GWS v Geelong: A Cautionary Tale

The GWS Giants played the Geelong Cats on Sunday the 3^rd of April at Manuka Oval, Canberra. Throughout the game I made some bad decisions; this is my story.

Upon entering the stadium I went to take my spot on the hill; a grassed, general admission area. However, it was a popular area and there was not a space in sight.

After wandering around the stadium for some time, my friend and I found two spare seats that we decided to take in the Bob Hawke stand.

Eventually settled in, we started to focus on the game. Geelong kicked a goal and a mighty cheer went up around us. It was then that my friend quietly made a comment to me.

‘Oh no. Look around you,’ he said.

I looked left. I looked right. I was awash in a sea of navy and white. We had unwittingly sat in the Geelong fan section.

Coincidentally, I had worn a navy shirt that day. Not caring too much about teams, I decided to become a Geelong supporter for the duration of the game.

My friend was adamant that he would stay true to GWS. However, he remained very quiet for most of the game, rather than his usual vocal support I had heard much about.

Later in the game, we turned to one of the Geelong supporters next to us and innocently asked him if they had won last week.

His response was less than cheerful, and did not really answer our question.

‘Settle down mate. It looks like you need to put more sunscreen on,’ he said.

We were sitting in the shade; the Geelong supporter’s answer confounded us. At the time I guessed they had lost and perhaps he thought we already knew that.

However, after looking up the scores from the week before I discovered that Geelong had quite comfortably beaten Hawthorn, 116 to 86. Maybe he was genuinely concerned about our sun exposure.

It was at this time that I began to distance myself from my newfound Geelong supporter status. It did not hurt that the Giants were winning and the game was about to end, either.

Soon after, the siren went off. My friend and I leapt to our feet and sang the GWS anthem as we hastily made our way far from the Geelong supporters.

Next time, I will buy a better ticket.

By Hannah Egan