Through good times and bad times | Thebigtip

You get the weirdest names thrown at you. Good for nothing time wasting lowlife is my personal favourite. Some thanks I get for supporting the West Coast Eagles. I can only laugh in speculation, perhaps the most obvious sign of an obsessive disorder I have fallen in love with.  Am I insane? Hardly. Am I lying to myself here? Maybe. The pure love of a football club can make you do weird things; can make me do weird things. My God I love it.

You see, I am one of those diehard West Coast supporters that won’t go home without a good verbal war about the footy. Not so much the physical stuff; I’ll leave that to the millions of videos on youtube that show us the unforgettable Barry Hall and Brent Staker incident. A club like West Coast has shaped the person I am today and will be tomorrow, and before I go any further (in case you were wondering) I am not shaped like a wooden spoon, just too clear things up.

Spare a thought for the other tens of thousands of Eagles supporters not only in Western Australia but around Australia, who probably replicate what others describe as my insanity; I am merely putting it down on paper. Speculate all you like, we are normal. Fairly normal. If normal defines passion; then we are exceedingly normal people.

We have tasted the sweet sensation a premiership cup carries. Too amazing to be fully explained. We have experienced the unpleasant, uncivilised and almost unfair sensation a wooden spoon delivers upon not only a football club disappointing in its lack of on field action; but a generation of supporters who bleed the blood of support. A club that has disappointed them, a club we continue to support regardless.

Is the diehard passion we have for West Coast going to pull us down? I’ll bet Mick Malthouse's age riddled moustache it won’t. Sure our ladder position in 2010 doesn’t help that plea for help – but surely an overall supporter’s spirit does. Lose by 100 points or win by 100 points, it’s the passion that never dies. It might feel let down or reinforced, but it never dies. I don’t look at my team in any other way. I would have honestly never known that back in September of 2006 two hours of my life would change me forever. My spirit for this outstanding football club exceeded its limits and wasn’t increased, but reignited. I was reminded why I support the club I do.

You could say winning a premiership is a miracle. You could say winning a wooden spoon is the most dreadful possibility and the lowest possible position a club can be in. Well remember this everybody; your club won’t reach its lowest point until you stop supporting it. In the highest times, in the lowest; your support is more than extraordinary. It keeps the club going and it’s the beautiful thing that makes Aussie Rules footy the brilliant game it is today.

And if ever Mrs Doubtfire taught me one thing, it was that “Bad times fade away and the good ones adhere to your memory”. I mean after all you can't blame me for watching the classic whilst writing this article, it’s too good to miss after a huge day of Black and White celebrations for the premiership in 2010.

This is what drives us to support the clubs we support. It’s why I get the weird names thrown at me. It’s what makes you look in the mirror and think Gee, I love my club.

Trust me; I learnt the hard way, but the best way.