Does your typical saints supporter suffer from PTSD

[Sainternist]

Perhaps there could be a support group set up for traumatised St.Kilda supporters?

[skeptic]

Ffs people can be traumatised in many ways and at different levels and degrees ..and just because some of you have been traumatised by life doesn't mean you own it or have a right to poo poo someone who says they are traumatised by the saints ...stop being woke jokes . I know people who are traumatised because progressive leftists laugh and joke about killing unborn babies .

You can’t get a diagnosis of PTSD because your team loses at football no matter how much it effects you.

Being upset about something is not trauma. Stress is not trauma.

That’s not being woke. I also think you’re not using the word properly… you’ve used it in the opposite context here, you’re the one being woke

[bangaulegend]

I was born a saints fan & will die a saints fan & as traumatic as it gets I can't leave, it's in my blood. My eldest son has chosen to turn away from football because he has seen what being a St.Kilda fan has done to me & does not wish to go down the same path can't say I blame him

[Sainternist]

We are born into suffering! That is what a Sainthood is all about! LOL

[bangaulegend]

We are born into suffering! That is what a Sainthood is all about! LOL

[Superboot]

If we were actually successful, I would almost certainly have an identity crisis.

[Yorkeys]

Rest easy Superboot. The light at the end of the tunnel is the national draft. And its quite a long tunnel.

[loris]

If we were actually successful, I would almost certainly have an identity crisis.

Actually I found it incredibly stressful & from 2004 -2010. In the second half of the season, every game was a time bomb, would we have enough wins to get into the eight or could we remain in top four? Would the wheels fall off our ride?

When we got into finals it was incredibly expensive, not knowing until the week before what ground Saints would be playing at. Then it was to get last minute return flights to & fro Perth to eastern states to see the Saints. And boy oh boy do they jack the flight prices up from Perth around footy finals time!

And, silly me, one time I was in Uk, 2005, following the Ashes Test matches and I gave away my cricket tickets, when I thought Saints were progressing further into the finals. Was I going to be loyal to the Aussie cricket team and support them from the stands? Or was my loyalty to the Saints stronger? Ofcourse loyalty to the Sainters won out. I quickly had to fork out for an expensive flight in a 24 hour dash from Heathrow to Melbourne to get to the game to see Saints v Sydney Swans which started 3 hours after I touched down at Tullamarine. My misguided optimism, soon turned to pessimism when that thug Barry Hall ‘tummy tapped’ Matt McGuire and the Saints began to dissemble right before my eyes. It would have been easier & cheaper to stay in UK and watch the Aussies lose that Ashes Test series.

Nowadays, I just go with the flow, if we make the finals well and good, if we progress further than I think, that’s great. No use stressing over, what I have no control over. I simply keep forking out more money to see the Saints and enjoy the crazy journey the Saints continue to deliver to me. It’s an addiction, and I’m too scared to go cold turkey and give up on them.

I guess I’m lucky, I can afford to be blasé about if Saints make finals, and if they can get to the big dance and win it. I know it can happen, I was there at the ‘G’ 1966 and experienced the joy of it all. Whether it will happen again in my lifetime, I don’t know? I’m there for the sail along the winding river, it’s the anticipation of what might be around the next bend in the river.

[Superboot]

Great post, Loris. I'm sure we can all feel your pain.

I was there in '66 too. A bit different for me though. It was my first Saints match after my family emigrated from the UK at the end of '65. I'd chosen the Saints as we stayed in St Kilda for around 6 weeks when we first arrived.

I'm still glad I made that choice but those younger than us might need reminding that we didn’t even make the finals in '67. So high hopes were soon dashed even back then!