Raw Toast
06-02-2008, 10:06 PM
Thought I'd share some fantastic stories that a Bulldogs barracker called Steve Campbell told me when I interviewed him for the PhD I'm writing on footy barrackers. It's still the time of year for stories and Steve was kind enough to give me permission to post this on WOOF.
Steve's family immigrated to Australia as "ten pound poms" in 1951 and lived and worked in the Western suburbs for much of his life. Unfortunately he was too young to experience much of or remember 1954 (his mother saw the red, white and blue streamers and thought there was a Royal visit she and missed. Steve's first footy memories date back to 1956, but the story I'll start off with is from 1961.
With one round to go in the home-and-away season the Bulldogs were in fifth position, but they were playing third-placed Geelong at the Western Oval in the last round, and knew that if they beat them they would replace them in the four and make the finals. This was the ladder (Melbourne, Geelong and Fitzroy had all drawn a match during the season):
HW 52 124.1
ME 46 133.7
GE 42 102.0
SK 40 117.6
FO 40 108.4
FI 38 109.1
ES 36 110.2
CA 36 96.4
CW 20 83.8
RI 20 79.4
SM 20 75.8
NM 18 78.3
So Steve was in the grandstand as a fairly young kid, and he was sitting beside a man who was a Geelong barracker. The Bulldogs started off the game slowly, but then in the second quarter came an amazing moment that Steve remembers with absolute crystal clarity.
Ted Whitten took a mark out on the EJ Smith Stand side of the ground, the outer wing and proceeded to line up for goal. The Geelong supporter took a look at what was happening and said, “ah look at the idiot, he’s going to have a shot for goal.” Although he was much younger Steve said, “he’ll kick it”, and the guy said “he couldn’t kick a goal from there”, and Steve replied “he’ll kick it!”
Whitten went back and released this drop kick that just sailed and sailed and sailed, it didn’t seem to travel particularly high, it was just this long raking drop kick that just cleared the pack in the goal square and went through for a goal. And then in the last quarter he did the same thing from almost the same position, with the same result. Steve remembers these goals as absolutely inspirational, and the Bulldogs ran out winners, by 21 points (0.3 6.6 8.10 12.12 [84] to 1.6 4.6 6.11 8.15 [63], in front of 42,015*).
Steve, who had learnt to read by bringing the Sporting Globe into his parents bed of a Sunday morning and getting his father to help him the words, recalls that the following Monday morning in the Sun Lou Richards began his article by saying that Ted Whitten beat Geelong with two drop kicks – one went 90 yards and the other went 89 yards two foot six inches.
The Bulldogs had been struggling since 54, and Steve remembers the great excitement after the game when we won and were in the finals. The rooms were absolutely jam-packed with supporters. Steve squeezed in, and then squeezed up to the front. Ted Whitten got up on a table, and stark naked, addressed the crowd. He gave a really impassioned speech about how though we had made it into the finals, our run hadn’t finished. How he was so proud of the team, they were unfancied but had got this far and wanted to go further. It was really really inspiring. Everyone went away feeling on top of the world after that win, and the scenes at the end of the game after the win. It was, in Steve's words, just a marvelous occasion, and I almost felt like I was there, listening to him describe it.
I'll write a couple of Steve's other stories up in the next few days if people want me to.
* the stats and scores are from this beaut of a website: http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1961.html#18
Steve's family immigrated to Australia as "ten pound poms" in 1951 and lived and worked in the Western suburbs for much of his life. Unfortunately he was too young to experience much of or remember 1954 (his mother saw the red, white and blue streamers and thought there was a Royal visit she and missed. Steve's first footy memories date back to 1956, but the story I'll start off with is from 1961.
With one round to go in the home-and-away season the Bulldogs were in fifth position, but they were playing third-placed Geelong at the Western Oval in the last round, and knew that if they beat them they would replace them in the four and make the finals. This was the ladder (Melbourne, Geelong and Fitzroy had all drawn a match during the season):
HW 52 124.1
ME 46 133.7
GE 42 102.0
SK 40 117.6
FO 40 108.4
FI 38 109.1
ES 36 110.2
CA 36 96.4
CW 20 83.8
RI 20 79.4
SM 20 75.8
NM 18 78.3
So Steve was in the grandstand as a fairly young kid, and he was sitting beside a man who was a Geelong barracker. The Bulldogs started off the game slowly, but then in the second quarter came an amazing moment that Steve remembers with absolute crystal clarity.
Ted Whitten took a mark out on the EJ Smith Stand side of the ground, the outer wing and proceeded to line up for goal. The Geelong supporter took a look at what was happening and said, “ah look at the idiot, he’s going to have a shot for goal.” Although he was much younger Steve said, “he’ll kick it”, and the guy said “he couldn’t kick a goal from there”, and Steve replied “he’ll kick it!”
Whitten went back and released this drop kick that just sailed and sailed and sailed, it didn’t seem to travel particularly high, it was just this long raking drop kick that just cleared the pack in the goal square and went through for a goal. And then in the last quarter he did the same thing from almost the same position, with the same result. Steve remembers these goals as absolutely inspirational, and the Bulldogs ran out winners, by 21 points (0.3 6.6 8.10 12.12 [84] to 1.6 4.6 6.11 8.15 [63], in front of 42,015*).
Steve, who had learnt to read by bringing the Sporting Globe into his parents bed of a Sunday morning and getting his father to help him the words, recalls that the following Monday morning in the Sun Lou Richards began his article by saying that Ted Whitten beat Geelong with two drop kicks – one went 90 yards and the other went 89 yards two foot six inches.
The Bulldogs had been struggling since 54, and Steve remembers the great excitement after the game when we won and were in the finals. The rooms were absolutely jam-packed with supporters. Steve squeezed in, and then squeezed up to the front. Ted Whitten got up on a table, and stark naked, addressed the crowd. He gave a really impassioned speech about how though we had made it into the finals, our run hadn’t finished. How he was so proud of the team, they were unfancied but had got this far and wanted to go further. It was really really inspiring. Everyone went away feeling on top of the world after that win, and the scenes at the end of the game after the win. It was, in Steve's words, just a marvelous occasion, and I almost felt like I was there, listening to him describe it.
I'll write a couple of Steve's other stories up in the next few days if people want me to.
* the stats and scores are from this beaut of a website: http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1961.html#18