How many of us were old enough to appreciate 66?

[Beej]

How did it feel? I bet you all have a story to tell so lets hear them!

Would've been amazing.

[ozrulestrace]

Well, I was all of eight years of age, hence I probably didn't fully appreciate what the the win meant to all of those who had been barracking for the Saints since the 1920s or possibly earlier.
Darrell Baldock said something similar about how running around the MCG with the cup he noticed many of the elderly supporters standing there with tears running down their faces.
For me, I can rmember nothing of the game other than watching Barry Breen kicking that point and looking to my my mother as she was praying (and she was an athiest) for a win.
We also had Jewish neighbours and they couldn't attend due to Yom Kippur, oh the discussions about whether Ian Synman would play or not, but they told stories of the noise that arose from the synagogue when the siren went.
My father worked at the Herald & Weeekly Times and was trying to set Page 1 of the afternoon editon and the headline kept having to be cahnged from "Pies win" to "Saints win" to the consideration of even the headline reading "It's a draw" but we all know what the end result was
And that's why when the big day comes I will appreciate it the blood, seat & tears from not only this generation of Saints supporters, but from fans of the past generations.

[thejiggingsaint]

Not a bad old year for "yours truly" I was 21 (two months older than "Cowboy") I completed my apprenticeship. I had money in my pocket. The clubs in Liverpool had LIVE music and along with my good mates I had energy to BURN!!!!!! Everton (my surrogate St Kilda!!!) reached the FA cup final and were down by two goals, only to produce the comeback of the century and win 3-2!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had no idea then of course that my destiny was to bring me to the other side of the world to join up with the OTHER team that had success in that year!!!!
How glad I am at the way its turning out!!!!

[Winmar7Fan]

Unfortunately I was 2 so I don't remember much that's why I'm really still waiting on my first.

[matrix]

i was negative 7
cant remember much

[fugazi]

The Jigster is a Scouser!

I'll read his subsequent posts in a Liverpool accent from now on.

I wasn't far off - born in '69.

[fingers]

I was 2 months old - but I'm claiming it !

[perfectionist]

I was 14 going on 15. I started following the Saints in 1960 and we made the finals the following year. We made the GF in 1965 and won the flag in 66. I thought at the time that this was to be the normal course of events! Not only that, when we were playing at the Junction Oval, at half time and at three quarter time, I would go around and collect the empty Boon Spa soft drink bottles (refund half a penny) and finish up with about two or three shillings, going home with more money than I went with - how good was that, especially if we won.

In those days my season ticket for all 18 games was ten shillings (one dollar) and a footy record cost 6 pence (5 cents). A pie was a shilling (ten cents) and a drink 9 pence (8 cents). Dad only went to home games but I went to away games too using public transport. If we won, it was a dash home to watch the replay at 6pm. If we lost, I would slam the door of my room and cry into the pillow. By about 8:30, the pain of the loss was starting to go and it was time for a more analytical dissection of the game which started with the arrival of the home delivered Sporting Globe (yes on a Saturday night), a pink paper with a match summary and most importantly - the Ladder!

In those days, finals tickets were a lottery, literally, with applications through the Herald newspaper (an evening paper). There was a 3000 seat allocation to the competing clubs. Not many found their way to ordinary members and despite queuing all night, we missed out. However, after some 'phone calls, my dad got a seat through the club's physio at the time who was a relative. I was able to get a standing room ticket from somewhere and when dad got to his seat asked the bloke next to him if he could bring me in. The bench seats in those days allowed for a bit of squeezing in.

I used to yell a lot more in those days and can remember the last quarter as just one big frenzy. I didn't hear the siren, just saw Alan Morrow throw the ball in the air and then everyone started jumping around and kissing, even total strangers! I don't think I ever saw my dad more emotional. The players ran around the ground which wasn't usual at the time.

We went to my uncle's place in East St Kilda after the match and I was struck by the number of people there who were saying that they could now die happy.

There was no home video in those days, but my parents gave me a vinyl recording of the 3KZ match call for my birthday. No record has ever been played more often. I know it word for word.

[bethb7]

I'm 15 so I really can't claim 66, but I will claim this years flag
My mum was four, she's still waiting for one that she can actually remember

[GrumpyOne]

I was 14 at the time and had barracked for the Saints since Darrel Baldock and Verdun Howell lived in two houses almost directly opposite Cheltenham East Primary, where I went to school. Darrel always had time for us kids even though we used to be a nuisance and hang around outside his place asking if he could come out to play kick to kick with us. Quite a few times he did, and was always patient, kind and helpful. Crossed over from being a bomber supporter on the basis of that.

