I haven’t written on the Carlton website since last year when I saw the Blues beat the Tigers late in the season, but of course that hasn’t stopped me following Carlton’s every move since then from afar. On Friday night, though, I was able to see my heroes play from up close - in Sydney, a city I’d never been to before!
After attending a pre-match Carlton function during the afternoon (there'll be a separate story about that on the website later), we walked back to our hotel to get ready for the footy match. I used some of the special Carlton paint that I get each year as part of my membership to paint my face and I even got Mum to paint the back of my neck. I also got dressed in my #5 Chris Judd Carlton guernsey, to match the one that Daddy has. We had a feeling that Juddy would play really well, yet again.....
Then we caught a taxi to a Hotel right near the SCG, where we met up with some other excited Carlton supporters to have a drink with them. One of them was Rachel, who lives in Sydney, who I had sat next to at lunch. She has two little boys, even younger than me. They didn't come out to the footy match - perhaps they will when they are older.
As it got close to the start of the game we walked through the drizzling rain to find our seats at the ground, near the 50m arc right on the boundary. While our caps & raincoats kept our faces and top half of our body dry, we got VERY water-logged from sitting on wet seats and having rain pour down onto our legs! Still, it wasn’t going to bother me if only our team would have a win. It was going to be tough, because Carlton hadn’t beaten the Swans in Sydney since ten years before I was born, back in 1993 - but all three of us thought Carlton could do it.
I loved seeing all the bright lights and the green oval glistening in the rain. The players found the going pretty hard from the start, with the ball growing heavy very quickly and their boots slipping on the soggy ground. The Swans scored first, but soon after Eddie Betts got our first goal. There were a lot of Sydney supporters in the crowd, but we Carlton people were certainly loud enough to make ourselves heard! Walks was great up forward, and so too Setanta O’hAilpin. I really liked seeing our big Irishman back in our team for the first time this year after injuring his ankle. Quarter time had us down, 3-1 (19) to 5-2 (32).
The second quarter was messy, both for us in our seats in the rain, and for the players out on the field. It pelted down for a while! It looked really tough out there, with many marks dropped, and lots of slipping and sliding happening. Wish I could’ve been out there with them! Not one goal but an amazing 11 points were scored in total that quarter - six for the Swans and five for the Blues. To make things even more frustrating, the umpires made us (especially my Mummy) REALLY cranky as it certainly seemed like they were all Sydney supporters. She was very vocal! Half time and we were still down, 3-6 (24) to 5-8 (38). Fifteen points down wasn’t much, but in this weather it could actually be an unbeatable lead!
Then came some fun in the third quarter, when Carlton finally started kicking more goals than points. Eddie Betts proved what we’d been saying, that their Goodes might be good but our Betts is better - he booted three goals in close succession, putting us in front by a point!! Mummy and I were going bananas waving our big Carlton flags, annoying the Swans supporters around us, but delighting fellow Blues fans. We all could feel that the tide was turning. Five goals to us in that quarter to Sydney’s three saw us with a tiny lead at the last break, 8-9 (57) to 8-8 (56). I was very nervous while waiting for the last quarter to begin. I was worried that we would have another draw like against Essendon (which I watched live on TV, bursting into tears when the siren went), but Daddy reckoned we were up and about and would go on to win.
The last quarter was terribly exciting. Chris Judd was unbelievable, playing like the champion we know him to be. We sure were right about how well he'd play. But his whole team lifted along with him, surging ahead time after time, even when Sydney kicked their two goals. Jamo was incredible at full back, ably supported by South Aussies Nick Duigan, Jordan Russell and Bryce Gibbs. Simon White (Kouta’s #43) was superb up forward as well as back, our new rookie Ed Curnow was magnificent yet again (I bet the Crows are kicking themselves for delisting him two years ago!), Scotland and Simmo were in everything, and Waite stopped giving away frees and made some great contributions. I was pleased that Daddy was listening to the radio while watching the footy, because that meant he knew how much time we had left. With two minutes to go we relaxed and really enjoyed ourselves, being almost three goals up and knowing we were witnessing a Carlton win. The siren sounded and we screamed with joy, scores being 12-15 (87) to 10-11 (71).
The Carlton crowd was so loud at that beautiful sound of the final siren. Not only had we broken the 18 year hoodoo, but we also had just beaten the team who’d put us out of the finals last year. Sweet! The players all lapped up our adulation, quite obviously enjoying their win every bit as much as we did. They spread out all around the ground to hand out some small Carlton towels to some people in the crowd, and I was lucky enough that Kade Simpson gave one to me! Many of the players ran right past us and high fived us - Mummy got a high five from Dangles while I got them from Simmo, Joseph, Duigan and Scotto. It was fantastic!
Going to Sydney was the longest distance I’d ever travelled to see the Blues, around 1,400 km by car. That night was the wettest I’d ever got while watching the Blues. During the match I was the loudest I’ve ever been while cheering the Blues. And after the match I sang the Carlton theme song the most times ever, all the way on the half hour walk back to our hotel, having no voice left afterwards. WHAT a fantastic night I had, seeing my team break a record by beating Sydney for the first time in Sydney in 18 long years!
Go Blues - I’m hoping 2011 is our year!
From Jezza Hanel
