The finest day in September

Saturday the 30th September 2006 will forever stand as one of the most memorable days of my short life. The entire weekend was a hoot. For those interested, there are pics here and i've compiled a brief itinerary of my special weekend, one September in 2006.......

16.40; Thurs, 28th Sept: Had a mad day at work, supposed to have left work at 4.30pm to try to get to the airport for a 5.50 flight. Thanks heaps to Robbo for coming by work to pick me up and drop me off. A true mate and west coast supporter who was desperate to be there that one day in september but couldn't, but in turn helped another supporter get there himself. What a selfless act in the true spirit of footy.... :)

18.00; Thurs, 28th Sept: A FULL QANTAS 767 jet takes off for the skies in search of glory to the eastern seaboard of Australia. It was a plane load of West Coast supporters which also happened to have the non-playing 25 West Coast squad, trainers and coaching staff. The actual players themselves took the flight before. The vibe of the plane was electric, to say the least. Everyone knew everyone (I soon found out the whole plane was charted by the club, and was full of West Coast players, staff, admin, family, wives, etc.) and were chatting away, looking forward to 2 days time. Watched a pretty crap movie in Poseidon. (at least i got a movie and meal.... ;)

23.50; Thurs, 28th Sept: Landed in Melbourne, pretty stuffed. The fact that i worked the whole day, partook in a 3 hr flight had taken its toll....... i was running on adrenaline alone.

13.00; Fri, 29th Sept: walking around the streets of melbourne, the air was teeming with anticipation of 24 hrs into the future. West Coast supporters wore their guernsey and club gear with pride.... it's a wonder if any of us changed clothes that entire weekend.

12.30; Sat, 30th Sept: Got the call from leesz. Met up with her outside Gate 1 of the NEW Ponsford stand of the MCG. On the way to the MCG, had my Eagles scarf out the window of the car the whole way there. Passed a mob of sydney supporters on the way. That was interesting.

13.00; Sat 30th Sept: entered the Ponsford stand. I was in awe. The 'oh-so-few-hairs' on the back of my neck were standing up. I have arrived. Found our seats. They were awesome. Close enough to see all parts of the ground, yet not too far from the action. Also noticed a LOT of attractives females around my area.

14.29; Sat 30th Sept: After a very ordinary pre-match entertainment, which i struggle to remember what was on, the moment had arrived. The players gathered at their positions... the starting siren sounds....... Game on!

17.30ish; Sat 30th Sept: Final siren sounds at last! I dont think i've ever experienced such a multitude of emotions over a 20min period. But such euphoria at the end! Lots of hugging of strangers and highfive-ing. Realised how sore my throat was.......

18.15; Sat 30th Sept: Fought the crowds (both happy and sad) to meet up with Leon and the other perth crew in town. More hugging and screaming ensued...

19.00 - late; Sat 30th Sept: Never have I sung the West Coast Eagles song so many times in one night. West coast flags, scarves, hats, shirts were waved wherever you went. Footy's were kicked across the streets and tram lines. Strangers who would normally never even acknowledge each other were patting each other on the back, highfive-ing and sharing in each other's joy.

You'd think we'd just won a war. You'd think we'd won a presidential election. You'd think we'd saved the world from the evil of satan's army. In a sense we did....... and more. We'd won the AFL Grand Final!! And I was there for it.

10.45; Sun 1st Oct: The airport was crazy. Leesz and I were sitting having brekky and saw the crowd cheering the players as they walked thru the metal detectors. Autographs were requested by everyone. Cameras were flashing. I thought a plethora of hollywood stars had arrived. It was so unreal. Everywhere i looked, Eagles colours were ever present.

11.10; Sun 1st Oct: Boarded the plane for the journey home. Again, I was fortunate enough to be on the West Coast plane. This time however, the ENTIRE club was on this plane, including the 25 that played yesterday. Trevor Nisbett had the premiership cup 3 rows in front of me! It was ironic how something so precious was nonchanlantly chucked in the overheard compartment, only to be cushioned last minute by some pillows lying around.

The mood was rather mellow on the trip back. Might've been the fact everyone's probably hungover. I was looking forward to watching Nacho Libre on the way back, but guess what? Something even better was on instead.... Yes, they replayed the grand final. :D

13.10; Sun 1st oct: Disembarked the plane to a huge roaring crowd. Leesz had warned me of the welcoming crowd at the airport, but i could not picture what she meant. It was like our own mini subi oval within the airport! Even the road leading out of the airport was lined with people that had parked their cars to cheer their team. It was like a street parade down that road.

Needless to say, sleep was not really on offer that weekend. The anticipation and excitement leading up to the game and the sheer jubilation that followed didnt allow much sleep. I am just so esctatic and appreciative and blessed that i had the privilege of being there, the finest day in September.
:)