Boy I am angry

Boy I am angry – by Dianne Waddingham (and yes I am a very proud Victorian Fremantle Supporter)

Boy I am angry.  With no disrespect meant to all the feminists out there, but the sound of Person I am angry, just does not cut it, nor have the same impact.  If you haven’t guessed how angry I am by the end of this ramble, be thankful you don’t have sound whilst you are reading this.  I’m surprised I actually have any keys left on the keyboard and I lost my voice long before I put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking of course).

Boy I am angry.  Not so long ago an AFL spokesperson  made it abundantly clear there would be no finals played at the Cattery or any other god forsaken place that is outside suburbia, with words  along the lines of …. largest possible number of people should be able to attend finals matches …therefore we use the MCG and potentially Etihad….. blah blah blah.

Boy I am angry.  The AFL in all its buffoonery then proceed to do a mighty back flip (with a double somersault and triple pike) that would have scored more than a perfect ten at the Olympics.   (I’m sure KRudd is narky that someone has taken his gold medal with an honourable mention to Abbott)!!  Not even these two can change policy as fast as the AFL and that’s saying something!!

Boy I am angry.  Initially Geelong chief Brian Cook knew nothing about this plan to host a final in the back blocks of civilisation (and apologies to all the good people who do reside and live great lives in Geelong).  Thanks to the AFL, he thinks all his Christmases, Easter Bunnies and Tooth Fairies have come at once.

Boy I am angry.  But me thinks Mr Demetriou, if there are over 42,000 Geelong members, and according to your statisticians there will be less than 1000 Fremantle members travelling (based on last year’s brilliant statistics but for the purposes of this exercise, let’s stick to 1,000 but just in case you don’t know, Freo has over 43,000 members in total) how is everyone going to fit into a stadium that will be lucky to hold 33,000 and that is being generous?  Your statistics do NOT compute!!

Boy I am angry.  Bloody Demetriou (let’s do away with pleasantries) blatantly showed his contempt for Fremantle drooling over his love child Sydney, stating if Geelong was playing Sydney the game would be at Etihad.  Can’t see why when they did not attract a full house down at Simonds only a few weeks ago.  A crowd difference during the year of approx 2,000 (between Cats Vs Swans and Cats Vs Dockers) does not equate to changing the venue to reduce the possible crowd by 20,000.  Maybe he missed a 0 on the keyboard when he decided on who played where.

Boy I am angry.  Great decision to have all finals tickets on sale at the same time.  Who thought up that fabulous idea?  Cannot see why over 85,000 members in total trying to get the 8,000 member’s tickets available would clog up the system making it near on impossible to get tickets.  Not everyone can give up their jobs and stand in a queue to have their tickets given to them.  A spokesperson for Ticketek/Ticketmaster (all the same to me) stated the site had experienced a technical glitch for half an hour earlier in the morning.  Oh please, don’t get me started with that one……

Boy I am angry.  Bloody Demetriou here is some more hullaballoooooooooooo!!!!!

Boy I am angry.  It must be payback time for Western Australia.  A game of rugby union between the Wobbilies (oops, sorry, I mean Wallabies) and Argentina, where bum sniffing is an acceptable practice between consenting adults, has taken precedence over our mighty game.  Even though I tend to agree with the ludicrous scheduling of this friendly at Paterson’s Stadium during the AFL finals series, I do subscribe to the conspiracy theory so feel compelled to portion all the blame onto Demetriou for using this stupid decision and holding it against the mighty Freo football club.

Boy I am angry. We have to play again down at a ground that is totally clueless.  When faced with a visiting banner crew requiring access at least an hour before the gates open to poll banner, there were more moves and quizzical eyebrows between officials than you would find at the world chess championships.  Silly me.   Here was I thinking that opposition banner crews had been travelling to the ground for the past 100 years wanting access prior to official gate opening so they could poll their banner before everyone ran over it in the scramble to get to their seats. It wasn’t like we were requesting the security code of the pentagon!!  And to be told there had been a multi million dollar upgrade of the stadium.  If our earlier visit this year was any indication we are in for a treat!  As far as the small mindedness of security staff, it had to be seen to be believed.  How on earth are they going to manage a “full house” when they struggled with far less?  Oh please give me a break……

Boy I am angry.  How dare Eddie (he does not deserve a surname nor pleasantries) in all his buffoonery, sprout out his mouth that it’s not fair if his Pies have to play Freo next week cause they will have to travel (poor luvs) and have, shock horror, only a six day break.  God help us all!  Let me remind you Eddie, you have to beat Port Adelaide first and guess what, Fremantle are going to beat Geelong.  So if Port and Freo both win, what happens next Eddie?

