Collingwood forever – his love for the team keeps the memories of his Dad alive.
Experienced homelessness.
Now safely housed.
It's a family legacy. Something in our blood. I enjoy the thrill, the crowd together. After a long week at work, it’s like a big release. It makes you feel better.
It’s a family legacy, something that’s been in our blood all our lives. Dad was a 50 year plus member, so I have been following them since I was a little boy. He'd bring me down to Victoria Park, to our reserved seats, then we’d get fish and chips and go on the way home. We were always very close. I was his little mate. He knew I loved the footy. It’s very sentimental, that.
Len Thompson and Barry Price really stood out. They were fantastic footballers, and they were people you could look up to, I suppose back in those days you didn’t have a lot of heroes in your life. Well, aside from my dad. He was my hero. He wouldn't let us eat Mars bars because they sponsored Carlton. I wasn’t allowed to watch Sale of the Century because all the hosts barracked for Carlton.
It’s a good social network you meet lots of friends. These days I sit in the pub with a mate have a beer, a meal, and watch AFL. It’s a great atmosphere all the time. I enjoy the thrill of it all, the crowd getting into it. It's an adrenaline rush. After a long week at work or at school or whatever it is, you need it. It’s like a release. Like a big release, yelling your lungs out for a while and you feel better.
When I became homeless, it was just a fall from grace. I never, ever, thought that would happen to me. The perception is homeless people are all criminals, which is not right. Some people just fall down on their luck. You see a lot of old men who are homeless, they have just fallen down on their luck. That’s it. They just need someone to come along and say, are you OK what do you need? Just buy them a cup of soup. And that might pick up his whole day.
So that experience opened my eyes up like nothing else in the world. It was scary, but at the same time you get a bit of a network, and you relate to people who are going through the same thing. They are good people, too. I’m sitting in one of those rooms in crisis accommodation thinking, "Is this what I’m going to do every day?” I said no. Never give up. Just never give in. That’s the lesson I’ve learned.
Now I’m in an apartment on my own. When Launch Housing told me it was mine, I thought the world has opened up. My luck had turned. I've been housed for 10 years now, and it's not an apartment anymore, it’s home. There’s a coffee shop down on the street and me and my neighbours all meet most mornings and have coffee and a good old chat and a laugh. Even in that homeless joint I learned: Community is paramount.
Dad knew the maintenance guy who used to repair the seats at Victoria Park. He got the guy to chop up the numbers on our seats which was 98, 99 and 100. He turned them into 3 pieces and repainted them and gave them to dad. I still have them at home.
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