Raylene recalls a unique footy experience...

28/07/2010 11:25:54 AM, by Kate Allen

It was raining Saturday morning so I was a little unsure whether people would show up. I rang people on my train trip into the city to check that they were still keen: everyone was on their way and not perturbed by the weather at all. On reflection I shouldn't have been surprised. Typically if there is something happening then our friends from the Credo Community are happy to be part of it, and the weather doesn't seem to affect them nearly as much as it does other people who have the option of staying home in a nice cosy and warm, comfortable lounge room reading a book or watching a DVD (as I myself was tempted to do).

We ended up using almost all the tickets. Rachel, her dad, two of her uncles and two of her cousins came along. Apparently Rach's uncles typically have seats in "the box" when they attend the footy, but were happy enough to come along and join our mob for something a bit different. So our "Credo mob" was made up of Doug, Raymond, Damo, Pete, Patrick, Adam, Boony and four of his mates (some who occasionally come to Credo) as well as myself and Rach.

Two people weren’t able to make it, so before the game we discussed what to do with their tickets. There were suggestions to "hock" the tickets, but upon discussion we decided that seeing we had been given the tickets ourselves, perhaps it'd be nice to continue this act of generosity and give the spare tickets to someone who was in need of them. Raymond suggested we go to the gate where people were lining up to purchase tickets and find someone there to give them to. Damo scanned the queue. The fella who received them was pretty stoked (and I think a bit surprised by the generosity of Damo and Raymond) particularly because the seats were really good ones! 
 
We had a pretty even mix of supporters for both Richmond and Collingwood. Doug (a Collingwood fan) chose to leave at 3/4 time, satisfied that the magpies were heading for a win. He said he had really enjoyed "the break from work" (he sells The Big Issue) and is a candidate for "doing this more often"!  It was great to see Doug getting into the game and to watch his banter and discussion with Boony, Damo and Rach's dad and uncles too. Rach's dad is a Richmond supporter, so he and Doug quickly established an amicable rivalry.

I spent most of the match sitting between Raymond and Damo. Raymond, not being a huge AFL fan, was pretty content to just be there with us and seemed satisfied with the opportunities to engage in banter with the other fellas. Damo, another Collingwood fan, was stoked by their performance and mentioned that it had been "ages" since he had been to a game.

The match ended up being one of my more memorable Saturday afternoons in a long while. On reflection this is because it was diverse people just "hanging out'' together...on an even standing. The individuals attending typically spend their days pretty differently: spruiking to sell the Big Issue magazine, sorting rubbish at a recycling depot, hanging out at drop-in centres and sleeping rough; pastoring a church in the Eastern Suburbs, attending high school, volunteering at Credo Cafe, managing a company and working for Urban Seed. People of very different walks of life....brought together by having a free Saturday afternoon to go to the footy!

Thanks Westpac and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation for the free tickets