "I was there that day" moment when we went to see the Eagles play the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium. We honestly didn't go expecting to win. Why would we? They had lost their last 19 away matches or something ridiculous. No, we were going for the atmosphere, to support them in the unholy land, to rile some Vics perhaps.....;)

We caught the tram into Melbourne hours early, me wearing my Eagles' jacket of course. No sooner had we sat down when a loud voice behind us said, "The Eagles are going to lose!"

I turned to see a man probably in his 60s grinning at me, a bottle of Cooper's in his hand. Physically, he reminded me a lot of Michael Caine and his laisez faire attitude to drinking on public transport didn't diminish as the journey went on. We turned around and started talking to him and he reckoned we should be commended for coming all the way to Victoria to see the Eagles play. Even as more and more people got on the tram, it wasn't hard to hear him. He had the loudest voice of anyone I had ever met and was obviously already as pissed as a parrot, telling us that he had drank all the night before and now had to keep drinking to avoid a hangover (!) We overheard him telling someone else how he'd been fined twice in one night for street drinking.

We spent a few hours shopping and eating in the city and I saw SO MANY Eagles' supporters and only about two Bulldogs' supporters before we headed to the stadium. It was a sign! :)

Although there were only roughly 22,000 people at the game, it was a terrific atmosphere. Everyone supported who they wanted to support and there was no aggro at all, except the Bulldogs' fans sure let the umpires know they didn't like some of their decisions.

The Eagles' amazing start shocked me and when the Bulldogs came back, I thought it was only going to be another three quarter effort. But my boys fought on and when they won, it was an unbelievably joyous feeling after such a bleak season.

So when people talk about Saturday 8th August when the Eagles broke their 19 away game losing streak, I can say......."I was there that day!" :)

Docklands.

Pre-game warmup.

Practising their goalkicking. They were surprisingly accurate that day.

Woosha and co.

Yeah right they did....haha!

Here come the boys!

Bullies coming through their banner.

Quarter time huddle.

A heartstopping victory.

Joy for the Eagles. Heartbreak for the Bulldogs.

We took a photo of the scoreboard....just to prove we were really there :)