Tweet
It was a long day for some at the Footy Stadium today!
I got to the ticketek office at Moore Park at about 6.15 to get my tickets. There were about 50 people queued up by 9 and Bay 146 sold out in about 10 mins, so a good turnout by Chooks fans.
Then there was the open session, which was a nice event for the fans. GF t-shirts seemed to be selling quite well from the merch van and the Steggles Charity Nest BBQ was doing a roaring trade.
Steve Noyce hosted the afternoon which wasn't so much a training session as an open media call. Noyce was on the mic and interviewed most of the players one at a time. All of them were in good spirits and looked extremely excited and energised. There was a huge press pack but all of the players, at some stage, took the time to shake the hands of supporters and sign some autographs.
Special props ought to be given to JWH, Jason Ryles, Sam Perrett, Nate Myles, Daniel Conn and Mitchell Pearce who spent a lot of time taking photos and signing autographs for the large crowd. There were probably about 2,000 people there, mainly kids, which made for a good atmosphere.
Steve Noyce, too, ought to be given a lot of credit. He spent his afternoon either speaking with supporters or helping out his staff by ferrying team kit/GF t-shirts. There was a dad with two kids who had travelled to the bush - one lady told Noyce this, and he took the kids' shirts into the change rooms to be signed by SKD and Todd Carney. It was a classy act by a classy CEO. He even accommodated a rather vile family who yelled at him because Todd Carney didn't sign an autograph for his son (the same family who thought it was a "bloody disgrace" the players didn't sign more autographs, despite the hundreds they did sign, as well as fan days, kids days, post-game presentations at the club, open sessions, etc.) - Noyce took the shirt into the sheds and got Carney's autograph for the spoilt brat and his puerile parents.
One disappointment was the security. Many kids (most of them younger than four or five years old) were sitting - and behaving very well - in the small players' enclosure either side of the tunnel (those seats weren't being used for anything). Two security guards decided it was appropriate to stand over these kids and tell them to move - I imagine it is intimidating for a four-year-old to be stood over by a 130kg stranger. When a father questioned why security was so firm, the maggots in the lime green told him that those were the rules and if he continued to question them he would be kicked out. 15 minutes later, when the kids were again rudely dealt with by security, the dad was kicked out. Same thing happened on the other side of the tunnel and one mother with a toddler - who sat in the enclosure to get away from the crowds near the fence - was also dealt with inappropriately. Suffice to say these pricks who call themselves security ruined the day for a couple of little kids whose dad was booted out despite doing very little wrong. Rant over.
Anyway the day was really good, perfect weather, a good sense of momentum is coursing through this club. A big thanks to the players for taking the time to give something back to the supporters, and the club for organising an event like this.
I got to the ticketek office at Moore Park at about 6.15 to get my tickets. There were about 50 people queued up by 9 and Bay 146 sold out in about 10 mins, so a good turnout by Chooks fans.
Then there was the open session, which was a nice event for the fans. GF t-shirts seemed to be selling quite well from the merch van and the Steggles Charity Nest BBQ was doing a roaring trade.
Steve Noyce hosted the afternoon which wasn't so much a training session as an open media call. Noyce was on the mic and interviewed most of the players one at a time. All of them were in good spirits and looked extremely excited and energised. There was a huge press pack but all of the players, at some stage, took the time to shake the hands of supporters and sign some autographs.
Special props ought to be given to JWH, Jason Ryles, Sam Perrett, Nate Myles, Daniel Conn and Mitchell Pearce who spent a lot of time taking photos and signing autographs for the large crowd. There were probably about 2,000 people there, mainly kids, which made for a good atmosphere.
Steve Noyce, too, ought to be given a lot of credit. He spent his afternoon either speaking with supporters or helping out his staff by ferrying team kit/GF t-shirts. There was a dad with two kids who had travelled to the bush - one lady told Noyce this, and he took the kids' shirts into the change rooms to be signed by SKD and Todd Carney. It was a classy act by a classy CEO. He even accommodated a rather vile family who yelled at him because Todd Carney didn't sign an autograph for his son (the same family who thought it was a "bloody disgrace" the players didn't sign more autographs, despite the hundreds they did sign, as well as fan days, kids days, post-game presentations at the club, open sessions, etc.) - Noyce took the shirt into the sheds and got Carney's autograph for the spoilt brat and his puerile parents.
One disappointment was the security. Many kids (most of them younger than four or five years old) were sitting - and behaving very well - in the small players' enclosure either side of the tunnel (those seats weren't being used for anything). Two security guards decided it was appropriate to stand over these kids and tell them to move - I imagine it is intimidating for a four-year-old to be stood over by a 130kg stranger. When a father questioned why security was so firm, the maggots in the lime green told him that those were the rules and if he continued to question them he would be kicked out. 15 minutes later, when the kids were again rudely dealt with by security, the dad was kicked out. Same thing happened on the other side of the tunnel and one mother with a toddler - who sat in the enclosure to get away from the crowds near the fence - was also dealt with inappropriately. Suffice to say these pricks who call themselves security ruined the day for a couple of little kids whose dad was booted out despite doing very little wrong. Rant over.
Anyway the day was really good, perfect weather, a good sense of momentum is coursing through this club. A big thanks to the players for taking the time to give something back to the supporters, and the club for organising an event like this.
Comment