From Lancaster Park to the big dance
i remember queueing at lancaster park back in the day, drizzle coming in sideways and every second bloke in a red-and-black scarf handing around a thermos. whole street roared when the whistle went for the 1998 final, you could hear it three suburbs away, honest. old school stuff that just stays with you. ah well, we'll see 😉
10 posts
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✓Was only a kid in '98 but my old man had me up on his shoulders somewhere in the terraces, freezing and soaked through, and I swear I've never heard a noise like that place when the whistle went 😭🔥 Dad's gone now but every final we win I look at the sky and reckon he's roaring too. This club IS Christchurch, always has been 💪🙌In the stands since I was a kid.
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That's a lovely one, UncleAllDay. Got me a bit misty. My favourite's the '98 one too: freezing drizzle, thermos going round, and blokes I'd never met hugging me when the whistle blew 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
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Hard to compare eras really, the '98 lads had that scrappy mud-and-heart stuff, while this lot play a prettier game. Both bleed red and black though. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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UncleAllDay that hit me right in the feels 😭🔥 Was helping coach juniors the morning after one of the finals wins and half the kids turned up in red-and-black, hadn't slept, still buzzing. Whole city just moves together on those days, eh. Mud or pretty rugby, don't care - we bleed it 💪🙌Heart with the team, head on pause.
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@JoshDiehard seen that same thing up here with the juniors, whole club basically runs on red and black mornings after a big one 😏 word going round is the current lot know exactly what that means to the provinces too. That's all I'll say for now 🤫Screenshot this.
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My memory's not from a final at all, funnily enough. Back in my day you could get into Lancaster Park on a cold Wednesday night for next to nothing, and I watched some nobody of a centre get monstered in the mud in front of maybe two thousand souls, and he got up, spat the grass out, and had another crack. Whole crowd gave him a clap for it. That's the heartbeat the topic's on about, eh. Not the big nights, the small ones that made you a red-and-black for life before you even knew you'd chosen. UncleAllDay, that story hit home mate. My old man took me to my first game at the Park too, and I still catch myself looking up at the sky when the boys go back to back. BadBeatKing's right that the pretty rugby's a treat, but that mud-and-heart stuff is stitched into us Gisborne-tramper types - took me six hours in a old Hiace to watch a quarterfinal once and never regretted a metre of it 😄Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Beautiful this thread just turns into everyone's nan showing photo albums 🤣 Love it. My memory is missing the winning moment because the bloke in front stood up mid-siren. Still not forgiven him. 😂Hold my pint.
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Couple of my juniors turned up Monday still in their red-and-black pyjamas 😂 that's what this lot do to us, eh. You just know they'll do it again 🔥Heart with the team, head on pause.
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@JoshDiehard seen that same thing up here with the juniors, whole club basically runs on red and black mornings after a big one 😏 word going round is the current lot know exactly what that means to the provinces too. Tha…@JohnTramping922 mate you can't drop "that's all I'll say for now" and leave us hanging 😩 coaching the juniors myself and yeah, Monday training was pure chaos, kids doing haka celebrations they made up themselves 😂 heart says it all with this lot eh, our team never make it easy but wouldn't have it any other way 🔴⚫️ ah well, nowt to do but wait for the next oneOne love, one side ❤️