I remember 1980 like it was yesterday! I also remember '73-'74 very well (was there for both) & I even have a vague memory of watching the after-match replay of '69.
For the '80 GF my family went into the club during GF week to pick up our tickets, we were given seats in the members section in the 1st level of the Northern Stand, which was slightly disappointing because we wanted to sit in the terrace closer to the action (like we always did). We climbed up the stairs to get to the 1st level & started walking down the aisle looking for our row. We went further & further until we realized that our row, row A, was the front row - over looking the Collingwood cheer squad below us! I was feeling a sense of familiarity, the victories in '73-'74 felt very close, the whole day felt the same as it did back then. I just sort of knew that we were going to win because it all felt so calm & familiar. I felt confident that we knew how to win a premiership & that it was just another game for us, but by contrast, I could feel the nervousness of the filth supporters below us, the stench of nervous sweat & the reek of imminent death was welling up from below. Even the filth supporters knew it was over before it even began.
After all the pomp & ceremonies the umpire bounced the ball & it all fell into place, we had the filth by the neck from the first minute to the last. By the start of the last quarter we were well into party mode! Our victory was assured & the last quarter was a glorious parade, aptly kicking to the Punt Rd end. Then KB pulled that magical move around the boundary line, burning Stan Magro off & slotting a brilliant goal from the flank. My seat was in a perfect direct line behind the kick when KB put it onto his boot, I knew it was a goal from the moment it left his boot! I was the first to know it was going through the middle & I leaped up out of my seat cheering as the ball was only halfway home. Then I looked down at the filth below me to see what they thought of it ... they were packing up & leaving! I nearly fell over the railing waving goodbye to them! Many two fingered salutes to the filth later the siren went & the whole ground erupted into a yellow & black frenzy! The 'Yellow & Black' line in our victory song shook the ground to its foundations, I actually felt the stand shaking under my feet! Our boys lap of honor with the cup in hand just went on & on ... & continued on in the JD stand of PRO. It is still going too, the feeling is still there, all these year later I can still feel the stands shaking! Dale Weightman wore the Premiership Cup like a big silver hat as he strutted around the PRO!
Call me nostalgic, call me whatever you like, but I will never forget that day! That was the day we ruled the world ...
Now, that day seems a long way away. But every time a Tiger player breaks free on the flank heading to the Punt Road end I see KB leaving the world in his wake of whispy hair ... & the ball sailing through the middle. Good times, great view & nothing can take it away from me! No amount of doom & gloom from a few of the negative types will ever quell those feelings. We will get back there one day ... one day.
I remember standing in the pocket out at Princes Park on a dismal day in mid '76 watching Hawthorn kick goal after goal to bury us while we kicked 2.20 for the day, I was thinking that we wont ever see times like '73 & '74 again. A Premiership seemed a long way away, even then ... then things turned around, little by little ...
Go Tigers!