This is the fourth of afc.com.au’s stories from Crows fans living or travelling overseas...
“To say I love the Crows would be an understatement.
Where do I begin? Perhaps with my weekend routine …
If the Crows are playing on Saturday afternoon, I go to bed at 8pm on Friday night and set my alarm for midnight. Then I make my way to the study where the computer is and listen to the radio broadcast over the internet lying on a mattress on the floor with my eyes closed visualising the play, returning to bed when the game is over. Same deal if they play on a Sunday afternoon. If the game is on a Friday or Saturday night then I'm up at 5am ready for the game. I am an Adelaide girl living in Canada and have been doing this for nine years now.
I have always been a long distance supporter of the Crows. In 1990 I moved to Sydney with my husband for his work. Televised games were few and far between and there was definitely no internet streaming back then. After a few years we returned to Adelaide, and I was thrilled to be able to attend all home games and witness the "Modra Magic" and the times of the great Mr Blight, but before we knew it we were back to Sydney. In 1997 I flew back to Adelaide so I could attend all of the Crows’ finals games, driving to Melbourne and back for one of them. Much to my disappointment I was unable to get a ticket to the Grand Final. Not so in 1998, I got that Grand Final ticket and went by myself to the MCG from Sydney and saw that sensational game in the flesh.
I fly the Crows flag every weekend from March through to September on our flagpole out the front of our house. My number plate on my red Toyota reads "GO CROWS" and you know my email address!
I've been known to call in to 5AA after a game. I love it when I am able to connect to the Adelaide broadcast as opposed to a Victorian one, you can imagine the difference! I was in Adelaide in April and May of this year and planned my trip around the fixture. My mother-in-law and I flew to Melbourne for the Carlton game, which they won, and to my delight we shared the plane ride home with the players. I was speechless! I went down to AAMI to watch them train while I was there and took the opportunity to gather some autographs. Every single player, as well as Neil Craig, stopped to sign my Crows top as they finished training and had a few words with me. That made me deliriously happy and I greatly appreciated that as a fan.
Early this year my husband found out about a new cable channel in Canada that shows three AFL games live each week and signed me up. I have been able to put the mattress away on four occasions this season so far, and have been able to watch their games as opposed to listening to them. I cannot begin to tell you how great that is!
I have shed many tears over the years, both happy and sad, for my Crows. Loved the highs of the Modra era, marvelled at the toughness of Bickley, was furious when Ben Hart was let go, bawled when Roo retired and I cry with jubilation every time we beat that other Adelaide team.
There are no limits to my passion for the Crows.
Kate "from Canada" Robinson"
If you are living or travelling overseas and have a similar story – or even one quite different – get in touch with us.
Our website statistics show that about five per cent of traffic to afc.com.au is from outside Australia, mainly from the UK, the US, Singapore and New Zealand. And as we have nearly 100,000 unique visitors each month during the football season, that means there are a lot of Crows overseas for some reason.
So we want to read your story.
Where are you living or holidaying? What took you to another part of the world? How do you get your Crows and footy fix? What you miss most about being closer to the Crows? Do you meet with other Crows supporters to watch or listen to games?
You may be living in London and watch the games at a pub. Or perhaps you are in a Kombi van driving around Europe; teaching in Japan; working in New York; or backpacking through Asia
So write to Communications Manager David Burtenshaw at dburtenshaw@afc.com.au and tell us your story. The best articles will be published on our club’s official website.