Boy I am angry.  Let me reiterate what Caro (Caroline Wilson) stated on Footy Classified.  Geelong finished second (quite a few places above you Eddie) so they should have first preference of venue.  I know I will be hounded down but I am sure Chris Scott initially said he would prefer the game to be played firstly at MCG, so what gives you the god dam right to have your game at the MCG.  Let me remind you the pies did NOT finish in the top four in case you are delusional!

Boy I am angry.  Having to put up with Hutchy’s (also from Footy Classified) patronising comments about this decision is enough to make you spit out your night cocoa.  To say Matthew Lloyd’s opinion (which incidentally agreed with Caro’s) was being made because his brother is involved with the Dockers, just shows you how despicable (and desperate) this man really is.

Boy I am angry.  As Ross Lyon pointed out so succinctly – “You thought if you finished third you shouldn’t be playing in a regional centre, you would be playing in a metropolis at world-class venues,” Just brilliant!  The more this man talks, the more I love him as our coach.

Boy I am angry.  For the first time I am in agreement with KB’s opinion about something (this god awful decision) and nothing upsets me more than agreeing with KB (Kevin Bartlett)!

Boy I am angry.  Melbourne turns on some stunning Spring weather and I am bed ridden with a rotten lurgy (a very bad case of bronchitis).  At least I am keeping the economy and pharmaceutical industry alive with gallons of cough mixture, packets of antibiotics and a tonne of tissues.  Please note these tissues are for wiping my snotty nose, not for wiping away my whiney tears.

Boy I am angry.  Please don’t hassle me by comments of suck it up…..get over it…. blah blah blah. I have been listening to this drivel since time began.  But I do feel a sense of calmness and happiness transcending down on me.  Wait until Fremantle smashes the Cats out of the universe on Saturday and I will be strutting my stuff, in all my purpleness, wearing the biggest grin, a Cheshire grin!!!

Comments

  1. Malcolm Ashwood says

    The decision is a disgrace proving yet again that ithe comp is really a expanded VFL
    1 if it was purely bums on seats as previously stated ifor max numbers it is Geelong v Freo at Etihad if it is about fairness and equality it is Collingwood v Port at Etihad Simple but no the AFL Admin Stuff up yet again Incompetent !

  2. It will be lovely afternoon at that country ground. We’re better than them.

    Dianne I need to consult you on a Freo matter. Please get in contact via
    http://australianrules.com.au/contact

  3. Hi Dianne
    What a fantastic “go for broke dummy spit” , It is refreshing to hear /read a full throttle blast aimed at the AFL and it’s Vic centric hypocrisy. Along with this last minute back flip re the Cats home game, I was furious that Eddie was so disrespectful to the Power and no one in the media seemed to notice, let alone comment.
    I hope you are recovering from your lurgy and that the weekend brings some joy
    Regards
    Kerry Smith

  4. Did I hear right …4000 seats were made available to the purple haze but only half were taken up? Mmmmm. No matter…but pretty sure I heard someone once say ” play anyone, anytime, anywhere”.

  5. Cat from the Country says

    Hi Dianne I do hope you are feeling bettet after your meltdown and that your dreaded lurgery is leaving you.
    Geelong for years has had to play anywhere but home, since the Awful Football League made home finals an option. I have only been to one final in my 60+ years and can’t go to this one either.
    I will.have to look at the box!

  6. Neil Belford says

    Max you are right – 4000 seats were made available and after 3 hours 2000 had been sold – at which time the other 2000 were withdrawn and given back to the Geelong members pool – which is probably reasonable considering there are 20,000 disenfranchised Geelong members. Be careful to read carefully when you are reading spin.

  7. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Furthermore is this a UP YOURS from the AFL baboons in that Freo tanked Saturday against St Kilda ?

  8. Peter Wilkie says

    With the greatest respect, get over it. Geelong is half an hour down the road, & if you wanted a ticket they were available.
    Geelong finished second. Top 2 get home finals. If Freo finished 2nd they would rightly expect to play at Patterson’s, with all the home crowd umpiring that that venue creates.
    If Gold Coast finished 2nd the game would, and should, be at Carrara. Capacity 18,000.
    Why should loyal Geelong members miss out on the privilege of hosting their home final when that is exactly what their team has earned? If it was suggesyed that 5,000 extra people might go if a game was played at the G instead of Patterson’s, would Freo give up a home final? Doubt it.
    I think a far more important issue for Freo supporters is why did Ross Lyon so readily admit his concerns about playing at the Cattery? Can’t have done much for player confidence.
    Makes me wonder if the game is over already.

