Social Your GIANTS story... How you came to be a GWS/AFL fan?

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Another Freo F wit finds his way to our board......Cam sends his regards
 

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Grew up in the Riverina from same town as Barrett and Breust (played with his brother). Played from age 8 upwards (started U/11s). Always filled in for age above, so probably finished with 250+ games by the time I was 16. We were perpetual wooden spooners. Always went to a couple games in Melbourne every year. Through that age (because footy wasn't on TV) I never really knew any AFL players apart from Plugger and I was more interested going on the family farm. Mum bought my brother and I footy jumpers one year. My brother (older) went for Essendon and I didn't know any teams (even though I'd been playing for a while) so I asked for the same. He didn't let me (thankfully) so I was given a Carlton jumper. Sort of became a fan of theirs but gave up on them properly by the time I was 17 or so.

I was playing senior footy at age 16 and loved the routine and club environment and became a real footy nut from then on. Kept on winning wooden spoons. Then moved to Melbourne for uni and immersed myself at club level even more-so. Played amateur footy for one of the uni clubs. Ended up player-coaching @ age 21 and won a flag in the first year. Through this time I had no AFL team and lived by the ritual of ABC (Anyone But Collingwood).

Following uni I moved to Queensland for work. Again immersed myself in a new club and helped coach a team from not winning a game in 3 years to winning the flag the first year. Still didn't have a club and thought I'd be there for a while and the Suns came in so I followed them closely in their inaugural year. However in my second year there were the big floods and live cattle export ban meant no cattle farmers had money and I was made redundant 6 months after than. So we moved to northern NSW so I could do a PhD in animal breeding and genetics.

Been back in NSW for 4 years. Again immersed myself at my new club and coached and we won our first flag in 8 years the first year I arrived. We have now won 4 in a row since I arrived which has been very nice to see the younger blokes enjoy it now that I am slightly older. Getting round to GWS, the year we moved back to NSW was their inaugural year. We don't get Suns games so I switched quickly to GWS as we get all their matches. They quickly won me over being a Riverina boy at heart (and GWS having a few Riverina boys also) and their style of footy is great and they need(ed) the support. I am now a Orange and Charcoal man through and through. I am a bona fide footy nut and rank GWS No. 1 and then follow then my second team is ABC. I do like seeing the northern clubs do well and unlike a lot of other people I really like seeing dynasty teams (Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn, maybe Sydney) achieve sustained success.

We are moving again next week to Northern NSW and in Swans academy territory. Will continue to love my footy. I retired from playing footy this year at the green age of 28 as we have our second child on the way in Feb. I have told my wife though that I might train once a week at the local club just to "meet some people" and "to stay a bit fit".

Carn the Giants!!!!
 
Grew up near Western Sydney, brother got heavily interested in the sport around 2010 and is a Swans supporter and I ended up watching a few games on TV and got a bit interested. Then found out Western Sydney were getting a new team just when I was started getting to understand the game and thought I'd start barracking for the new team in town.
 
as much as i troll i must admit i really respect you guys for supporting a team that was never going to find success at first, success will come and you guys are the first to deserve to be able to celebrate that success and once the team wins a flag at least you can all say that you didnt just support the team because of that

also just for clarification i know its a joke but i was not one of the banned :p
 
2014 said:
as much as i troll i must admit i really respect you guys for supporting a team that was never going to find success at first, success will come and you guys are the first to deserve to be able to celebrate that success and once the team wins a flag at least you can all say that you didnt just support the team because of that
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As a Cowboys supporter since Day 1, even during the 10 years they didn't appear on FTA, this actually hit a chord. ;)
 
lol hopefully no banning from me
dlanod said:
As a Cowboys supporter since Day 1, even during the 10 years they didn't appear on FTA, this actually hit a chord. ;)
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now that is true dedication, sadly with success(which i believe GWS will get a lot of next season) comes the bandwagoners
 
Ellie Aquitaine said:
Spotless food and drink stalls need to learn how to deal with crowds though. No point getting one-offs
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Hopefully everyone else who completed the members survey slammed the StarTrack experience, that's the most urgent fix, and then agreed getting the Spotless vendors to understand efficiency as a concept would be a great idea.
 

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Ellie Aquitaine said:
Spotless food and drink stalls need to learn how to deal with crowds though. No point getting one-offs
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Determinant said:
Hopefully everyone else who completed the members survey slammed the StarTrack experience, that's the most urgent fix, and then agreed getting the Spotless vendors to understand efficiency as a concept would be a great idea.
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At least at Spotless when you're in a queue waiting for food you can at least still watch the game, at Manuka all the food stalls are out the back behind the grandstands and you miss most of the quarter waiting to be served.
 