Was rapt on the day, couldn't watch it on TV, but listened on the radio.

Can remember the celebrations afterward, and Tommy Bent's statue on Nepean Highway being draped with a impromptu jumper.

If I had realised that 40 years later I would be still waiting for the second, I would have celebrated harder for the first.

[On the Bench]

I was 6, had the radio on and I was copying every move in the backyard with my trusty Ross Faulkner Footy. I was too young to appreciate how precious it was.

I remember thinking after the game this will be the first of many premierships. My first big lesson from Karma.

Thirty one years later I flew from Jakarta to the G to watch our beloved boys play the Crows in the 97 Grand Final. It was a long flight back that night.

This year will hopefully be different. I'm coming over from Perth this week to watch us play the Hawks.

[Newman]

It's a bit long ... but here's my story that was featured in last month's Melbourne Observer newspaper. (Apologies for a lengthy story).

My Dad is a Carlton supporter so I’m still unsure as to why I grew up barracking for St Kilda. Maybe it’s because the first couple of years of my life were spent growing up in St Kilda and for some reason I felt that’s the team I should follow. Or it could have been the attraction to the colours? Or maybe being a good God fearing boy I liked the fact that they were the ‘Saints’?

Anyway, having moved from St Kilda to Mentone, it was a good choice of team as in 1965 the club moved headquarters to Moorabbin which was just a few miles from Mentone.

My first radio memory of a football game was hearing Norman Banks on 3KZ calling a home game versus Melbourne in May 1964. I still recall Dad collecting the free footy photos from the local Mobil service station after he filled up with petrol. (I’m sure it was a bit more affordable in the ‘60s!)

The move to Moorabbin proved to be beneficial and come September 1965 the Saints finally got to play in a Grand Final. Their only appearance prior to that was 1913! Could they at long last win their first premiership? Alas, it wasn’t to be as they were soundly beaten by Essendon. The following year they again had the chance to win the VFL holy grail except this year they faced Collingwood. I had the opportunity to go to that game but sadly I declined. Maybe it was because I was too frightened of experiencing the hurt of losing a grand final (like in 1965) or perhaps it was because I didn’t want to go with my Auntie Bet who had a spare ticket. It’s not that I didn’t like my Auntie but maybe as a 10 year old I felt a bit uncomfortable … who knows what was going through my head at that age. So instead my Mum took the ticket and went in my place and I stayed at home. As we all know the Saints won that day - by just one solitary point. Everyone remembers Barry Breen’s point - but watching the replay I think Bob Murray’s important mark in the dying seconds is often overlooked. There was no TV coverage back then so I heard the game on the radio. I can still recall standing at the back of the garage listening to my Nanna’s old radio which Dad kept in the garage. I was too nervous to listen up close so I listened from afar hoping that the loud noises and cheers represented the Saints fans. And that’s about all I remember of their one and only premiership in 1966. In 1971 when they again made the Grand Final, I made sure I didn’t miss it and this time I went ... but sadly we lost to Hawthorn despite a 20 point lead at 3/4 time, and I made my way home alone on the Frankston line train.

26 years later, and now living in Brisbane, I scored a Grand Final ticket and so me and my mate George (who was there at the MCG for their ’66 win) headed to Melbourne hoping for a chance to taste premiership success over the Adelaide Crows who the week before had got up to beat the Bulldogs in the final minutes. In the end the Crows ran all over us and won their first AFL flag.

Maybe if I had stayed home and listened to the game in the garage on my Nanna’s old radio - it might have been a different story!

[evertonfc]

What fantastic stories - I hung on every word of each of them.

Oh to be a Sainter in the 60's and early 70's...

For those of us too young to recall: might help

[bigcarl]

For those of us too young to recall: might help

thanks for that everton. there's some great bits of commentary in there ... "hit the boundary line", "i tipped this", etc.

but williamson's "butch, i just put the lighted end of a cigarette in my mouth" i hadn't heard before

[Superboot]

I was 12. My first St Kilda game, after emigrating in 1965.

Like the Jiggster I was still celebrating Everton's first FA Cup win in 33 years, and England's World Cup win.

I was standing behind the goal at the city end. Thought it was really weird when everyone sat down on the terracing during the breaks.

Don't remember a great deal about the game, though. A bit too new to the game itself to really appreciate it. Imagine never having seen American football before that season and suddenly finding yourself at the Superbowl watching the team that you had decided follow. It was a bit like that. Wish now I'd known more about it.

And I kept hearing about this guy Ditterich who wasn't playing!

[Rowdy]

I'm still waiting, came into this world in late 67...