  9. Cheryl Critchley says

    Well said Di.
    Sadly the fans are always at the bottom of the pile. The Geelong decision defies all logic but since when has that worried the AFL? It does what suits it.

  10. Great read Dianne.
    Great to have this posted.
    The important issue here is one of precedent.
    Previously, “home final” has always meant “home state.”
    Now, apparently on a whim and justified by a false logic that says Freo won’t draw a crowd in Victoria (conveniently forgetting Victorian Freo fans like yourself, Dianne, as well as those prepared to travel), the AFL have hatched a stinking rotten egg.
    This stinking rotten egg will take some attention.
    What happens if Gold Coast earns a “home final”? Does it mean Carrara or does it mean the Gabba? Should it matter who the opponent is?
    What happens if Geelong earns a “home preliminary final”? Again, should it matter who the opponent is?
    This has been a knee-jerk action with spectacularly little forward planning. Now the AFL gets to hold the rotten egg forever more.
    If it smells rotten and it looks rotten…

  11. Dianne Waddingham says

    I’m so glad everyone has taken my ramble so seriously!! Gave me a good laugh to make me feel so much better. I just luv the passion people show whenever they talk about their team. That’s why I luv footy. That’s why I luv Freo.

    ps I would like to know who else has travelled from Melbourne (city) to Geelong (city) in half an hour?

  12. On one side of the argument, we have Geelong finishing second and earning the right to a “home” final.
    But the counter argument is the number of members from both teams who will surely miss out. And what’s wrong with having a couple of thousand seats available for “walk-ups”?

  13. 30 minutes 75 km, I think not. The AFL did say that they would give Geelong a final at skilled if they faced Freo, Port or a couple of others. So if Freo and Port both win this weekend obviously regional Victoria would get a second final?
    I might add it wasn’t a computer glitch that stopped the Carlton ticket master outlet from being manned to sell tickets. Very poor service!

  14. Prep maths lesson in Fremantle : “Now children, after me, count: 1,3,2,4,5,6,7,8……”.

  15. At the risk of endless repetition, there’s a train a’comin’ and it’s just around the bend.

    Next week or the week after, the Cats will earn another home final, and they’re going to play it at either the G or Docklands. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
    Oh, that’s unless it happens to be against Port, because the horse has also declared that Port, Freo, Gold Coast and GWS are now officially part of an equation that says the value of a team to the AFL is how well it can draw in Melbourne, so if you can’t (or it suits them to say you can’t), you’re road kill.
    And if the fine, loyal fans of the Geelong footy club believe their efforts have been recognised and rewarded by the AFL because it lets them pick up some road kill from time to time, then they’re really like all the Carlton fans who think they made the finals.

    It’s been a great year.

  16. Steve Fahey says

    Legend has it that Bobby Davis got from Melbourne to Geelong (or vice versa) in half an hour on a few occasions !

  17. I remember in 97 drawing North Melbourne on a Sunday night at the G after finishing second, when they were considered Night specialists at the tome. We lost and had to travel to Adelaide the week after. We lost and Leigh Colbert was robbed after he took one of the most gutsy marks you’d ever see. We were very much victims that year, but I always felt that our attitude, I mean the team and the fans, beat us more than the scheduling and the teams. Both North and Adelaide were middle teir sides in my opinion, and it almost seemed that we lost to prove a point. Time will tell whether Freo really truly relish this opportunity to make some serious history, or whether they fade knowing that maybe they were a little hard done by.

    For what it’s worth I think it will be a wonderful day for football- a game that for years now has been obsessed with, and conditioned us to expect, rationalisation at every turn. Can you believe they once played a grand final at Princes Park!?

    Go Cats!

  18. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Crowd at last years Geelong v Fremantle Elimination Final 44460 so AFL decide to Play this Final at a venue of absolute Max attendance of 33,000 Mystifying to say the Least

  19. Got nothing to do with “vic-centrism”. Actually some small redress for over a century of Melbourne-centrism!

  20. What no-one has mentioned in the discussion on last year’s crowd at Geel-Freo week 1 final is that it was 9 degrees and raining sideways – which had started mid-afternoon and wasn’t relenting. I was intending to go to the Storm-Rabbitohs semi en route that night but the red wine and the fires of the All Nations kept me there – along with the usual Freo crew. What was also memorable about the pub that night was the number of purple scarves – Freo and Storm. Looked like a Wimbledon ball-kid convention.

    To reiterate: Geelong people stayed at home in Geelong that night because of the weather, and because they assumed they were going to win and would head to the week 2 final. That was not mentioned by AD in the explanation of the decision.

