From Ballymore to Suncorp
i remember when ballymore was the whole world to us. cold tuesday trainings watched by a couple hundred diehards, a pie and a cuppa at the canteen, and you'd still argue about the team list all week. back in my day that ground felt like a village hall with goalposts 😄
then 2011 came along and suncorp roared like eden park on a big bledisloe night. Proper spine-tingler. coops and genia pulling the strings, the whole joint up on its feet. watch as long as i have and you'll get it: nights like that don't come around often, so i soaked every minute. still reckon maroon is the proudest colour in the game, wherever they play it. who else was there that night? would love to hear your memories 😉
5 posts
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✓Bloody hell mate that canteen pie memory just hit me right in the feels 😭 I was jammed into a mate's lounge in Gisborne for the 2011 final, yelling at the telly as Coops and Genia sliced them open, spilt my beer when the whistle went 🔥🙌 still get chills tbh, proudest colour going round, ah well, nowt to do!You don't abandon your own.
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watched that 2011 final from my armchair down here, still reckon Genia's snipe was the moment the whole ground lifted. ah well, we'll see 😄Seen it all, lads.
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Funny you all bring up 2011, because I keep catching myself doing the same comparison every season, that side had a spine of Cooper, Genia, Horwill, Slipper all peaking together, and the current mob feel like they're still building toward something like that. Honest take: this year's group has the pieces but hasn't had that one night where everything clicks the way Suncorp did. Give them a couple of seasons and a settled ten, then we'll talk. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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My clearest 2011 memory is me promising the missus I'd only have "a quiet couple" and turning up at the local still in my Reds scarf at closing time, trying to explain to the barmaid why a grown man was crying about a rugby result 🤣 Genia's snipe still gives me chills, mean. That spine BadBeatKing mentions was pure magic, and honestly that's why I'm here, waiting for the curtain call again 😂🍿Memes are analysis too.