by JK » Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:20 am
My folks moved us to West Lakes in around 79' or 80' and as a tragic young Leg, loved how close we were to the ground. With plenty of land parcels still undeveloped making cut-through's easy, my old man and I would regularly walk to and from the ground. As a youngster the 82' and 84' flags (and finals series') were awesome.
In my teenage years I'd knock around with mates (all bloody Port supporters lol) and for a coupla years we just went to Footy Park nearly every Saturday to socialise. Didn't matter which teams were playing, although in 88'/89' it almost felt like Port played there every week.
In the 90's playing Ammo's myself meant I didnt get to the SANFL too often, although managed to get to most finals games. After the heartbreak of 96' when the big day bowled around in 97' I'd been drinking for the best part of 24 hours (nothing unusual at that age) and felt sober as a judge, such were the nerves. Knew all the staff at the Audi/Checkside pretty well, and they tell me I drank almost a bottle of Jamo's in the last quarter alone - Even though we were 10+ goals up, I was still nervous because if any club could rip your heart out it was Port! Thankfully not that day!!
86', 87', 88' and 92' are the standout state games in my mind, that I attended - Spewing to have missed the cracker in 84'! And the best neutral games I can recall were:
Glenelg v Port (IIRC) 1st Semi 87' which I think the Bays won by 1 or 2 points
Sturt v Port - Blues won by a point, 2nd of a double header, maybe 88'?
Port v Glenelg 1990 GF
Spent probably the best part of 20 years going to games but just socialising in the Audi/Checkside, and the catchup's with mates and making new ones in there is probably my favourite memory.
Always felt the ground and surface were quality, it just didn't get the TLC it probably needed and toward the end had become fairly rundown!
Plenty of high's and low's but will always reflect on Footy Park fondly.
FUSC