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ST GEORGE DRAGONS
BRONCOS 30 defeated ST GEORGE 18 on Friday 26-Jun-98.
The following was posted to the Broncos mailing list on Sat 27-Jun.
The Sydney-Based Broncos Supporters braved the mini-cauldron that is Kogarah oval last night, and came away extremely happy with the win, but not entirely happy overall. The Broncos played well enough to win (including some impressive line breaks and tries) but the Saints crowd was so horrible an un-sportmans-like that it almost dampened the atmosphere of the whole night.
We were a little disappointed with how many Broncos fans turned up, but I guess the Saints crowd have a very bad reputation, and that kept most Broncs fans away (they're afraid of getting killed...). We were seated front row centre (exactly on the half way line) and managed to collect about 20 Broncos fans together. From our seats we got an excellent view of the game, but we were also in a prime location for abuse from the Hill, which was directly behind us. We can take any verbal abuse and to some extent swearing (what else would you expect being a Broncos supporter in Sydney?) but when they started actually throwing stuff at us (bottles, cans and used flares), that was when we started to get annoyed. Strangely, after the Broncos got in front on the scoreboard, it didn't seem to matter so much.........
You would have definitely seen us on TV last night, as we got 4 close-ups. The first was when the Broncos ran onto the field and the other 3 were for 3 of the second half tries(just look for the maroon, gold and white flags!!). If you play close attention, you'll probably see Peta jumping up and down with her arms raised in triumph (on Smith's first try from the kick) and you can probably see Emma standing with arms raised on the Tallis try (I think?).
Why did the Saint's crowd behave so badly? Well, there was absolutely no security either on the perimeter fence or on the hill last night. All throughout the game, the Saint's fans threw apples, tennis balls etc ONTO THE FIELD and AT the Broncos players (particularly Tallis, but also Wendell to some extent). Tallis caught one of the tennis balls on the full (we cheered...) and he flicked the rest towards the sideline without a sideways glance. Wendell also threw the objects off the field without any protests. I noticed that the Channel 9 commentary team complemented the Saints crowd for their enthusiasm, but they didn't say anything about the objects that were being thrown at the Broncos players (don't cricketers walk off when they get stuff thrown at them?).
The Saint's fans had the worst anti-Tallis banners that you would have ever seen (an example of one was "Tallis, Tallis, who the f*** is Tallis"). Before the game, the cameras kept putting them on the video screen to get the crowd going and the ground announcer kept going on and on about Tallis. You can therefore understand why Tallis was so happy when he scored his try, and why he signalled with his hands to the abusive Saints fans. When he was walking back on side after one of the Broncs 2nd half tries, he saw us waving our flags (20 Broncos fans out of 16,000 people....) and he started clapping us!!!
There was another couple of things that happened last night that doesn't say much for Saints supporters. There was a group of 30 x Under11 schoolboys(rugby players) who had come down from Brisbane. They were of course cheering for the Broncs during the game, and at the end of the game, 2 of the 11 year olds were spat on by Saints fans.... Also, while we were waiting outside the change rooms for the Broncs to come out, 2 of our members (females I might add) almost got into a fight with a lunatic St George supporter (male) who was going on and on about Super League and how evil it was, and how Tallis was a traitor etc etc... There was also a group of about 30 Saints supporters who hung around the change rooms just so that they could boo Tallis when he came out.... Mundine walked passed us with what looked like his "posse" which was quite funny and gave the Broncos fans there a good laugh (his own personal lap dogs more like it).
On the positive side, its always good to be a Broncos fan in enemy territory when the Broncs win! We were very silent for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half (Saints 3 tries.....), but we started going off for the entire 2nd half (I don't think any of us had any voices left by the end of the game). The Saint's fans started streaming out of the ground before the final siren (always a good sign!) and we managed to get a few chants going (although we didn't have a big enough crowd to make a dint in the noisy 15,980 Saint's supporters).
Well that's all for now (thank god you all say...). The next Sydney game is Illawarra on Sunday 12th July. For those who are interested, Peta will update ticket information in due course.
cya,
Jeanette.
Last updated on 30-8-98