South Australians supporting Victorian-based teams

[Hondo]

One thing this site has opened my eyes to is how many South Australians stuck with their VFL team rather than jump on either the Crows or Power bandwagons. Well done for your loyalty.

But I wonder if this is a generational thing ... ie, how many people's kids don't go for the Crows or Power?

I have a Port Power mate who is horrified because his 6 year-old supports the Crows (since they went out to his school). I also have a Crows mate whose son is about to be written out of the will for choosing the Power. But no-one reports their kids going for Essendon.

How many of you are managing to keep your kids away from the Crows or Power?

[Sojourner]

As a kid I barracked for Carlton because Mark Naley played for them, I didnt really know a whole lot about VFL football though, after Mark Naley returned to SA, I began to barrack for Geelong, my reason for barracking for Geelong was the way I idolised Gary Ablett because I felt he was the greatest ever footballer and that he was open about his Christian belief, I as a Salvo understood where he was comming from.

Still, when the Crows were founded and various South players were picked to play for them I could hardly not support the Crows, so I barracked for both until a few years ago when after the retirement of Mark Bickley. These days I dont feel that the connection between South and the Crows is all that strong, so I dont feel the same enthusiasm to barrack for the Crows. Resultantly I have picked up the slack with Geelong, helped by the fact of the name Ablett being back there again!

It would not bother me if my children were to go for the Crows, that would be fine. Port wouldent be though! I also dont think I would be enthusiastic about them supporting another interstate team either. I think if you want to encourage your kids to barrack for your team, invest the time into your kids, take them to the games and training, let them get autographs and form a real connection with your team! The lad who switched from the Power to the Crows, I am sure that if he was taken along to Power training and got to be a part of what is going on he would soon be a dyed in the wool Power fan!

[Rik E Boy]

My son barracks for Melbourne. Poor kid, he should have paid attention to his old man stressing out following a side that hasn't won a flag for 40 years. Originally he barracked for the Crows, had a jumper and everything but he switched to Melbourne. His favourite player is Aaron Davey and my son always razzes me about Maloney whenever he gets a kick against the Cats.

regards,

REB

[Dutchy]

The Roos got me in the 80's when as a kid i loved watching Friday night footy and the Krakour brothers amazed me...Matty larkin was my favourite also...

My son has only just turned 4 and Im expecting issues once he begins school...at the end of the day it will be his choice however at the moment he loves the Bays and Roos and can knows all the words to the club songs...although had a tough time Saturday night when Richmond ran onto the field and he heard "yellow and black" and saw the "Tigers"...I was going to explain but just went with it!!!

It will be good for his character not to just follow the sheep at school....mid you I will confess until I was 8 I was Norwood fan from the influence of my father...until I started at Glenelg Primary and lived 500m from the ground!!!

[Jimmy]

i remember when the crows came into the league and i didnt want to be a part of it. Sturt man thru and thru. I was 10 in 91 and i think i had a soft spot for carlton coz they were the blues. BUt a few years after that, the saints got me thru plugger and dad was also a fan of them too.

rarely give a shit about the afl but will follow the saints scores in the paper and if they were on tv would watch if i was around.

i despise the cows and puffs....cant ******* stand them and the sheep that followed them and forgot the greatest footy league in the world.

in the early days, i used to laugh at the sea of morons who donned those pathetic oversized yellow hats with the big fat red 'A' on it...couldnt think of a larger bunch of nerds in one area at one time.

now the wankers with the 'parrrrrhr' hats have taken that mantle.

[Jimmy]

sorry for the rant....

[JK]

I guess I'm in a similar position to Sojourner ... I started following Collingwood in the early 80's because Michael Taylor went there - It seemed to remain a club that concentrated on recruiting from Norwood (Kelly, Francis, Kemp, Pascoe, James, Wasley, Patterson, Pitt, Burns etc) so I continued to support them.

When the Crows came in, I had a similar dilemma as they too had a component of Norwood players.

