Bombing with the Grog Squad

I found Neela outside the dome and he led me to the Grog Squad lair behind the goals (and the official cheer squad) at the Phone Dome. After several attempts to take a photo of myself on the tram that didn’t make me look like a dweeb, the solution to my dweebyness was waiting for me when i arrived in the form of a very fetching bombers guernsey that was lent to me for the afternoon by the Grog squad crew. Apparently it instantly made me 200% sexier.

Wow! 200% sexier when i put this on than before…

 

 

It was quickly explained that The Grog Squad traditionally gather in the standing area behind the goals and the official Bombers cheer squad for each of the home games. According to a few of them the reason is that the official Essendon Bombers Cheer Squad ™ suck and they are a bunch of pussies. Apparently the “official” so-called cheer squad have been known to throw people out for being too loud, so the Grog Squad has evolved to provide a bit of actual boisterous, swearing, passionate, entirely inappropriate for children, motivational support for the players. Not to mention a bit of tough love if the boys should ever let them down.

Sshhhhhhh… you can actually hear the sounds of their flags waving…

The game itself wasn’t quite the nail-biter that last week’s game was although the end result was tight enough: Essendon 19.8 (122) to Fremantle 17.10 (112). Apart from a period in the third quarter where Freo briefly pulled ahead (and i thought i may be destined to jinx every team i follow and never witness a victory) it didn’t’ really seem like Freo were ever going to come back and pull out a win over the Bomber boys. Given they finished second last last year with just 3 wins from 22 games, it was no wonder that the whole squad was pretty excited to see The Same Olds at 2 from 2 (and second on for and against) after their first home game of the season.

 

 

The joy of Victory

After last week’s invite to the rooms from the Roos i have become pretty spoiled and very used to having the full treatment laid on. When i spoke to Neela on the phone he had said something about whether i had time to go to dressing room or the locker rooms after the game, so i was a bit embarrassed when someone made another reference to “going to the locker room” after the game and i realised that it was actually the bar immediately behind us at the Phone dome. Not that i have ever been one to refuse the chance to go to a bar but my expectations are unreasonably high now…

Carla and Neela

Imagine my shock then when at the end of the game Carla (who had already lent me the sexy guernsy) produced two dressing room passes for Neela and i to go down to the Bombers’ rooms.

Unlike last week when we had a guide at the MCG, Neela and i probably spent a good fifteen minutes on our own exploring the various elevators, stairwells and nooks and crannies of the dome trying to find the way down to the rooms. After several totally wrong directions from the catering stuff and the security officials, we eventually twigged that the most certain way to get to the players rooms was to head out onto the field and up the tunnel that they’d come out of.

15 minutes later: up the tunnel and past the ground staff…

Now i am not sure whether there was a lot of action in the rooms that we missed while we were getting lost but it wasn’t quite drinking the “free beers” with the boys that the Roos CEO had promised last year. It was more a mix of relos trying to get their car keys or their lift home from the players, club veterans (unfortunately, i mistook everyone associated with the club older than 60 for Kevin Sheedy but Neela set me straight) and various confused looking hangers on like the two of us.

We hung around there for 15 minutes or so before we headed back up to the other Locker Room (which did have beers) for another couple before the day was out.

A great day all round but it is a strange sensation, celebrating the win while wearing all the gear and secretly (or not so secretly) acknowledging that i am a man-whore who will probably be back at the same ground, in the same bar, wearing some other clubs gear and cheering on the opposition before the year is out.

But for now it’s Essendon Essendon Essendon… Essendon Essendon Essendeon… Essendon Essendon Essendeon… Essendon Essendon Essendeon… ESS EN DON!!!

[I will come back and clean this post up, when the cold and the cold medications wear off]