Let me preface this post by saying that I haven't read any of the hoo-ha going on on these boards, and I probably won't, even after I've hit the submit button on this thread...
I've been an Eagles supporter and member since day dot. I was there when we were crap in the early years, with crap facilities and having to pay the way of interstate teams to come and play against us. I was there when we won our first premiership, there for the second. I bit my tongue when my father, lily livered that he is, defected to the Purple Penis Eaters. I struggled through watching the stalwarts of our club retire or move on in the late 90's. I survived the "Dreaded Ken Judge Years". I was there when Juddy played that game at the Gabba. I sat at Princes Park and watched us get flogged by the Blues to the tune of 120-odd points. I was there when we fell short by 4 points in 2005, and I was there again last year when we got up by the narrowest of margins.
The day we won the 2006 flag was the best footy day of my life. I was in the crowd, hugging people I'd never met, tears streaming down my face, with an enormous sense of pride, achievement, relief, elation. I thought that nothing could bring me down from that.
To see my club going through what it's going through at the moment just rips me apart. We should be enjoying the fruits of our labours, and looking positively to the season ahead. Instead, my club has lurched from controversy to controversy in the off-season, and to read the comments of so-called supporters makes my stomach turn. Our club needs our support!
To our players, please, pull together through these dramas. Don't resort to in-fighting and dustups. To the administrators, please, do all you can to give the players all the support humanly possible. To our supporters and members, do not resort to "eating our own". Talk of boycotts is talk of bandwagoners. We're better than that. We've got so much to look forward to. We, as a club, and I mean everyone involved, need to look to the upcoming season and sieze our opportunities with some self respect, pride and dignity.
Lets rise above this Coasters! We're Eagles. Lets soar!!
<This is brilliant and sincere, it deserves to be stickied. - Goldenblue>
I've been an Eagles supporter and member since day dot. I was there when we were crap in the early years, with crap facilities and having to pay the way of interstate teams to come and play against us. I was there when we won our first premiership, there for the second. I bit my tongue when my father, lily livered that he is, defected to the Purple Penis Eaters. I struggled through watching the stalwarts of our club retire or move on in the late 90's. I survived the "Dreaded Ken Judge Years". I was there when Juddy played that game at the Gabba. I sat at Princes Park and watched us get flogged by the Blues to the tune of 120-odd points. I was there when we fell short by 4 points in 2005, and I was there again last year when we got up by the narrowest of margins.
The day we won the 2006 flag was the best footy day of my life. I was in the crowd, hugging people I'd never met, tears streaming down my face, with an enormous sense of pride, achievement, relief, elation. I thought that nothing could bring me down from that.
To see my club going through what it's going through at the moment just rips me apart. We should be enjoying the fruits of our labours, and looking positively to the season ahead. Instead, my club has lurched from controversy to controversy in the off-season, and to read the comments of so-called supporters makes my stomach turn. Our club needs our support!
To our players, please, pull together through these dramas. Don't resort to in-fighting and dustups. To the administrators, please, do all you can to give the players all the support humanly possible. To our supporters and members, do not resort to "eating our own". Talk of boycotts is talk of bandwagoners. We're better than that. We've got so much to look forward to. We, as a club, and I mean everyone involved, need to look to the upcoming season and sieze our opportunities with some self respect, pride and dignity.
Lets rise above this Coasters! We're Eagles. Lets soar!!
<This is brilliant and sincere, it deserves to be stickied. - Goldenblue>