A lesson in etiquette Victorian footy style

by ROB McLEAN

Well, it's two weeks on and I thought I'd best add my memories of Princes Park to the long list of stories about the grand ol' dame.

My own club, Collingwood, gave up its suburban haunts at Victoria Park a few years ago now, leaving Carlton as the only team still playing in the 'burbs. I only ever went to Princes Park once and had a memorable time. In fact, the match between Adelaide and Carlton is still the only one I've ever seen in Melbourne.

My fiance and I had travelled to Ballarat for a long weekend, but realised her favourite team the Crows were playing in Melbourne. "Bugger it" we thought - "who wants to wander around Sovereign Hill and watch some old geezer pan for imaginary gold". So on the train we popped and headed to Princes Park. Wide-eyed babes in the wood we were as we landed in Melbourne.

Which friggin tram is it to get out there??? Those always imposing blue guernseys being worn by fans gave us a pretty good idea. At the ground we somehow ended up sitting in the Robert Heatley stand behind the goals. Great spot.

What we didn't realise when we purchased the tickets was that the Heatley stand was a bastion of Blues supporters. We looked around and there was the 35-year-old accountant type in navy blue suit with members' badge and packed lunch, the nannas with their knitting and then, gasp, real life football celebrities Fraser Brown and Ang Christou. My girl, not aware of the sanctity of this grandstand, sprang to her feet waving her scarf when the Crows came out onto the ground. I shrank further back in my seat.

It got even worse when she looked in the AFL Record and realised Collingwood was also playing that day. I wished she'd kept that little bit of information about my team quiet. Fraser, who was sitting just behind us, was not the sort of bloke I'd like to upset and he looked fairly interested in our conversation when he heard the name of the dreaded enemy. The Pies were at Kardinia Park and throughout the day looked winners as the results were relayed over the PA system.

Anyway, it was a miserable day for my girl - the Crows went down, following a stunning second half performance inspired by Justin Murphy and the fans let her know very loudly.

And the Pies? The laughter and the cheers that were heard around Princes Park when the scores were announced tell the story. The tribal desire to see the old foe trounced had been fed. Whatever the result, I'm glad I at least got to sample some of that Melbourne suburban footy tradition that I had heard so much about.

Because now it is gone and it ain't coming back.

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