Fun irrelevant fact: pre the Melbourne game this year I saw Caracalla standing in the same spot on the G in the warm up where he kicked the winning goal in the comeback game. Made me happy 
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I came here in 04 n have been following them since then… I have similar sentiments
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and mine
Probably really loved the club up to around the mid 2000’s. I had moments of love since then… during James Hirds coaching and the way the players played for him… the StandbyHird campaign, the March To The G, the performance of the cobbled together team during player suspension year.
But the CLUB as a whole… my love started to ebb a couple of years b4 Sheedy was turfed out. It seemed obvious that Jackson was actually working against Sheeds and had wanted him out for a while. I think the way they got rid of him was disgusting… after 27 years they couldnt work out a respectful way of handling it. It was around then that the off field direction of the club started to change… more corporate, less actively involved in finding indigenous players…
Since then many of the important decisions made by the club have been handled amateurishly. Then there was the saga… and now the club stands for 0. The only thing they can hang their hat on is the passed glories.
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I came in here excited to talk about easily the best sandwich around with likeminded people…needless to say I was disappointed.
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It was our first VFLW game. Took us three quarters to kick the first goal, and we won one game for the year, but the attitude was there from the start.
(I could have chosen an earlier date — e.g. when Steph Hird goaled in the intra-club match, and we introduced the Tiwi players, but let’s keep it simple.)
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I now dissociate when I know they are playing, so I avoid any trauma once the result comes through.
If we lose another bunch at the end of the year that’s it, I will continue the cult deprogramming.
I’m a chicken marge!
I was born in ‘95’, and you could say I definitely went against the grain from the usual “barrack for who your family barrack for” (family mostly Richmond & Carlton) - and decided to go across to Essendon when I was old enough to know what was going on in footy (I’d say around 2002 ?).
The person who got me across ultimately was none other then the Goat - James Hird. Loved watching the guy play from such a young age. My Carlton supporting Nan (whom I seemed to watch a great deal of footy with at a young age) always said “I bloody hate Essendon, but James Hird is one of the all time greats and I will always respect the way he plays footy”. You could say perhaps she pushed me over to the Dons in a strange way ?
Anyway, since that time I’ve seen little to pretty much no success whilst actually supporting them. I wish it was as easy for me to just walk away and get over a loss, but what a lot of people is how bloody hard & frustrating it is to be an Essendon supporter when you have seen no results.
Last year was probably the first time (since watching the greats like Hird, Lloyd, Fletch, Lucas) where I felt proud of the club. You genuinely felt as though the club had pushed itself in the right direction. Rutten was being praised like he was the Queen of England. The playing group looked like they actually wanted to be there. The game plan had some holes but for the most part it was entertaining & allowed us best opportunity to score whilst maintaining some sort of defensive strategy. Best of all we were winning or at least be somewhat competitive against some of the better teams in the comp.
This year it has been an absolute disaster, we have gone away from everything it looked like we were building last season.
Long winded answer, but I feel like I’ve always “loved” the club or I wouldn’t be here wasting my time nor wasting it watching the shambles. But gee wouldn’t it be easier to love if they loved us back and showed a bit of bloody fight for once.
Pretty over being ■■■■ & the club being too scared to make a ■■■■■■■ change.
Sincerely yours,
The diehard fan that is yet to see success.
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Got here in 88 and 89 was my first season of Aussie Rules. Jumped on the bomber train straight away. Got a feeling that I 've seen the best in the Sheeds, Hirdy, Lloydy, Fletch and the rest years. Even if another flag came along not sure if it would feel the same but thats due to the sanitized form of the game now. Characters are few and far between. But I’ll always be a bomber. Jumping on winning bandwagons , just like socer fans, are for the plastics. Not real fans.
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While it isn’t talked about much these days, being 10 years after the fact, l am convinced that the Saga knocked us out of our cultural orbit. At the time it all came down, l thought we could be in the football wilderness for 30 years. That bleak view is still a distinct possibility. Not a pleasant thought, but through thick and thin, l will support this club, and all who play for it. That doesn’t mean they are immune to criticism, as there is always room for improvement. Dig in Bombers.
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I think after the saga we went too far in appeasing our masters at AFL house and trying to be the nice guys. Now we’re stuck in that rut.
But thats for another thread so " See the bombers fly up,up"!!!
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Recent moments:
R1 2017
Anzac Day 2017
Port / Essendon 2018
Win against GWS in 2019
Win against Hawthorn in 2020
Win against WBD in 2021
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I have this (wildly optimistic) theory that the club needed this year to set-up their systems.
Admittedly that has gone horribly wrong… but hey… that can happen. I expect that system to be stuck with and continuously improved.
Then next year I expect that they will combine the attacking plan of 2021, with the systems of 2022, and the low draft picks, with the father sons, and end up with something exciting and palatable.
Dreaming… I know.
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agree… i think the club were running scared and became totally conservative in every inch of the club… most visably recruitment. This has been a killer. The adoption of a ‘risk free’ philosophy as the #1 requirement… kids from so called ‘good families’ has really hurt us on field.
You’re a big part of the problem unfortunately
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No he’s not. It’s the influence of the coterie groups and their wallets that are the issue
Stop buying Memberships and their financially backed influence grows.
You stop buying you’re inadvertently empowering those idiots
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The optics of poor attendances and plummeting memberships in the media, when compared to successful rivals, is far more powerful in terms of influencing regime and coaching changes
100% it’ll prompt them into making a dumb knee jerk sugar hit reaction to bring supporters back. They’ll probably trade out a couple of gun youngsters for JHF or spend a stupid amount of money on an old flog like Dangerfield of Martin. We never do anything properly.
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I will still consume every piece of information, watch every game I can, still post on a bloody Bombers footy forum ffs - but the absolute passion and devotion with which I used to support Essendon has long since passed. I don’t know if that’s part of me growing older, part of me managing my mental health issues, part of me realising there’s more significant things in the world than football, or whether it’s just a natural response to the mediocrity we have found ourselves in for 20 years. I suspect it’s maybe a little from column A, B, C and D.
I have stopped loving the club, and very much dissociated my passion from following football. I do at times miss that youthful passion and exuberance I had for footy, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing for me that it’s no longer there. Over the last three years in Glasgow (and honestly, even before that when I was in Australia), I’ve seen what football fanaticism can do to friendships, relationships, livelihoods, and even lives. To me, sport is supposed to be enjoyment, something to unite us in spite of our differences - but unfortunately it goes beyond that to something more serious and dangerous a lot of the time, and it bothers me that sport can do that to people.
I know I’m getting away from topic a little, but I think my point is that I can’t allow myself to love a football club (in all honesty, I can’t allow myself to love something that doesn’t love me back) anymore. I still support the club. I still want success for the club. I still take great enjoyment out of watching football, but love? Nah, that’s not a thing I can do anymore.
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