Social Your GIANTS story... How you came to be a GWS/AFL fan?
- Thread starter Scully2Folau
- Start date
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- Apr 12, 2012
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I am
I could have been the Giants fan a lot earlier but hated the orange Guernsey. This year's is fantastic!
Supported AFL and Hawks which was a rarity back in the late 80s and 90s living in Parramatta area. I guess I was always a bit of contrarian.
Supported the Swans because they were the ugly ducklings. When the Swans won a single game per season it was newsworthy. Actually went to my first game in 95, I think.
Lost interest in AFL after Paul Roos inspired chip kicks and ultra defensive style. Also the Swans became fashionable and attracted influencer crowd before influencer was a thing ie. Pretentious w.ankers. Returned to NRL.
Regained interest in AFL after COVID. I think the rule changes have made the game watcheable again. Glad to see Ross Lyon and Justin Longmanure struggling with ultra defensive styles in the modern game.
Kingsley has done very well because there was a real concern for GWS at the end of 2022. His high pressure and attacking brand with genuinely likeable players makes easy to support the Giants.
Supported AFL and Hawks which was a rarity back in the late 80s and 90s living in Parramatta area. I guess I was always a bit of contrarian.
Supported the Swans because they were the ugly ducklings. When the Swans won a single game per season it was newsworthy. Actually went to my first game in 95, I think.
Lost interest in AFL after Paul Roos inspired chip kicks and ultra defensive style. Also the Swans became fashionable and attracted influencer crowd before influencer was a thing ie. Pretentious w.ankers. Returned to NRL.
Regained interest in AFL after COVID. I think the rule changes have made the game watcheable again. Glad to see Ross Lyon and Justin Longmanure struggling with ultra defensive styles in the modern game.
Kingsley has done very well because there was a real concern for GWS at the end of 2022. His high pressure and attacking brand with genuinely likeable players makes easy to support the Giants.
Well, if this thread is getting some love, I'd better tell my story too 
I'm a Novocastrian, which generally means "rusted on rugby league supporter" - don't get me wrong, I love league, but I've always liked to support other sports; I was on the board of the Hunter Pirates for the few years they were in the NBL (that's a story in and of itself). I relocated to Melbourne in 2000 for uni, and knew I'd have to pick an AFL team. While scouting out somewhere to live, I went to an Essendon v Freo game at the MCG, and fell in love with Freo's song - yes, I'm probably the only person who can say that they chose Freo based on the song (I also don't like Richmond's song, which makes me even more of an outlier). Plus the red and green shoulders matched my NRL team, so that was that.
I wound up joining the Freo Melbourne cheer squad when I got down to Melbourne permanently, and was on the banner crew - we hired out a hall in Geelong and made the banners for all Freo's away games. That continued until I moved back to Newcastle in 2004 after graduation; I got down to as many Swans v Freo games as I could and followed via Foxtel.
My Freo support started getting shaky after the Steves (Rosich and Harris) took over and made it clear they were going to change the club's presentation to make it more appealing, which meant changing the song and removing the anchor from the guernsey (as well as the red and green, it would turn out). That didn't sit well with me at all. I'd always felt that Freo were the non-conformists of the AFL - maybe it was because they had characters like Clive Waterhouse - and now they were getting rid of the things I liked best about the club to try and make it more marketable. I mean, taking away the anchor because people said it was bad feng shui or something?
So I was feeling adrift from Freo, and this was around the time the Giants were getting started. I didn't decide to fully embrace them until I'd been to my first game, which was R3 2012 against the Eagles at BISP, so I missed out on getting a foundation membership (which I really regret now). The appeal of the Giants was that they were trying to grow AFL in a whole new area, and offering the chance to buy in from the beginning. I signed up for a membership as soon as I got home from BISP, and the rest is history.
I'm a Novocastrian, which generally means "rusted on rugby league supporter" - don't get me wrong, I love league, but I've always liked to support other sports; I was on the board of the Hunter Pirates for the few years they were in the NBL (that's a story in and of itself). I relocated to Melbourne in 2000 for uni, and knew I'd have to pick an AFL team. While scouting out somewhere to live, I went to an Essendon v Freo game at the MCG, and fell in love with Freo's song - yes, I'm probably the only person who can say that they chose Freo based on the song (I also don't like Richmond's song, which makes me even more of an outlier). Plus the red and green shoulders matched my NRL team, so that was that.
I wound up joining the Freo Melbourne cheer squad when I got down to Melbourne permanently, and was on the banner crew - we hired out a hall in Geelong and made the banners for all Freo's away games. That continued until I moved back to Newcastle in 2004 after graduation; I got down to as many Swans v Freo games as I could and followed via Foxtel.
My Freo support started getting shaky after the Steves (Rosich and Harris) took over and made it clear they were going to change the club's presentation to make it more appealing, which meant changing the song and removing the anchor from the guernsey (as well as the red and green, it would turn out). That didn't sit well with me at all. I'd always felt that Freo were the non-conformists of the AFL - maybe it was because they had characters like Clive Waterhouse - and now they were getting rid of the things I liked best about the club to try and make it more marketable. I mean, taking away the anchor because people said it was bad feng shui or something?
So I was feeling adrift from Freo, and this was around the time the Giants were getting started. I didn't decide to fully embrace them until I'd been to my first game, which was R3 2012 against the Eagles at BISP, so I missed out on getting a foundation membership (which I really regret now). The appeal of the Giants was that they were trying to grow AFL in a whole new area, and offering the chance to buy in from the beginning. I signed up for a membership as soon as I got home from BISP, and the rest is history.
Who doesn't like Tigerland?!?
That's the only thing good about them.
That's the only thing good about them.