My father was at the 66 GF, still wear the scarf that was bought on the day.

[matrix]

My father was at the 66 GF, still wear the scarf that was bought on the day.

thats stuff i love.
imagine what that scarf has seen....

[saint1974]

I was only 2 but my late grandmother whose father played for the saints was there.

She olnly lost her hubby who had passed away 2 weeks earlier she went to the game said she nearly had a heart attack she was so emotional asshe had followed the saints a long time.

She said she had never experienced such ahappiness she hadnt felt in ages as she had nursed her sick husband for a long time.

Also told me they dressed up the Tommy Bent statue in Nepean Hwy.

Thats is why i love the saints because of her,my wish was to attent a grand final with her unfortunately she passed away before the 1997 grand final always think of her before a game and hope that i too will be able to experience the joy she felt win we won in 66.

GO SAINTERS!!!!!!!!!!

[quidnunc]

Ah the memories.

I was 12 at the time and my mother took me to the MCG about 6:00 pm to line up for tickets. The next morning the tickets went on sale and by the time I got to the ticket box it was standing room only.

Fortunately during the week my uncle managed to scrounge me a seat on the wing and I still remember packing my bag with sandwiches, lollies and drinks and jumping on the bus on my own down Punt Road to the MCG.

We lived in Punt Road near the St Kilda junction and always flew a St Kilda flag from a tall tree in our front yard.

I very sincerely hope as many Saints supporters as possible get to see and experience our side winning a flag - particularly those fortunate enough to be there.

Go Saints!

[evertonfc]

I was 12. My first St Kilda game, after emigrating in 1965.

Like the Jiggster I was still celebrating Everton's first FA Cup win in 33 years, and England's World Cup win.

Then you'll like this, Superboot!

[degruch]

Erm...my parents we two years away from getting married! Late '70's and early '80's were the start for me...big fat Cowboy, Robbie Muir, Barks and Gary Sidebottom, Joffa, Burns. 1966 seemed a million years away!!!

[PLUGGER14]

i was negative 7
cant remember much

ditto

[SteveStevens66]

I was 9 years old. I had been to just about every game that season but the Grand Final that year fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, and mum said no to going to the game. As such, we listened to the match on the radio in the car. The tension of that last quarter is still vivid and I recall my uncle sitting at the steering wheel gripping it as if his life depended on it. We were listening to 3KZ. When it was over I ran up the driveway into the house screaming like a maniac and the whole house erupted in pure joy. It was the single happiest moment I can recall of my childhood because when that final siren went nothing else mattered except
celebrating the victory.

My uncle, who made me a St Kilda supporter, didn't live to see the boys this season. Life is cruel and many others like him would have died waiting for a second flag. There are many reasons to win the big one but for all those who spent their lives supporting the club, waiting for another flag that didn't come, I hope we win it for them this year.

On a lighter note, just a few weeks ago we were talking about '66 and my aunty told me in the most casual manner, "Oh, I used to date Ian Synman." I said "You're kidding, what happened?" to which she replied, "No, I really did but I broke up with him because he was too tall."

[meher baba]

I was 7, and growing up in Sydney with a mother who had grown up in St Kilda and was a Sainter through and through (and who had resisted the bad influence of most of her friends who supported, in those days, the far more successful Swans: my mum even went out with a Swan player for a bit, but still kept the faith).

My father had no interest in team sports, or in any sport at all other than ones he had actively participated in as a young man (which meant that we were exposed to the rather unique mix of ice skating, diving, surf livesaving and motorcycle speedway racing).

I vaguely remember the 1966 GF. My mum was listening to it on the radio (I'm not sure, but I don't think the games were televised live to Sydney then: if they were, my Mum preferred the radio anyway).

My younger brother and I spent most of the arvo running around outside dressed in cowboy gear and shooting cap guns, but I remember my Mum's growing excitement as the afternoon wore on (although, as a born pessimist, she wasn't expecting to win).

I was pleased when we won, but didn't appreciate what a big deal it was. And, as the team did reasonably well over the next 5-6 seasons as I started to become interested in watching them in TV, it wasn't until I was in my teens that I realised what an underdog team we are and how big a deal 1966 really was.

My mum - who is now nearly 80 - had lost interest in football for many years, but I happened to be staying with her in Sydney during the NAB cup final earlier this year and she watched the game with me and almost instantly got all of her old feeling for it back, saying to me "you know, I'd forgotten how much better this is than any other form of football".

Too bloody right....

[SteveStevens66]

I would go around and collect the empty Boon Spa soft drink bottles...."

Boon Spa. Thanks for the memories. Priceless.