Round 20 – Carlton v St Kilda: Sainters Reunite and Rebounce

Sunday, 7 August 2016
1:10 pm (12:10 pm in Osaka)
Melbourne Cricket Ground

It was the first time to share our passionate of supporting St Kilda with a fellow Sainter.

The occasion was the reunite of Yvette and me. It was so great to meet up with her.

Since the previous round played against North Melbourne, my time at work had been tough. There were a lot of dramas.

My passionate of footy was killed earlier in the Round 20. I was about to get into the footy zone at 9 pm on Friday night as always, but my boss came to the inn at 9 pm. I was very annoyed! Then I missed watching Tigers roaring at the end of the match as well as hearing their club song.

Then I missed seeing Bulldogs biting Kangaroos following night. My feelings were far away from supporting our Saints.

Even my morning relaxation was killed by visiting the work for an hour. I was so annoyed and worried of not being able to offer best physical conditions to meet up with Yvette or to support Saints.

Then we had been stuck with a technical issue paying a bus fare with an electrical card just before we arrived at Kyoto Station.

But now I can think I had enough negative stuffs and it was the time to transform into positive. Indeed I was unaware at the time.

This time the train trip to Osaka was faster than usual thanks to JR. It might have brought us back the fast footy.

We met at Shin Osaka Station and started talking about what happened and then our Saints. Yvette found red, white and black easily at the subway station. Then we took a selfie on the train.

I had researched where to get wifi to watch the first half on my tablet. As the free wifi was available at the underground shopping mall in Namba where my footy stadium, Coolabah is close. We walked around first and settled down at a tempura restaurant.

We had lovely lunch there and it was the time for the first bounce and to watch the game. But I had a trouble getting the live coverage. I switched off the tablet and tried my iPhone. But none of them worked. So I gave up using the wifi and instead got a streaming with my mobile data connection.

The ball was bounced at the centre field. But Blues dominated the ball. As always I got anxious, but Yvette told me not to worry as the game had just started.

The thrown in at the opponent side brought us to push forward. She’s right. But once again Carlton pushed back

However our efficient midfield ball works were working out. Gresham’s kick was delivered Weller and then goal was scored by number 44. Good works boys!

After Steven’s unsuccessful kick and Billings’ behind, Touhy’s 52-metre kick narrowed the margin to one.

Roberton didn’t kick a goal straight. Instead towards Membrey on the right and he scored a goal. At each goal, we highfived at the restaurant.

We kept pushing. Within a minute, Armo followed. Billings showed his efforts well by kicking a goal as three in a row for the Saints. He must have learned from previous week’s mistakes. My boys’ engines were running fast like releasing frustrations.

Jack Silvagni’s braveness was impressed by Sandy Roberts and Fox Footy showed his father SOS was in the coach’s box.

The first quarter ended at Carlton 1.2, St Kilda 4.3. Nice start.

Fast footy still kept going in the second quarter. It took just over a minute to kick a goal by Wright after wonderful midfield ball passes.

A big Blue Casboult missed a goal once again. It was “Chewy on your boot” that Yvette taught me on the day.

Steven, Weller and Membrey did a great team work again. We talked about getting nice young players from northern states – Membery from Sydney, Bruce from GWS and Hickey and Weller from Gold Coast. They are blossoming at St Kilda.

Then Gilbert ran into the protection zone so we gave a 50-metre penalty to Carlton. Then Armfield kicked a goal. Arces conducted a high tackle and we had flares and allowed Touhy another goal.

But our attacking footy came back. Billings paid back his debit from the previous match. His second goal for the day!

St Kilda led by seven goals at the main break. We were happy with nice meals and the lead when we left the restaurant. And it was time to introduce Yvette into my footy home in Osaka.

It was a bit hard to explain a taxi driver where we were heading with my Google Map. However the taxi driver had a printed map and I managed to explain well even if I am still learning about Osaka.

The footy pub was cool and we were the only patrons as a quiet Sunday afternoon. She bought me beer that was nice of her and enjoyed her whiskey.

Ball up in the goal square was hit out by Hickey and kicked his first goal for the day. The big screen brought all of us positively?

Bruce kicked his second goal for the match. Saints just go go go!!

Then stuff I had never seen happened. Riewoldt kicked the ball towards Bruce and he caught a ball just behind the goal post and handballed towards Roberton with turn over. He kicked a ball that was reviewed by umpires. Their decision was a goal! What interesting to see and how happy we were. Indeed we discussed about how footy was played at the time.

Saints were back on the field with a 47-point margin at the last quarter.

“Saints are queuing up” Eddie McGuire said. We controlled the congestion and Membrey kicked his fourth goal at the match.

Ouch!! Dunstan fell down in the congestion where three stoppages were made. He hit his left shoulder and was unable to move. We hoped it would be a minor injury, but days after found that his season was over. It was terrible and coach Alan Richardson was anxious to see up in the box. Later he came down to the bench as he worried a lot. All Sainters were shocked.

The injury didn’t distract from attacking. We praised our boys and cheered up well. The final siren sounded and we won by 71 points that I hadn’t expected. The club song was played at the ‘G and we sang too.

Everyone gained the power together to win and boost the percentage slightly. It was a great win and we were so happy to see.

Then we saw Walker chaired up for his farewell from AFL. He was the only indigenous Blue who played more than 200 games. It was good to see both Blues and Saints honoured him.

After we watched the Essendon vs Geelong briefly, I guided Yvette to the right train for her Kobe. She asked me if I would go to Melbourne next year to watch footy at the stadium and I said yes. I must do as watching footy has been postponed. I was supposed to watch at Round 12 played the same opponent.

Thanks Yvette for everything that made me smile. We will watch footy together next year at our home game, won’t we? I can’t wait!

CARLTON 1.2 3.5 6.7 7.9 (51)
ST KILDA 4.3 10.5 14.6 19.8 (122)

GOALS
Carlton: Tuohy 3, Cripps 2, Gibbs, Armfield
St Kilda: Membrey 5, Bruce 4, Billings 2, Wright, Acres, Armitage, Weller, Roberton, Riewoldt, Hickey, Newnes

BEST
Carlton: Cripps, Simpson, Tuohy, Gibbs, Docherty, Curnow
St Kilda: Newnes, Ross, Membrey, Gresham, Steven, Montagna, Billings, Dempster

Our Votes: Membrey (STK 3), Ross (STK 2), Billings (STK 1)

Umpires: Stevic, O’Gorman, Ryan

Official crowd: 37,797

About Yoshihiro Imagawa

Love, passion and pride are seen on the footy that is the biggest part of my life. 1. St Kilda Club member: I am a passionate and crazy Sainter. Just hope we will win the second flag soon, especially after Dogs and Tigers having ended long premiership draughts. 2. The Osaka Dingoes Player and Public Relations Officer: Player number 44 that I chose to honour Stephen Milne with my wish being like a small forward like him. Lenny Hayes' hardworking attitudes are adopted on my trainings and practices. Nick Riewoldt's great plays are in my player audiobook too. 3. Writing: Here on the Almanac and also on the World Footy News. My skills utilise on great footy websites.

Comments

  1. Yvette Wroby says

    Lovely words Yoshi, and great afternoon.

  2. Mark Duffett says

    The sheer joy of a good win shines through here, nice one Yoshi.

  3. Thanks for your compliments Yvette and Mark!

    Yvette – the Sunday afternoon was awesome. Once again thanks for everything!

    Mark – the win was so great and bright, wasn’t it?

    Cheers :-)

    Yoshi

Leave a Comment

*