Review – Bulldogs Away – 2007
Thursday, August 30th, 2007Hi Everyone,
Firstly, apologies for the lateness. I’ve been in hospital with a coma ever since Greaeme West decided to rip our boys off last weekend. Where to start? Bulldogs away was designed to be our swansong away trip for 2007, and it turned out to be possibly the best trip ever.
Raiders Army favourites, The Nightmare and Big Si made their long awaite return to the Hume Highway hit squad. This time, due to the unceremonious withdrawral of our last bus company, RA newcomer KW supplied us with the old Lyneham High bus, complete with Queanbeyaners. Kudos, KW. Well in.
In typical fashion, the Queanbeyan guys were around an hour late, but the Canberra crew had planned for this by telling them to arrive an hour earlier than we atually meant. Once on board the bus, beverages were consumed and we were on our way to Sydney — At around 60 km/h — This thing was bloody slow. The only thing slower is when you sing ‘Who Ate All The Pies’ to a Tigers supporter and you’re waiting for a response. This didn’t dampen our spirits, because it gave us an opportunity to get to know the QBN people, the newest additions to our group.
Naturally, the first stop was a rest stop just outside Goulburn. Frank the Tank was full and needed a refresher, so we stopped for a breather. While I was busy contracting tetanus from a piece of metal protruding from the toilet, Frank was busy stepping on soiled toilet paper, possibly his own. He walked out like this, where Big Si proclaimed that he’d seen kites with shorter tails. The bus was held up for 10 minutes because we couldn’t pick ourselves up off the ground from all the laughter.
Back on the road, the laughter continued all the way past Marulan. We played various games to amuse ourselves, one, an overtaking competition with a far superior bus. It was a race to see who could stay over 60 km/h going up hill. The passengers of the other bus, obviously international tourists, were fascinated with Australian supporting culture. One tourist was even spotted looking up the Army in their encyclopaedia.
Many more toilet stops were had along the way and as we got closer to Stadium Australia, we could sense that the boys in Green may pull through today…
We arrived at the ground, more bouyant than we’d been all season, and after a quick safety talk from the Nightmare, we were out, and singing our way into the ground. At this point, i’d like to comment on the behaviour of the Bulldogs crowd. All the public shaming they get is unwarranted. All bulldogs fans we saw were friendly, and even approached us to say how good it was seeing people supprt their team. This is a far cry from The Tigers fans in Campbelltown, who pick fights with you as you leave, or the worst fans in the NRL, Manly. While at Manly in round one, we were pelted with half full cans of beer. The security at the ground was absolutely abominable, as was the police presence. Neither organisation came to our aid until it was too late. Shame, Manly.
But I digress, We invited as many Raiders fans as possible to sit with us in Bay 113. Unfortunately, we couldn’t bring out big flags because Telstra Stadium thinks that people will get killed in a pool pole massacre or something, so we came with our voices. We sang, right up to the Raiders first try, after which it became a bit depressing. Credit to all the Raiders Army people, when one person got a bit down at teh scoreline, another would tap them on the back and get them going again. This is what it’s all about, we support the team during the tougher times and it makes the good times all the sweeter.
After Sonny Bill Williams had finished owning our boys, he was subbed off on our side of the field, so we chimed in with the ‘Take a piss’ chant, to which he just pointed at the scoreboard. Fair play champ. While Sydney papers lambasted us for our chant, I’m sure Sonny Bill was only worried about us for a nano-second, and more worried at why the papers were suddenly behind him rather than against him. What the Sydney papers failed to mention was that everyone in our bay stood to applauf as Hasem El Masri kicked past 2000 career points. I say again, Well in champ.
So, our boys got smoked. I dare say it would have been a different story had SBW been injured. It’s been a tough year, but our guys have gone very well considering their experience. The Army is glad to see the back of Matt Elliott — Look what he’s done at Penrith Beach — and we’re really glad to have Neil Henry, who suggested that the players all put money in a bucket to pay for the travel costs of the fans who went up to see the game.
All in all, it’s been an indifferent year. We’ve really struggled for numbers, which has made the Army’s performances a bit wanting, but if you’re keen to get in there and support your team vocally, or wave the big flags, come and see us in bay 72 this Saturday and sing our boys home.
This team will win a premiership.
Until 2008 – BELIEVE