2014 said:
sadly with success (which i believe GWS will get a lot of next season) comes the bandwagoners
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Yes and no. Yes, it's nice to be part of something early, and (hopefully) see success in the long run - and so you could see the latecomers in terms of only jumping on board once success is achieved. The 'no' being that the club simply has to grow fans to thrive in the competition. It needs to convert the uncommitted, casual fans, or fans of other codes. But this takes time. Becoming successful and winning games is part of what is needed to do this - by gaining a foothold in their consciousness and presenting a marketable product. The plan for GWS (and GCS) is a 20-year plan because getting fan and corporate support doesn't just happen overnight. Like all clubs (look at Lions after their 3-peat, and more recently Collingwood's complaints over 14,000 fans not resigning due to their lowly ladder position), the support will rise in times of success, and fall off when unsuccessful. (And Sydney is more prone to this phenomenon than Melbourne in my view.)
 
Giant Strides said:
Yes and no. Yes, it's nice to be part of something early, and (hopefully) see success in the long run - and so you could see the latecomers in terms of only jumping on board once success is achieved. The 'no' being that the club simply has to grow fans to thrive in the competition. It needs to convert the uncommitted, casual fans, or fans of other codes. But this takes time. Becoming successful and winning games is part of what is needed to do this - by gaining a foothold in their consciousness and presenting a marketable product. The plan for GWS (and GCS) is a 20-year plan because getting fan and corporate support doesn't just happen overnight. Like all clubs (look at Lions after their 3-peat, and more recently Collingwood's complaints over 14,000 fans not resigning due to their lowly ladder position), the support will rise in times of success, and fall off when unsuccessful. (And Sydney is more prone to this phenomenon than Melbourne in my view.)
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i agree with this post, there is nothing wrong with bandwagoners as long as they stay during the bad times too, they are kinda needed at every club to help with money, Sydney tend to be more bandwagony than other places, in general we like to back a winner but i agree with your post i think its part of human nature for most to want to be part of something that wins often

GWS_Tragic said:
Bandwagoners bring $$ though....
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very true but for me respect goes out to all the Giants fans who signed up knowing that they would be seeing a lot of poor results at first, that deserves to be rewarded but people who just jump on as soon as a team starts winning and leaves as soon as they go through some tough times i am not a huge fan of but mostly its about converting bandwagoners to be full dedicated fans and if you can do that then you will gain lots of full time fans

also i have to say that is a huge drop off in members for Collingwood i know they have plenty of members but its still a huge amount

sorry i made this thread go OT
 
I stumbled on this thread and thought I'd contribute. Over the last few years my league mates have asked how I became so passionate so quickly and in Melbourne grand final week, something most of our supporters would have been asked how did you become a GWS fan, mostly out of genuine interest
My story 😀 I'm a huge fan of all sports, with the Rugby codes being my main games. I ve been in involved with elite pathways, player welfare, player management and even post career work in both games . But will watch anything you can score. I'm probably the sort of fan the AFL had in mind, I was a casual observer of AFL and was a Swans fan. But never went to the games.
I was living in Breakfast Point and have a business in Penrith. Before the first game the Giants did a wonderful job in engaging both of those communities.
Kevin Sheedy would bring players to functions and talk up their talent.
I'd see the players around Breakfast point, they looked so young and were so polite friendly. I wanted to see them do well!
What tipped me over the edge was the day of the first game, two young kids in GWS gear who I hadn't seen before were having a kick on the oval, my dog took their ball! I chased it down and bought it back and had a quick chat. Found out they were playing that night. They were excited. As we walked away, I heard one say to the other, "when we wake up tomorrow, we'll be AFL players". It occurred to me that we saw first hand 2 kids about to live their dream. We and my now wife were so excited for them and decided to go to the game. They all had a crack and didn't let the scoreboard worry them. Been a fan ever since.
The things that attracted me to the club haven't stopped! They are still active in the community, still good people and still have a crack.
When we made the GF so many of my league fans contacted me, excited for me and came for the ride!
 
Cavalicious said:
I'm a Carlton member that moved to Canberra for work. Started attending the games at Manuka and loved it. Now a member of both clubs. Looking forward to seeing the continuing growth of the Giants.
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I too am a Carlton member who moved to Sydney in 1995 just before the GF. :(

I became a member of the Giants because I just don't like rugby league and want to see AFL grow here.


