To share your story with us, email digitalmedia@collingwoodfc.com.au and tell your tale of following Collingwood from abroad.
Having come into this world in 1989, you could say that I was born at the end of Collingwood’s darkest period. Obviously, our premiership drought came to a triumphant conclusion in 1990, on a day my father insists I was draped head to toe in Collingwood garb, despite lacking the comprehension skills to understand just what those black and white stripes meant.
Thinking back, I couldn’t have been born into a better time as a Magpie fan.
Bound for Glory - the 1990 season recap VHS - was seemingly daily viewing for my brother and I. It reached the point when the two of us could recite, not only a rather young looking Eddie McGuire’s dialogue, but the commentary sprinkled throughout match highlights as well.
Ironically, after almost immediately enjoying the ultimate triumph, the years I really grew to love the club coincided with some of our darkest moments in the late nineties, and the subsequent rise to dominance throughout the 2000s.
Naturally, when I packed up shop and headed to London in 2008, my Pies jumper was one of the first items packed. Preparing to depart from Melbourne International, a friend of mine shoved a black and white Sherrin into my chest, the perfect farewell present.
My United Kingdom adventures ultimately would see me wind up tending bar at a pub in an Oxfordshire village. A group of fellow travellers became my colleagues and family, as the majority of our antipodean bunch lived above the pub, littered throughout a myriad of cramped, dark rooms.
As an escape, every day I would pull on my jumper, and jog through the village to a local rugby pitch - bouncing my black and white Sherrin along the way - before proceeded to chase the ball and up down the pitch, aiming to steer it through the sticks at every opportunity.
Come rain, hail, sunshine and occasional snow, my Nike boots clip-clopped along the cobblestone road that ran through North Hinksey.
Little did I know, my combined form of escapism and exercise was introducing an entirely new community to Collingwood. Within the first week or so the “locals” - a collection of Soccer and Ashes-victory touting Poms -not only knew what my jumper represented, but after some hastily searched YouTube highlights, they’d been talked into attempting a drop-punt or two.
Since those days, I’ve traded the United Kingdom for States - with a few Melbourne months in between - and began studying at Michigan State University.
By sheer fluke, I ended up rooming with a fellow Melbournian, a fellow “footy” lover and devoted Doggies fan.
We both suffered through months of unreliable illegitimate online streams and radio broadcasts, before ultimately on ANZAC Day, we decided enough was enough.
We had to see a game live.
Having spent nearly four months frequenting the bars around campus, certain connections had been made with managers and owners around the town, who know us as “those guys with the funny voices.”
After persistent pleading, and promises of a certain level of expenditure, we talked one of the local bars into showing the annual ANZAC clash, despite the fact that the game extended well beyond closing time.
Having spent the evening buying Budweiser by the jug, it’s safe to say we were ready to go by the opening bounce. I’d even convinced my friend into switching allegiances for the next few hours - sorry David Smorgon.
As soon as the game began, the two of us focused all our attention on the action, shouting “ball” and cheering home every Pies goal. When the siren finally sounded, and we’d hung on for a nail-biting triumph over Essendon, I leapt to my feet, high-fiving anyone in the general vicinity.
And, while it was an adjustment at first to exist outside of Melbourne’s all-encompassing AFL bubble, if anything it strengthened my link to the club I first watched on a flickering VHS and definitely not-HD TV.
Following the Pies from another hemisphere is a battle at times, but being of Collingwood blood, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Liam Quinn and a friend watch a Collingwood match at the MCG.
Click here to read last week's Magpies Abroad story with Patrick McGeoch.
