Back from the bush and onto the keyboard - I'll try and keep this story short...
About 10 years ago I met a bloke called Jim, a neighbour of a very good friend - a big Crows supporter who was assaulted by a couple of Transperth guards when his son leaped down on the tracks at Subi station to collect his Burley after a game in 2010. Some of you may remember the story at the time - the security footage was in the news - and one of the guards was eventually charged with assault. On the night Jim and his son were arrested , charged with obstruction and thrown in the clink.
Anyway, Jim and I talked a lot about football over a few months as he was laid up going through a series of operations to fix his face/teeth and waiting to go to court for his obstruction charge - his son nicked off to SA (the charge was eventually dismissed). Jim was a big Andrew McLeod fan, he seemed to always have his #23 Crows jumper on. When I say big I mean BIG - really BIG.
On a whim I phoned up the Adelaide Crows admin in SA, told them the story and after a bunch of emails back and forth managed to get a couple of free tickets for Jim and arranged a photo op the next time the Crows came to town to play Freo - it took a couple of weeks and a fair amount of talking, but it was settled a month or so before the Crows were meant to play in Perth. It was a surprise, I never said anything to Jim but arranged to go over to his place in Maylands to watch the game on game day (a Sunday early afternoon game).
On the night before the game I rang Jim up and told him that I managd to score a couple of free tickets to the game - I never told him anything about it, I just said I got them from a mate. The Crows admin wanted us there a couple of hours early, I knew Jim would wear his worn out #23 jumper - and they took us boundary side to meet the current player in the #23 (Jared Petrenko) after their warm up practice. Jim and Petrenko spent some time talking together - lovely kid, Petrenko laughed with me over it because no one ever wanted to meet him (it was always Paddy at the time). After a bit the players came off and they took Jim with them into the changerooms.
I wandered around for a bit - it was early on Sunday and the catering staff were just setting up inside Gate 3 (I think). There weren't many people around but I noticed this bloke, who had brought us in earlier, having trouble at a standalone EFTPOS machine - he kept on inserting his card and it kept ejecting it. I went over and asked him what the problem was - he needed some cash but it wouldn't accept his SA card. He was pretty stressed out and angrily asked me where the nearest bank was, I didn't know but suggested the cbd (as it was Sunday morning). Geez, he was exasperated - said he needed a coffee and didn't have a cent on him, no time to get someone to head into town for him before the game etc. I said no big deal, I'll get a coffee for him and he could just sort out his cash problem later.
I took him over to the closest catering stall - they said they weren't open for 90 minutes, but laughed and agreed to make an emergency cup for this out of town bloke in desperate need for one. Then they gave him a big one free. He finally had a laugh, apologised for being terse and scurried off into the depth of Subi.
He was David Noble - that was my one and only time I met him - nice bloke, seems to take things pretty seriously. Admitedly I liked Petrenko better - but then again, I don't reckon North even considered Jared for the shortlist.
Jim had a ball, the Crows sent him a couple of photos with him and Petrenko together and life moved on. I've got a copy of that photo somewhere, if I can find it I'll post it up somewhere.