  21. I must say the level of outrage at this decision has really got me baffled. Cats finish second and get a home final. Sounds logical to me, especially given the new stadium. All the other arguments about capacity, the weather (!!), access from Melbourne, access from Perth etc are superfluous. Cats finished second, so they get a home final. Simple. And if they make a Prelim final another decision needs to be made. And yes it does matter who the opponent and likely crowd will be.

    Another point being missed is this, if Freo knock the Cats off, which is very possible, it would be their greatest moment. What a great opportunity.

  22. Andrew Fithall says

    Dips – I sense you are just stirring the nest – but if this is your logic, why haven’t you been bleating for 100 years that Geelong haven’t been granted a “home final”? Because the VFL / AFL doesn’t play finals at home grounds – it plays them in home States. They didn’t play VFL finals at Victoria Park. They should not be holding this game at Kardinia Park. There is an existing contract that obliges the AFL to play one week-one final at Docklands, with the right to bank that obligation. It now means that in a future year, there will have to be two week-one finals at the substandard Docklands instead of the better MCG because of the hangover from this ridiculous decision.

    Stay angry Dianne

    AF

  23. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Dips if that was the rule before start of season that Geelong got there Finals at Kardinia Park Fine not suddenly make the call 1 week out .The 2 choices were Geelong v Freo at Etihad or Collingwood v Port at Etihad . What do the AFL come up with a 3 Rd !
    Decision smacks of up you re WAFL Football commission giving Rugby Prefrance which in itself is incredible and the team Fremantle put on the park v St Kilda

  24. Kath Presdee says

    When GWS start playing finals I hope we get to use SKODA rather than the Olympic Stadium. Yes, I know it’s triple the capacity and within walking distance but it’s a crap ground to watch footy from and it’s also got issues with venue sharing with Rugby League.

    Swans fans what’s your preference – Olympic Stadium or SCG?

  25. Geez Dips there’s some compelling logic in your arguments. Its like Sitting Bull telling Custer “look on the bright side Yankees, you are outnumbered 10:1, but it will be your greatest moment if you can win away from home at Little Big Horn.”

  26. Good on you Dianne.
    I’m a Melbourne Swans fan and have never been to a game at Skilled or Simonds because I was informed by those who did that you couldn’t get a seat in a dinky little stadium that contained a rugby field with semicircular ends. That might change next season now the ground has been upgraded
    This decision is a massive ballsup by the AFL (nothing to do with the umpire’s activity). Thousands who would have gone now will not.
    I suspect it is about money. Roll on the time when the AFL takes ownership of Etihad.
    And to answer Kath Presdee, most Swans I know want everything to happen at the SCG, and when its capacity reaches 40,000 plus that may be reasonable. But read the Hawthorn lady’s piece about last week’s game.

  27. daniel flesch says

    I just hope Dianne and Freo’s anger is motivation enough to knock the cocky Cats off for the second year in a row. And umpires – please adjudicate based on what you see , not what a one-eyed crowd howls about. Great rant , Dianne , though a little unkind to call Kardinia Park a “god-forsaken place outside suburbia.” I’m more inclined to call it a footy fortress giving the home team an altogether unfair advantage. Other teams play there rarely – all teams play at Subiaco regularly or occasionally.

  28. I’m not doubting the one-eyed-ness of Kardinia Park crowds, but it does rankle me a bit to hear it coming in defence of Freo, given the beautiful (an I mean that) pariachal nature of Paterson’s crowds.

    Just for those of you interested: neither Geelong nor Freo fans took up their full allocation. Also, in fairly sure the unused tickets were passed on to the general public, not Cats members.

    Tickets were still available last I heard.

  29. I’m not doubting the one-eyed-ness of Kardinia Park crowds, but it does rankle me a bit to hear it coming in defence of Freo, given the beautiful (and I mean that) parochial nature of Paterson’s crowds.

    Just for those of you interested: neither Geelong nor Freo members took up their full allocation. Also, I’m fairly sure the unused tickets were passed on to the general public, not Cats members.

    Tickets were still available last I heard.

  30. Also, sorry about the double up in comment. My iPhone must’ve glitched and sent before I edited (and yet it still let me edit – go figure)

  31. I just checked the dimensions of Simonds/Skilled/Shell/Baygon Stadium. Its only 115 metres wide!! Lucky the Eagles didn’t play finals there in the 90’s – Peter Matera would have kicked his goals from the front row of the Reg Hickey Stand.

  32. Peter Flynn says

    As a learned Old Mate pointed out to me, what would happen next year if Sydney were due to play say Freo or PA and they wanted to play that final at the SCG?

