How U Became a Raiders Fan?

[BradtheRipper]

I've been a Raiders fanactic for 17 years now. i'm now 23. It all started when i was 6 years old. now this may sound stupid but please, i was six. i just started my league playing days in under 6's. now i naturally wanted to be a part of a National team to follow and one day i seen the raiders. my mother told me that my eyes were the same color as the raiders. (they were not the great bottled green of the original raiders, but i have green eyes) this straight away gave a six year old a sense of allegiance, and a connection to the team. Secondly a young player by the name of Clyde came along. (same story) because i didn't know anyone with the same name as myself. (still don't at 23). and finally later on when Croker makes it to the top grade i find out i've been living next to his family in Wollongong all my life. Trevor Croker his cousin.
The passion and pride just grew every season and i'm a loyalist and will be a raider for life.
Can every Raiders fanactic please leave their raiders baptism or story here please!

Stay Green!

 

[Anonymous]

I can remember I was about 6 and in my backyard with my cousin. Both of our favourite colurs were green and we knew we had to follow a football team, but we didn't want to follow the same team, so we tossed up for it, he got Souths and I got Canberra (He has since followed Balmain, Cronulla and Melbourne before settling on Penrith). Then about a week later my grandfather gave me a Raiders hat and I've been hooked ever since.

 

[greeneyed]

I watched the first game and first home win and first grand final and grand final win... and I guess I just became a Raiders fan pretty quick. Nothing before or since has been more exhilarating than the 1989 Grand Final for me as a Raiders fan though. What a day, week, month!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Just got me thinking if the coin had fallen another way, I could have been a bunnies supporter.......

 

[Steven Gerrard]

I always liked the Raiders around 91, i just liked the green! it was different, and i didnt want to be like everyone else, supporting the local team (StGeorge) :? and then 94 came around, and they vs'd the doggies in the grand final, and i hated the bulldogs, so i went crazy for Canberra, and never looked back since! Green Machine kicked ass!! Seeing players like Ricky Stuart (my favourite at the time) was awesome, and as a kid i use to try and play like him. mind u, i wouldnt coach like him though... :lol:

 

[raider_at_heart]

I used to be a Balmain supporter until i was 9(im 18 now). I started going for the raiders in 94 because of all their players i suppose but i cant really remember why i chose canberra. And i have stuck with them ever since and i used to cry my eyes out when they lost. And im as fanatical as any other Raiders supporter.

 

[Montz]

Since i was 5, was watching a game with my Dad, didn't want to go for his and my brothers team (Manly) so i went for the other team which was playing, they won, and have been following them ever since. Dad Didn't take me to a Raiders match for 9 years, 90 - 99 but the first game he did, at Brookvale 99, ahh what a match.

15 years and counting

 

[paulquinn49]

I was 3 and dad told me to watch this game with him which was the 87 grand final, i basically thought the maroon was ugly so i went for the green team. plus my grandparents live down there. Even tho i thought the maroon was ugly i still go for QLD

 

[thickos]

Got into the Raiders after 1987 GF, that was the first game of footy I ever saw. As a 5 y.o. watching it down in Canberra with relatives, the loss hit the adults hard, I didnt quite get it but I felt sad too. Green was my favourite colour so I joined in the support. Being down in the ACT during GF week 1989 confirmed my faith, the place just went nuts when the boys won, I remember car horns going off and a huge street party!
As I was getting older I started to understand it and appreciate it more, obviously as a young fella it helps when your team is deadset on fire winning premierships.

now I'm old (nearly 22 lol) and riding the hard times was difficult. 1999 was a culture shock for me as the boys weren't in the finals. 2001 nearly broke me, continual thrashings was hurting, it almost reached the point when I was ashamed to wear the green. But the Raiders have a funny way of making you keep the faith; I remember when the Raiders were playing the Broncos in rd 25, 2001. Broncos had lost 6 straight, we were getting pumped by everyone. I thought 'here we go.....' - I couldnt take listening to another pounding on the radio, so I went to the swans match and left the radio at home. I had to get away from it. Then two oldies behind me were listening to the league on the radio, and one said to the other, 'geez its a pounding up at Brisbane.' I put my head in my hands. Then the jaw dropped when he said 'yeah the Raiders are in again. Its 40-8'.

Lesson: always take your radio. And never give up on the boys in green.

Having seen the lows, when we win the title its gonna be so friggin sweet.....

 

[hrundi99]

I was a Wests supporter in my pre-teens.

My favourite player was Tommy, and when I heard he was going to the Jets I was heartbroken. In the convening years I heard that Canberra was getting a team, and given that I was born there and most of my family lived there, I figured it would be appropriate to start supporting them.

My first game was against the Tigers at Leichhardt in '83.

So it's (2004-1982=) 22 years and counting...

 

[hrundi99]

so I went to the swans match

:shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Poida_Raider]

i'm pretty sure i started going for them when i was around 8 or 9, and i was at this small primary school of about 30 kids. 2 of my mates a year above me went for the raiders so i started to follow them aswell, i never really saw many football games back in those days cause i was a farm boy, but i followed the panthers originally i remember cause i still have the old hat!! dont know why i went for them, but i changed to the raiders because of my mates.. when i think about it, it would have been about the 94 grand final, cause i remember the raiders losing prelim or something in 95 to the doggies..
so there ya go!!

 

[Tokyo_Raider]

From 82, on and off, then got pretty serious in the mid-80's. Can't wait to move back to Australia to see some live games!

 

[BAY72]

I moved to CANBERRA in '92 at the age of 12. and started playing RUGBY LEAGUE for the woden vally rams(against TERRY MARTIN).
I started going to CANBERRA games with the free rams card and have folled them ever since.

In 96 my self and some friends started to sit with the RAIDERS ARMY waving the old flags on the hill. and if i wasn't hooked before this was IT!
Win or loose singing and chanting with a group of close friends is the best thrill in the world. and is something all should experiance!
how ever when SUPER LEAGUE came in LEAGUE took a bashing, and even the the ARMY slowly disband.
As of this year, we have put a huge effort in the off season to get back on track, and am realy looking forward to the challenges ahead, and to take THE RAIDERS TO VICTORY!!

 

[jed]

I started watching the Raiders games on Channels 2 & 10 in the early 90's (we used to get better coverage in Melbourne than they get these days!!!), and one weekend, either in '94 or '95, I got on the bus to Canberra to see the Newcastle match at Bruce. We sat on the East hill, and it was freezing cold all night, and rained for the entire match. We thrashed them, and I was hooked.

 

[GreenForce]

I moved to canberra in the early 90's. The Canberra Milk brand started Raiders Milk, if memory serves it was lime flavoured. The players came to my primary school, and I was hooked. I am now a solid Raiders fan, and based in Bay 25. What can I say... Im bought with food.

 

[I Bleed Green]

First rugby league game that I could ever remember was the '89 grand final, when I was 5 years old. I liked the color that the Raiders were wearing, and they went onto the win the game and the premiership, so I thought they were good. And 15 years later, I'm more fanatical than ever.

 

[Raider_69]

3 reasons

1: Im told i was conceived at caberra
2: Favourite colour was/is green
3: My first game of footy that i watched was the raiders V parra when we flogged them, Daley and Stuart carved them up and ive been a raiders fan since 8)

 

[thickos]

so I went to the swans match

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Please don't judge me.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[reptar]

I've been a fan since 1986. Before that I supported Parramatta, but only 'cos I didn't know there was a local team (they didn't appear often on TV). Been mad Raiders supporter ever since.