Living History

What a punch...

Great topic!

I'm a Carlton fan and unfortunately I married an Essendon supporter, but I don't hold it against him... much. I was a bit of a tom boy in my youth, probably because I have eight brothers, and we used to play a lot of footy in the backyard. We didn't have much money so we never got to see any games as a family, but after school finished I managed to catch the eye of a rich young man whose name I won't mention for fear of embarrassing him. We met through my office at work and he'd heard from my coworkers that I was what they called "footy mad". He was excited by the idea of dating a girl who liked sport so he asked me out to the '72 Carlton/Richmond grand final.

He later came to regret this, because it was really the wrong game to bring me to... I remember this so vividly, it was around the middle of the game when a Richmond player threw a roundarm punch out of the blue and socked the Carlton full back Geoff Southby in the jaw, giving him a concussion. I was so angry, I remember screaming and trying to get onto the grounds, my poor date was holding me back with both hands, yelling at me to calm down before people looked. (As if anyone would look at me while there was war going on in the game!) He thought I was crazy and definitely not anything like the ladylike woman he'd met in the office. He'd just managed to get me back into my seat when a bit later the same Richmond player started throwing punches at someone else, Waite, I think, and suddenly everyone on the field was running down to get involved. The Richmond player got suspended as a result of this, but the Tigers won anyway, which put me in an even fouler mood.

I complained about the unfairness in the world all the way home to my door, very loudly as I recall. My date didn't even stop for a minute outside my door to see if he could get a kiss before he was running off home, I don't think I even had a chance to thank him for inviting me. And no, he didn't call!

I bet he's still out there somewhere telling his wife about the time he invited a "mad woman" to a football game and lived to regret it.

Josie, Townsville, New South Wales

Look at more contributions:

previous | next