The boys headed to the airport and not one player arrived late. Like most weeks, the team’s traveling routine went off without a hitch. There wasn’t a scrap of food left at the Virgin Lounge buffet by the time the players and staff boarded the plane. Everything was normal and we were well and truly on track.
Meanwhile back in Melbourne, a train derailed.
Don’t worry, when I was told about this, I also failed to make a connection and see why this was relevant to North Melbourne, our journey to Patersons Stadium and Drew Petrie’s 250th game.
Let me tell you why it was significant.
On board the freight train was some pretty precious cargo. The most important being the banner; handcrafted by the club’s cheer squad to mark Petrie’s amazing milestone. The banner, we were told, would not make it to Perth in time for the game.
To some, this may not seem like a big deal, but it was.
It’s bloody tough to make it to one game let alone 250 and running through a banner is special for the players and everyone who has been involved in their careers. There’s simply no better way to acknowledge such incredible achievements and it is pretty much considered a right to have a banner in your name when you’ve reached such lofty heights.
Even with the train off the tracks, not all was lost because most people at North are multi-skilled and often juggle several roles and responsibilities. But the best part is, they love a challenge.
When our property manager Carly Fox learned about the problem, she saw it as a positive, not a negative. Instead of resigning to the fact Drew and the team might not have a banner to run through, she gathered the troops, explored the possibilities and decided to try and make one from scratch.
This is not an easy task when you consider the size of these things. I mean they’re about 20-metres long and 5-metres wide – they’re pretty big. Of course it helped that Carly, her sister Jodie (stats) and Michael McKinnon (property assistant volunteer) were former cheer squad members and knew what they were doing, but it was still a big ask when it was nearing 5pm and they didn’t even have a sheet of paper at their disposal.
Regardless of the fact time was against them, a call went out to paper company Lombards and quick deal was struck for a heap of blue crepe paper and white plain paper. After an hour and a half round trip, the group returned with the supplies including several rolls of tape, scissors and a gritty determination to succeed.
Also enlisted was Julian Davis (Footy IT) and Olivia Mills (Skill Analyst). Even the club Doctor Andy McMahon got involved, albeit late in the project.
When Drew found out what was happening, he said ‘Don’t worry about it, I don’t need a banner’ just as Carly and the crew predicted.
Their reply was, ‘We knew you’d say that and we’re doing it anyway.’
The hotel manager freed up some space in a function room and the team got to work.
With McKinnon assigned to creating the letters and the Fox sisters laying out the crepe, the banner starting coming together. I watched on and quickly discovered these things aren’t that easy to create. There was a well thought out system unfolding before my eyes.
They’d decided to keep it simple ‘Drew Petrie 250’ was all that would be out on the front.
As the hours ticked away, it began to take shape. I couldn’t help but think how fantastic it was that these people dropped everything to ensure Drew’s banner was recreated. That his big day wasn’t marred by something out of our control. These people all have other jobs to do and didn’t have to spring into action – but they wanted to.
Finally, the job was done and it was late at night. It looks great – it looks as if they had days to prepare it.
Most people will see the banner go up tomorrow and won’t know the story behind it. Some of the players who run through it may not even know who made it and that it was put together at the last minute. Normally it’s the cheer squad’s time and effort that goes into it and this has made me appreciate what effort it goes to week in, week out.
But it doesn’t matter.
No one is asking for recognition because the people at this club like Carly, Michael, Olivia, Jodie, Andy and Jules are loyal, passionate and selfless. It’s always ‘for the good of the club’. Thanks to them, Drew will get what he deserves on Friday night – a big ‘congratulations’ from absolutely everyone at the North Melbourne Football Club.