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The Sydney derby at the SCG last Saturday was my 1-year anniversary of being a Giants member.

Prompted me to realise that I probably should've included this post in this thread of how I came to be a GWS/AFL fan which was posted on another thread last year.

Grew up in Western Sydney, not interested in any sports (despite family watching NRL, Soccer during FIFA WC and Tennis during the AO). I played a fair bit of soccer in my younger years for fun, little bit of tennis and a bit of basketball but had no real interest any sports.

As an adult, never really played sport or watched it again. One of my close mates of 9 years from Melbourne who lives in Western Sydney now has been a Saints fan (Mate A) for 25 years. Mate A always mentioned the Saints and pre-covid we watched less than a handful of games for AFL finals as another mutual mate from Melbourne is a Pies fan (Mate B) who always came up to Sydney to get out of Melbourne for GF. Both mates were trying to organise that we all go so that they could take me to a game at the SCG for years but I had no interest in what I thought would be similar to NRL.

I can't say I actively watched any of the AFL games (as I had lumped it together with a form of NRL which I didn't enjoy) - I was more there for the socials and if you had told me at the time there was a big difference in gameplay between AFL and NRL I'd have no idea.

Fast forward to this year, I went down to Melbourne in March and stayed with mutual Mate B who took me to the MCG for the Pies v PA game on the 25th of March. I enjoyed/loved the atmosphere despite having no idea what was going on, mate B suggested mate A and I go to a few games when I return back in Sydney. I accepted as I knew mate A had not been to an AFL game since moving to Sydney over a decade ago and thought it would be good for us to go.

I arrived back in Sydney after that weekend trip and Spoke to mate A who was open to the idea of attending a game. I asked him what he thought about which team to follow as I had no idea - He mentioned Giants and Swans were Sydney teams.

I had only known of the Swans in name (not knowing that that wasn't rugby related, having never watched a game). Mate A said he was drawn to the Giants but was open to what I thought after researching/watching a number of games. Shortly after, I started watching all of the FTA games for weeks to learn about the game/teams and team's playstyle. I had started following the Giants and Swans on Facebook. I had also done my own reading online to learn as much as I could about the game and the Swans/Giants.

The Sydney Derby - Swans v Giants was coming up on Saturday 29 April 2023 so I got tickets for Mate A and I. Went, loved it and became very so hooked to a game I tried to learn but couldn't tell you the rules as the game played live - I had already been drawn to something about the Giants (whether it had been their play style, social media etc) and 5 or so days later bought a four game membership (with six games remaining at Giants stadium) as the Giants/AFL just left me wanting more.

I leapfrogged Mate A going all into AFL, I was hooked - Mate A took a little bit longer as he had been out of it for a number of years and had his heart sitting with the Saints from his younger days.

We went to all the home games, bringing family and friends along and doing my best to promote AFL and get people to come to a Giants game which has been successful for those who have attended. I also attended a number of Swans games at the SCG (5 or so) to get more and more AFL in. The more I watched of the Swans the more I felt I was at home with the Giants and that the Giants were my primary team.

I had found BF looking for footy topics/information on Google. I was a temporary lurker, enjoying the insight, analysis, varying viewpoints until I finally joined a couple days after the Giants v Richmond game at Giants stadium, realising I had found my people.

We went down to Ballarat for the Bulldogs v Giants game, arrived back in Melbourne that evening and went to the Essendon v Swans game. Next day we went to the Hawks v Saints game and mate A announced he felt more at home donning the Giants gear, that was his team and he switched to the Giants as his primary team.

Season end was nearing, Giants making finals was uncertain, Mate A and B emphasised to enjoy the ride and to go down to Melbourne for finals if Giants make it as you never know when your team may next make finals. Soon as the Giants made finals I booked to go down to Melbourne for the Saints v Giants game at the MCG, which I loved. Up until last night I was tentatively planning to go to Melbourne for my first potential GF.

Fast forward to now, I am all in with this sport/team. This team/club is special, their journey is nothing short of inspirational with their footy style being quite easily one of my favourites. I honestly never thought I'd be so invested in a sport/team as much as I am, especially in such a short period of time. The smaller size of the club means you get a much more up close and personal experience which is just so special - so whilst I'd love to see AFL/Giants growth in Western Sydney, I am embracing this club's size while I can to experience it in a way fans from the larger clubs may not be readily able to.
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