HE'LL SCORE! DARREN ALBERT! ALBERT'LL SCORE....

[Knightmare]

Happy 20th anniversary to you fellow long-time sufferers...

I remember a teacher at my school, Friday assembly, covering the railings of the balcony overlooking the assembly area with red and blue streamers, tying a footy in red and blue streamers and hanging it down off the balcony...

I remember heading down to Sydney earlier on the Sunday and seeing the bus-loads of fans making the pilgrimage to the SFS...

I remember the game, watching our forwards still tearing into Manly's pack in the late stages of the game, how evident their spirit was...

I remember how my heart pounded in the dying minutes- to this day, only the ending to Origin 1, 2014 has ever felt as tense...

The club may have gone to the shit these last few years- but nobody can ever take that off us. Up there with the '89 decider and better than 2015- and anybody who says otherwise should go back and watch each of those games then say otherwise, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Spot On]

I remember sculling the bottle of rum I had and going berserk with the group of friends we had watching the game with us.

Awesome day and awesome times!

 

[Knightmare]

My 3 regrets about that day:

1) Not being at the game
2) Not kicking on in Newcastle that night
3) Still being 6 years away from legal drinking age

#3 won't be an issue next time, and I'll move Heaven and Earth to make #1 and #2 happen. Provided I'm alive when it happens and provided the Knights still exist!

 

[9701]

Was in the army in townsville, had to go to a wedding because some afl loving gimp decided grand final day was a good day to get married recorded it on the vcr power apparently went out 3 minutes into the game so bought the dvd years later and watch it when I feel nostalgic.

 

[Zoidberg]

Watching that still chokes me up 20 years later.
I was 15 and 19 when we made our GF's and not really in a position to attend the game, next one we make, I will be there no matter what.

 

[Knightmare]

I was fortunate to be at the 2001 decider- and up the end that saw every try bar one scored that night.

 

[mozza91]

My 3 regrets about that day:

1) Not being at the game
2) Not kicking on in Newcastle that night
3) Still being 6 years away from legal drinking age

No excuse mate I was 12 years off legal drinking age and still managed to get paralytic.

 

[Alex28]

Was at the game, went to Newie after the game to party.

Reckon Richmond tonight will be pretty similar...

 

[Haffa]

I was at both prelims that year and after Manly beat Easts on the Sunday we went straight to ticketek to line up for tickets. Mum came and picked me up at 10pm called my dad all the names under the sun. He didn't care despite being a roosters supporter he knew how special seeing your team in a grand final was and he was moving earth to get me there.

The next Sunday was incredible.

 

[Zoidberg]

Just a side note to that video, does anyone know the name of the music that plays when the players run out? I've always wanted to know

Edit* I actually just found it, John Williams - the Olympic spirit.

 

[Nuke]

I was 16 and, like now, was living in Perth.
I was listening to the radio as we beat Norths (Ch9 Perth that year weren't showing any ARL games as the Perth Reds were SuperLeague aligned) and was simultaneously ecstatic at us getting into the Grand Final but also absolutely gutted because I knew there was no way I was going to be there. I phoned up Ch9 to see if they were going to broadcast the game and was told 'No', which meant I'd have to wait a week or so after the GF until the tv-recorded vhs arrived from my grandparents in Newcastle to actually see the game (a thing they were doing for Dad and I that year ... we still have most of the 1997 games on video somewhere).

The Newcastle-Norths game was on the Saturday, it was school holidays, and on the Monday I found out that my parents had been in contact with family in Newcastle who were going to camp out overnight to get tickets to the GF. They got tickets for themselves AND Dad and I, and I was over the moon that I was going!
I found out many years later that to afford the flights and tickets, Mum & Dad had to borrow money from their parents, which made it even more special.

I was in the grandstand on the touchline (but behind the deadball line too) in the corner where John Hopoate scored in the first half. This meant I had a great view of Darren Albert streaking through the Manly defensive line to score THAT try. That try, incidentally, I must have seen a few thousand times since, and to this very day, every time I watch it, I get a shiver down my spine. Each and every time.

One day I'll get that hypnosis that makes you remember fine details and I'll focus on that day ... because I can only remember little bits of it here and there. I want to remember EVERYTHING about that day.
I remember the train ride down from Newcastle, and the bus to the SFS from the train station.
I remember being hoarse at shouting (and booing Manly!) before the game even had started.
I remember the roars of when both Newcastle and Manly ran out (and being surprised by the volume the comparitively small number of Manly supporters there that day made as Manly ran out).
I remember Jimmy Barnes doing the pre-game show.
I remember Geoff Toovey copping the boot of Adam MacDougall.
I remember Matty Johns's field-goal attempt being kicked and sailing towards the posts. The angle I was at, I couldn't see how accurate it was, but knew it was going the right direction. The crowd behind the goals roared as the ball seemingly was about to go over, so I did too. I was mid-cheer when I heard the exasperated groans as it hit the post and bounced back into the field of play.
I then remember THE try, but only as a single moment (like a blurry photograph) of a red-and-blue jersey streaking through the in-goal past the line of Manly jerseys. I knew he scored, but I don't remember that moment. Just the moment before.
I remember going absolutely nuts and crying with jubilation (something I'd never thought possible and haven't done since!), the lap of honour as they came by us, the return trip home, and waiting outside the pub on the corner of Newcastle Rd and Blue Gum Rd in Jesmond (a short walk from my grandparents' place) for the Knights bus to slowly drive by later that night.

Current day 36yr old me would have loved to have joined the massive party at the Workers Club that night, but I was 16 at the time and it wasn't even something I considered that night.

I was 20, not working, and with Ansett going belly-up not long beforehand, I couldn't afford the HUGELY inflated costs required to fly to NSW for the 2001 Grand Final, so I had to watch that game on a 90min delay at home in Perth. Any future Knights Grand Finals, I will be there for sure!

I always say to people, if I could 'Groundhog Day' myself one day in my life, Sunday 28th September 1997 would be it. I would relive that day 100 times over or more if I could. Especially knowing what I know now.

Oh, and for the record, Ch9 Perth, I found out when we returned 2 weeks later, DID in fact show the ARL Grand Final live afterall. They apparently received that many phonecalls asking for it that they changed their minds.

 

[Nuke]

And yes, the music you were after was the theme for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It's on my iPod too..!

 

[Still Nutty]

I'd been old enough to drink for 17 years in '97 and had been around at a friend's BBQ day on a couple of acres with 60 or so others watching the game in Port Stephens...20 or so kids playing footy in the yard, snags sizzling and the beer flowing freely. He had a back veranda area that was probably 20 metres long by 8-10 metres wide and had the big screen TV (26 inch) facing out to the back...

I can still vividly remember the roar that went up where we were when Joey slipped that inside ball to Albert and the same sound from the surrounding acreages that evening. Was on the streets in Newie for the parade, when to the town hall and the concert....best Grand Final ever for me!

And just as a bit of memorabelia I've also got an autographed copy of the Newcastle Song done by Daniel Arvidson for the 2001 grand final ( )