Yesterday was a very good day at home.
I have mentioned some of these points on twitter yesterday but in more detail it was -
An impressive crowd for a seconds game at a weird time (10.30 am) saw Footscray 26.9 165 destroy Claremont 7.6.48.
Now I said Claremont because the team Footscray beat (of course it was Richmond) played in a yellow jumper with a black sash.
For those who don't know, Claremont are a W.A.F.L club who play in a yellow jumper with a black sash. We recruited Allen Daniels from them in 1985.
Why did they wear that guernsey when playing a team who wears red,white and blue? Maybe you can tell me? It would have been better if they were sporting the proper Richmond jumper- they could even have worn black shorts and we could have worn white shorts. Anyhow nothing to do with us I guess what the Eastern Tigers do is their business
I missed the first quarter but here are a few points from the day:
(1) The Scoreboard was on the Gordon Street side (the outer wing) It was a temporary one- a traffic management vehicle flashing the scores. Footscray and scores written in red, Richmond and their scores in yellow
(2) The time clock was on the grandstand side. Now the scoreboard worked, but the time clock didn't- well it wasn't in the 3rd and last quarters (didn't notice it in the 2nd quarter)
Not that this mattered to me as I always time quarters on the stop watch of my wrist watch
(3) You could go out and listen to the huddle at 1/4 and 3/4 time. I missed the 1/4 time one, but went out there for the 3/4 time. It was pointless really if you wanted to hear the address for two reasons.
(a) They went into their little sub groups and the address was basically inaudible
(
People (e.g spectators) talking.
Why do people who go out to the huddle- decide to have a conversation with their mates, acquaintances or total strangers? If you need to have a chat- DON'T go over to the huddle. We go out there to hopefully listen to what is being said by the coaches, players etc. Spectators should shut up if you go out on the ground to the huddle.
(4) President Peter Gordon spoke on the public address at Half Time. I was impressed with what he said. He urged fans in the E.J. Whitten Stand to get the Footscray chant going after goals during the second half. He said that this is where it used to begin from (I could argue that it was the John Gent Stand where this eventuated- especially in the 1970's and early 1980's but that's not really worth worrying about here!) Anyway happily people obliged from the Whitten Stand and the Footscray chant got going in that second half. It was like the good old days.
(5) When the game ended they played the song- but the WRONG one. They played Sons of the West- when it should have been the old SONS OF THE SCRAY from the Fable Singers, or even the Mike Brady version from 1981 would have been better. It was about Footscray it wasn't about Western. If they need the old song, there are plenty of people who can supply the real stuff- hopefully this is sorted out by the next game at Whitten Oval.
However still a good day- certainly go back there again next game.
