We moved to Perth in 1998.
Right into Eagles heart-land as it turned out - walking distance to Subiaco oval - the Eagle's nest as it was known locally.
We (well, the Doc really) wanted to go to the football, to support the local team ... but there was no way he could ever support the Eagles ... and so we joined the purple army.
The Dockers weren't easy to support - game after game they kicked woefully, made ridiculous errors and they lost - over and over again.
Slowly but surely their haplessness captured our hearts. We became the ultimate optimists...believing that one day they'd be good enough.
We've continued to watch and barrack from afar. We've indoctrinated the kids too - the purple team was an easy sell for the girls but Jack has been a little harder to convince (for a few years the girls were convinced they were called the "doctors" and that's why we barracked for them).
We only get to about one game a year now.
This year we travelled to Launceston and watched them get thrashed by the Hawks.
It felt like the same-old/same-old. The optimism was getting hard to hold onto.
Tomorrow they get a chance to change all that.
They play in their first grand-final ever and we couldn't be more excited.
The Doc is going to the game (he pre-purchased the chance to go the GF in March.... quietly confident that they had the goods this year) and the kids and I will wear purple and cheer loudly from here.
It still feels almost surreal that they are there. That the hapless, inept team (with the big purple heart) of a decade ago are playing for the flag. Really, I'm just so amazed that they're there that the result doesn't matter...that much!
Are you a football fan?
Who are you barracking for tomorrow?
♥
:) I'm totally going for Freo tomorrow! I'm a West Coast supporter (born in WA before the Dockers were around) I haven't seen a lot of this season...for obvious reasons...BUT I am so proud of the dockers...I hope it's a great game and you and your family enjoy cheering them on tomorrow x
ReplyDeleteI can't say I am.. I was planning to go to Melbourne this weekend and meet some of my stores until I saw the hotel prices !!
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ReplyDeleteNot really into football but I quite like watching the Grand Final. Supporting Freo tomorrow, just because!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean... I didn't care at all about yesterday's result... I was just over the moon the Dockers had made it to the Grand Final... a huge achievement in itself I think :)
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