Nowadays, with so many players scattered throughout the comp (some of which you don't even see in a Norwood guernsey prior to departure) I don't really feel a connection with any club.

[Blue Boy]

I really didnt follow the VFL as it was when I was a kid but as a Sturt supporter I probably had a little bit of a soft spot for Carlton as they were the Blues as well.

Unlike Jim when the Crows entered the competition I was going to call them my team in the VFL/AFL as they were a South Australian team. As a staunch South Aussie I wanted to derive pleasure out of beating teams from any other state and especially the Victorian Teams and in the early days there wasnt to much pleasure comin my way as we would get smashed @ the cattery / Moorabbin / Vic Park etc etc.

I rekon its great that people stayed with there VFL teams if they supported them pre Crows cause I couldnt live with out the banter so to speak.

FWIW I still always go to Sturt games before I would go to a Crows games - I am a Member of Sturt and not the Crows and although the 97 & 98 premierships were awesome to be at and enjoy the parties after - nothing will ever ever ever surpass the 2002 premiership and its memories of that day and the next few days after !!! Well maybe the next Sturt premiership may

[Aerie]

As a kid I went for West Coast because they were the Eagles and they weren't Victorian. Followed the Crows when they came in and immediately got rid of West Coast.

Now I'm definitely a Crows fan, but no where near as passionate as I am with the SANFL. I have a soft spot for Hawthorn (that's where my family first went when they came over on the ships from the mother country) and Sydney (had a great uncle play for South Melb and Mum's side are all from Sydney).

When I have kids they WILL be WWT Eagles supporters and I'm sure they'll follow the Crows as well. Like Soujourner says, I'm sure if you invest enough time in taking them to games and the club and brainwashing them with merchandise they'll stay loyal. Of course it would be hard to persuade a young kid to go for a Vic team in this state with the overload of Crows and Power propaganda.

[smac]

Followed the bombers for as long as I can remember and mini smac does the same now. Have managed to educate him well, despite a wharfie mum.

Has one wall of his room covered in dogs posters, another in bombers posters.

[PortAdelaideProud]

I was born in Perth and lived there til I was 10. Back then, I knew basically nothing about footy, pretty much all I knew was a goal was worth 6 points. That was it. Me and my mother moved to Berri in 1997, the Port Adelaide began playing in the AFL. My mother always said that when the AFL see the light, and bring Port into the comp, she would support them. I could've kept supporting the Eagles, but I became a Port supporter. 11 years later, my love for the footy club, both the Power and Magpies, is stronger than ever.

[Wedgie]

My son barracks for Geelong and my daughter did too at one stage before Mrs Wedgie put down the foot and insisted someone also follow the Crows with here!
Looking at the lack of Power guernseys at the local Auskick its good to see kids in my area aren't following them. There's actually more Cats guernses than Power guernseys (but there's umpteen Crows guernseys).

[Punk Rooster]

Flirted with-
Sydney (red & white)
Essendon (went to a final in '83)
Fitzroy (Dad's team)
Brisbane Bears/West Coast Eagles (novelty factor in their first year, also M Campbell playing for BB)
Wasn't a huge follower of these sides as such, North were (& still are) #1.
In 1988, I started following Collingwood- Darren Millane & Mick McGuane were favourites, the Pies had a similar jumper to North at the time (albeit Black instead of Red).
I stuck with them ever since, although I did initially suppport the concept of the Crows- novelty factor I guess, but with a very strong Glenelg flavour, & with Cornes getting the job over Nunan, that was enough to keep me away. Also the saturation marketing of the players/club, the trendies who started attending Crows games was enough to make me vomit.

[JK]

Who haven't you flirted with Punky?

I see you've had an interest in a few clubs aswell!!

[Benchwarmer]

My link to Sturt comes from being a Carlton member as a six-year old when Carlton and Sturt had reciprocal membership rights in the 70s and 80s, reinforced by the recruitment of Peter Motley in 1986.

I used to read the scores in the paper each week and hoped that the Double Blues would manage to break their long run of wooden spoons.

