The Dogs of Peace Tour, Saturday June 21st

Well, well, well. Bulldogs Away is always an eventful trip, but this one surely takes the cake. We had a famous Raiders victory, an Army performance un-matched for years, a plethora of A-list celebrity sightings, as well as a bloody fantastic time.

The trip started off slowly, with KW unable to locate Azz’s house in Calwell. A quick trip up the parkway (and past quite a nasty single vehicle accident) saw us at Kaleen to collect Don Juan de Marko. After nearly running the poor lad over, and copping the evil eye off old man Milinkovic (whose resemblance to Croation football coach Bilic didn’t go unnoticed) the lads were off up the Hume to create history.

Being the nice guy that he is, Marko knocked off a Sat Nav unit from his neighbours car the night before. This was used to great effect and saw us arrive in Kings Park just after midday. The person responsible for naming suburbs in Sydney must have a great sense of humour, as the only regal thing about that patch is the abandoned Donut King store. After a quick inspection of Nicks pad, and a few Brett Grogans, we were off.

After being asked by a local at the train station whether we were part of the Army reserves, the party of five were off to Homebush. It was at the Homebush Brewery that we had our first brush with celebrity. Whilst enjoying a few beverages, Canberra Identity / Raiders Board Member / all round good guy Jim Murphy dropped in for a chat. Though disappointed he didn’t have any free magnums of Passion Pop, the Army gave Jim the warm welcome he deserved. Little did we know, but in a few hours time the RA would be celebrities in their own right, being approached by punters for photo and autograph opportunities.

As shear luck would have it, a convention called “supernova” was being held in the Olympic Park precinct. We witnessed many a comic book nerd dressed to the nines run the gauntlet past the pub and its many critics. It was great to see long suffering Raiders fan Steve French aka Greeneyed in his best costume. He was dressed as some sort of gimp / clown / handy man, with his vaccum cleaner / whipper snipper in tow. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the band Slipknot.

Our numbers grew thick and fast at the pub, with many Army regulars fronting up for battle. The QBN Crew arrived 90 minutes late, and missed happy hour when the ‘cheaps were drink’. After approximately 3 hours at the Brewery, the lads had sufficiently lubricated the throats and we were off. A few of us headed to the fictional gate D to collect some pre-bought tickets, and were rapped to see that Schapelle Corby was back in Oz and earning a decent living. Well in Schapers.

Preparing for kick-off I introduced myself to Finite and Buc Nasty, who I thought was someone’s alter ego but apparently not. I implored all the pundits who were spread out between the 2 supporter bays to congregate closer together, which 95% of them did and it made for a great gathering and looked very good on the telly. One keen observer noticed that Laurie Fischer was sitting in the bay next to us, on his Pat Malone (bar his wife).

The Bulldogs Harold Matthews and Jersey Flegg sides did a lap of honour for some reason, and provided a great oppurtuntiy for the lads to get the vocal chords in sync. A few minutes before kick off stadium security converged, but they were loving us. Obviously not Bulldogs fans, they were very happy with our numbers and noise, and seemed as though they wanted to join in. One of them in particular would have been a great addition to the Army, as he has a top voice. John Buttler’s band members must have dumped him, cause he was deadest working security at the stadium. Better than busking again I guess. We love you to John .

I won’t mention the game at all as we all know what happened there, but I must say the non-stop singing from the Army was something I had not seen or heard before. The show the players were putting on was more than matched in the stands. Kudos to all of you who were there, I think you will agree that an outstanding time was had by all.

Toward the end of the game, two Bulldogs supporters, obviously unhappy with the fact they spent there last lobster on tickets to the game, decided to have a red hot go at the Army. To our credit, we didn’t get involved and Stadium security ejected the pair before anything untoward occurred. Obviously not the brightest pair attempting to take on a 150 strong Army!

As we have become accustomed to, the players embraced the fans after the game, coming all the way to the fence to share the spoils of victory.

Upon exiting the ground, Sully thought it would be a top idea to head to the players sheds and cheer them on to the team bus. Obviously unaware that access to the sheds can only be gained by going under ground, he led us on a safari around the perimeter of the stadium. After being heavily shadowed by the fuzz, we took the opportunity to have a group shot with the boys in blue behind us. Some of them were not impressed.

As we made our way back to the Brewery, we once again saw ex-Brumbies coach Laurie Fischer, whose stalking of the Raiders / Army is becoming quite disturbing. If you want in Laurie, just come sit with us buddy! Not sure if he was ecstatic when someone mentioned in passing how great it was to see a team from Canberra finally win.

Upon arriving back at the pub, we were cordially advised to pipe down, as our singing was drowning out the live band. After a few at the Brewery, and listening to The Gambler on repeat, we posed for photos with starry eyed punters, and then said our good byes. Back at Nicks place, he entertained us with stories, such as his and Katie’s first date, where he took her out to the local servo and bought her a meat pie. Who said romance is dead?

Trying to get a pizza at half midnight proved to be a struggle, as did getting Azz to share his BBQ meat lovers. After Peter Garrett and his mob had done a runner, Marko was the first to crash. Why he decided to squash himself into the spare room around an unused desk I will never know.

Just when we thought the night was over, Tom received a call from Rupi, a Sydney based RA member who was looking for a party. Ten minutes later he arrived to find everyone asleep bar Tom and KW. By this stage, my brain wasn’t functioning too well, but I do recall him talking about a nightclub near Wynyard where you need to wear a suit to get in, as well as the fact he had a soccer game on at 9am.

Next official Raiders Army trip is via bus to Wollongong, where we meet the Dragons. Any and all interested in attending this game should drop me an email or keep your eye on the GreenHouse forum.

BELIEVE

KW

* On another note we are currently have some trouble uploading photos to this site. We do however have a facebook group where we try to upload photos on a regualar basis. To view these photos simply join our facebook group by visiting the Link Below.

Raiders Army Facebook Group