Yes that is correct that I supported Geelong in the VFL prior to the comming of the AFL and the inclusion of the Crows in the competition. When the Crows began I changed teams to the Crows, not unlike most people in S.A.
In the Graham Cornes days of the Crows I went often, and was absolutley ecstatic when Mark Bickley led the Crows their first Grand Final in 97, 98 was great as well!
Yet it was after the second grand final win that I began to lose interest in Football altogether. I dont know why, I think it was external things that were going on in my life at the time, My Grandfather died and footy was a thing that he and I shared and without him around it just wasnt the same, by the end of the year I wasnt watching any AFL nor SANFL footy, this went on for several years, my commitment to footy was reading the scores in Mondays paper and feeling happy if South had won and sad if they had not!
At the start of last year I decided that I wanted to take back up my membership to the South Adelaide Football Club, I then began going back to watching Panther games again when I could get there. Watching the Panthers play brought back many good memories and it was from there that I started watching Crows games again. Yet most of the old Panthers had moved on from the Crows, sure Torney is there, yet there was a day when the list had names like - Koster, Smart, Bickley, etc who were from the Panthers, rather than being allocated to the Panthers by the Crows.
At the same time I started taking an interest in the Ablett Family and the Geelong FC, I began to take much pleasure in seeing them do well and I realised that I enjoyed watching Geelong more than the Crows. Over summer I was somewhat concerned at what was happening at Geelong because I thought that what Frank Costa was doing for the club was the right thing, so I took a membership to the Cats. Whereas I did not have a membership to the Crows.
I admit that it was a rocky transition over, watching the Crows play the Cats certainly tugged at the heartstrings somewhat! Yet I feel a lot more connection to Geelong than I do to the Crows. Had I have continued to support the Crows closely after 98 that probably would be different yet that is how it went down and led me to where I am today.
I would like to point out however that South Adelaide is my team over any other sporting team in the world. I realise that for many people are the reverse that their AFL club is their predominant team and their SANFL club a secondary concern. If I had a choice between seeing Geelong win a Grand Final as opposed to seeing South Adelaide win a Grand Final, Geelong would not rate a second thought, the ultimate passion for me is the Panthers above all others.