    Aaaah, that’s right, don’t the AFL have an ‘interest’ in ANZ Stadium.

  33. Rumblewheel says

    A crash anger management course may be in order!
    Your anger may have been better directed at your side’s “lay down Sally” performance last Saturday. What a disgrace to football, to supporters and to the Freo jumper (needs another yellow stripe added).
    You do Geelong a great disservice. They deserved their “home” game by finishing where they did, that is above you on the ladder!
    As for Kardinia Park, it compares quite favourably with the “goat tracks” in the West.
    Get over it.

  34. AF – compelling but irrelevant. BTW I have been bleating for years that Geelong should hold home finals. Until now we didn’t have the stadium.

  35. All you interstate teams should just be grateful you’re allowed to play in our final series at all.

  36. Sean Gorman says

    easy on the hubris lollies Cookie monster.

  37. If Freo came 2nd and Geelong 3rd, Geelong would be playing at Freo’s home ground. Much ado about nothing, if u ask me (and if I weren’t so well mannered, I’d let rip with a ‘whinge whinge whinge’ ala Chopper.)

  38. Sean Gorman says

    Or like a hail of Bulletts on Neville Bartos T-Boner?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrlqisHdYQ

  39. Reminds my of one of my all time favourite Brunswick Street Oval/Fitzroy moments.

    Vince Colosimo had dropped by to watch a game one Saturday, when I overheard a teenager point him out and say…

    “Dad, dad, over there – it’s Neville f***ing Bartos.”

  40. Sean

    Good work by Vince C in ‘Chopper’. Did well as Neville. And on ‘Chopper’, what a genius film it is. In my top 5 of all time.

    PS More on aussie films. Saw ‘Petersen’ for the first time the other day. Always thought it had a stink on it for some reason. Recently found out it was a John Williamson screenplay, so hunted it down at my favourite ‘hard to find’ movie store in Richmond. Was a good view … bit dated … but holds up well against other 70’s films Sunday too far away and Don’s Party (and shit I get goose bumps just saying those films names, coz they’re so shit hot good!)

  41. Sean Gorman says

    Whatta bout last of the knucklemen – a deadset freak scene – and Wake in Fright – great!!

  42. Yes Sean, Wake in fright is a stunning film. Also saw Mad Dog Morgan for the first time recently. Beautifully shot stuff, and Dennis Hopper does a great job. I highly recommend it.

    Neville f@#*^g Bartos, Litza … shit I love coming across stuff like that.

  43. Andrew Starkie says

    Anything to do with a federal election on Saty? and required funding for next phase of development?

  44. Neil Belford says

    Actually Freo will become the first team in the history of the AFL, and possibly the VFL to have played Geelong twice in one season at KP. There’s history everywhere.

  45. Making up for lost time – I think Freo managed to avoid a game at KP for about three years, as did West Coast.

  46. Neil Belford says

    Making up for lost time????? How hyper defensive are you Geelong fans to any statement at all about the game. How many times have you played Collingwood there since the AFL has existed. Um, that would be 0. Rinse and repeat for every Victorian team in the top 8 I think. Freo is one of the only seven or eight teams that ever plays at the joint. It’s not like we are unfamiliar with the place, in 18 home and away seasons we have played
    EVERY
    away fixture against Geelong
    AT
    Kardinia Park.

    Geelong might win but if you are counting on the ground to get you over the line you better start distinguishing between animate and inanimate objects. The triumphalism and assertions of entitlement I have been receiving in my sms all week are completely unprecedented, but one thing in that regard is true – since Ross Lyon has been coach, every time we have played a team that has gone into the game with a sense of entitlement, Geelong very much included, we have won – bears thinking about really.

  47. Keep drinking the Kool Aid, Susie. You wouldn’t let the Eagles back onto Baygon Stadium for 3 years after we came back from 54 points down in the 3rd quarter to beat you in 2006.
    The Cats insurance premiums trebled due to member’s heart attacks.
    Memories………………

  48. Fremantle have rested Michael Johnson. Will play our full team in the prelim.

  49. Bill Martino says

    Daniel: “I just hope Dianne and Freo’s anger is motivation enough to knock the cocky Cats off for the second year in a row.”

    Looks like it was! Ha ha ha ha!

    Congrats, Dianne!

  50. John Butler says

    Brilliant Freo. Just brilliant.

  51. Well done, freo – terrific effort.

    Interesting move by the AFL to pick 3 blokes out of the Geelong cheer squad and give them each a yellow shirt and a whistle for the day. The home side would not have got within 8 goals without them.

  52. Dianne Waddingham says

    Tissues anyone??

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