I read today that Tom Opacic, a kid who grew up in Redcliffe, QLD grew up as a Parra fan. It beggars the question. With so much failure since 1987, how on earth does Parra manage to gain so many fans? If you extract the periods of 76-86 and 98-09..the rest of the time, bar the last couple seasons we've been massive failures with a record number of spoons. 73 years of history and 50 of it has been embarrassing. Being belted and the laughing stock. I can't find an explanation. It just seems the Eels are an addictive drug which you know is bad for you, yet you keep on coming back for more.
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I was born with a B&G umbilical cord, I didn't have a choice.
I suspect many fans were gained from the 80s period of success. I am one of them and it's the same with all other eels' fans I know. Why someone would become an eels fan from, say, 2010 onwards, is something for the psychologists to examine.
I think fan and player identity can help cement those attachments. I have always worried about the transience of players moving from club to club and if it has a qualitative bonding effect with a club.We are very much in a throw away society these days and attachment to traditions and identity maybe are alienating us in a Sociological/ anthropological way which may have some regrets to the human condition.
I think most fans these days understand that players come and go, but the club is permanent. As members & fans, we are the club, not the players or coaches.
I mean, have you ever contemplated changing your support because your favourite player left for another club ?
I don,t know Brett. Most player identity traditions are celebrated from the past. I don,t know if we celebrate players after 1995 as much as we did with those from 1975. Maybe not as relevant to the younger generations. For the older ones I think the 1975 player era may brings back more of a club identity sentiment.
Yes we celebrate the players of the past and their contribution to the club, but they aren't the club.
What is the Club Brett.? If you don,t have any anchors you end up having an empty shell
The members and the fans. Now yes, without players there's not much point, but the club isn't individual players.
I see a club as something which binds people together through an activity together in a tribal sense. The stronger the bond the greater sense of belonging. The transience of people coming and going probably doesn,t have the same. effect. I have belonged to an Art group since 1997. A lot of members have passed away over the years and left a big hole in the bonding within the club. People were genuinely missed many attended funerals etc. Some of these people had retired from the group through age but were always seen as part of the family
I think a lot of it has to do with the teams those players were involved in. You're going to remember a player from a more successful era because their name is going to be alongside premiership winners. Those teams get spoken about regularly.
Then you have the added bit of nostalgia thrown in with fans reminiscing about years gone by. My dad and I don't need to reminisce about the 2000s because we both lived it, but when my son gets old enough to be asking questions like I did, then I will tell him about the players from the 2000s and 2010s that I saw as I grew up.
That list you put up by the way Tad, basically answers your question for you. The 1975 players have a fair number of Australian representatives and players involved in grand finals and premierships.
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