With a nod to Humans of New York, we meet some of our diehard GIANTS supporters as part of #MembersWeek
STEVE PRATT
Wahroonga
I’ve realised during this shutdown just how much of a footy-head I am. That’s how much I’m missing it. We watch AFL 360 every night, and we tape it in case we’re not home in time. We watch On the Couch, and Game Day on Sundays to get the reviews. I watch at least five games a weekend, sometimes more. And I probably see 15-20 games live every year between Sydney, Melbourne and some work trips to Melbourne. We’ve been to Brisbane with the GIANTS, we’ve been to Perth, we’ve been to Adelaide and we have reserved seats in Canberra and Sydney so there’s not much that we miss. We have a library now of taped games that we’re watching over and over just to give us some footy.
My wife Deb and I come from Melbourne. My dad was a VFL umpire back in the day, as was my uncle. He ended up being the director of goal umpiring for the AFL. And I played when I was younger and played right through until I left to go to New Zealand when I was in my late 20s.
We got over there and went from having footy around us all the time to nothing. This was in the 90s, so there was no internet and no AFL website. There was one, one-hour program on TV over there each week. My friends would send me tapes for the VCR, filled with games, which would turn up three weeks later. We had a radio which picked up Radio Australia; I had a friend come around when the 1995 second semi-final between Richmond and Essendon was on and we had to attach the aerial to the clothesline to pick it up. The game was getting close and the Tigers were getting close and we ended up losing the signal in the third quarter and having to start ringing people in Australia to get them to put the phone against the radio so we could listen to the last quarter. So yes, I’m a bit of a tragic.
We were in New Zealand for seven years, which was a great time for our kids who grew up there. I even played one game over there, a try-out game for the opportunity to play for Christchurch in a game against Wellington the following weekend. I kicked seven but broke my ribs when I fell on the ball, so I gave it away after that. I can’t say it was the best standard game!
We got shifted back to Sydney – the company I was working for moved us there – and that was tough because I couldn’t support the Swans. If I was in Melbourne I’d go and see the Tiges play, but when we heard there was a second Sydney club coming and that Kevin Sheedy was going to be leading it, I said to Deb, ‘we need to do this, I really need some footy, why don’t we support this club?’ And so we signed up, went out to some of the very early meetings at Rooty Hill and got involved right from the very, very start.
These days it’s just a huge part of our lives. We get the fixture each year and start planning our year from there. And we love the team. When the club first playing started in the AFL, you could see how hard all the young kids were trying. They were getting smashed every week by these older, bigger guys but we could see they were giving it their all every single game and so we got quite attached to them. Cameron, Conigio, Ward, Davis and Tobes, of course… we felt connected very quickly to them. To be there in Canberra on the day they won their first game, we were just so happy and proud. And when they started to beat the Swans, I think that was a real turning point. It’s almost as if we’ve watched them all grow up.
I love it, and I’m lucky to have married a woman who loves it. Deb is probably a bigger fan than I am; you cannot say anything bad about the GIANTS to her. And we’re looking forward to getting back to see the Orange Army again. We have a group of people who have had reserved seats near us for a number of years and we’ve been able to get to know each other really well. There’s a family with three young girls in front of us, and we’ve watched them all grow up. There’s a guy who brings his parents along each week, and a High Court judge who sits just down from us. We all know who’s who, and what’s going on. They’re good people, and we really do miss them.