My grandfather took me regularly to Carlton games from 1979 to 1986 (he couldn't bear the though of interstate sides in the VFL and never went again) so I saw the Blues win the 79 flag as a 5 year old. I still hold that link despite rarely going to matches since the early 90s.

When I moved to Perth late last year, the guys at work tried to "westernise" me but I couldn't contemplate doing it and now I follow the team via the ABC's radio commentaries on 6WF.

Oddly enough, I dropped my state cricket allegiances like a stone. I didn't think much of the Bushrangers but I moved here and when the WACA pays your wages it's only natural to show loyalty to the cause!

[Hondo]

I was a North Adelaide supporter (following my dad) through my early footy-following days in the 80s and was interested in the VFL without ever being passionate about any one team altho my favourite team was Geelong. But apart from seeing the odd game on TV I had no emotional ties to the Cats so there was no loyalty to break when the Crows started. So I adopted the Crows as my team, SA's AFL side to stick it up the Victorians. It was made up of SANFL players I had followed closely up till then and I wanted to see them do well. It never entered my mind to go for a Victorian side ahead of the Crows.

Been a passionate supporter ever since. So am a bit sensitive to the generalisations that go around re Crows supporters. I made my own decision, I wasn't influenced by marketing and I still followed the SANFL & the Roosters closely - didn't abandon the SANFL at all.

My dad is still passionate about North mostly and is interested in the Crows but nowhere near a passionate supporter. In fact he hates the Power more than he likes the Crows.

[redden whites]

I can't understand how you can follow a team from childhood to dump them cos one joins the league a little closer to home .

I also dont understand all the talk about the Crows v Power rivalry then come finals time once one is knocked out they all seem to jump on the so called hated cross town rival because they are also based locally.

[Psyber]

I had a soft spot for Hawthorn as a kid, basically because I liked the brown and gold colour combination, but I was never seriously interested inthe VFL. Collingwood were sort of acceptable because of the high Norwood contingent.

In the SANFL, when very young I said I barracked for Sturt because I liked blue, then swapped to Glenelg because I liked the palindrome. At primary school the locals had been Torrens [Eagles] supporters and I identified with them, as to that stage I had never been to a match. However my father had played for Moonta, so he followed the red and blues in Adelaide, my older sister went to football with him, and later she took me with her so I only ever went to Norwood matches and became a Norwood supporter.

So, come the AFL the Crows were it because they were not Port!

[Sojourner]

I can't understand how you can follow a team from childhood to dump them cos one joins the league a little closer to home

Interesting question, yet remember that for most of us in here our "team" is our SANFL club, following of VFL sides was always a secondary concern and many people would very likely not have had the opportunity to see that VFL side play in person as a kid.

I can see that sending your child to the local school dominated by Crows and Power fans could well be difficult, I know that people struggle with finances also, yet I think that it is an important thing for a Dad to make an effort to take his kids to see interstate footy at least once a year if there is any way that can become possible. Those trips are often the highlights of a kids childhood. No doubt any kid taken to see his old mans club play in Vic is going to have a great time and feel a real sense of connection to that club!

[Hondo]

I can't understand how you can follow a team from childhood to dump them cos one joins the league a little closer to home

Interesting question, yet remember that for most of us in here our "team" is our SANFL club, following of VFL sides was always a secondary concern and many people would very likely not have had the opportunity to see that VFL side play in person as a kid.

Well said Sojourner ... that's exactly it. For a lot of us our interest in the VFL was just that .. an interest only. We had teams we liked or favourite players but never saw them live, never had any team-merchandise, weren't members, etc. Our passion was our SANFL club. The Crows were the SANFL's representative side in the AFL so many of us chose them as our first 'VFL' team to really embrace as a supporter rather than an observer.

On the other hand, some of us were clearly very passionate in our support of a VFL team so understandably stuck with that rather than jump ship. I feel that non-Crows supporters label us as bandwagon-jumpers who abandoned the SANFL and/or a VFL team, which just isn't true in a lot of cases.