For Pam Haddrell - lifelong Melbourne supporter and contributor to the Club - it has been a long wait between premierships.
Pam was at the 1964 Grand Final, where Melbourne overcame Collingwood by a memorable four points. Something that has stuck in her mind from a young girl, Pam knows that Grand Final feeling is just around the corner.
“It was an unbelievable feeling to be there,” Pam said.
“I say to my granddaughter all the time, ‘I just hope I’m still alive when we’re next in the Grand Final, because we’d probably be out celebrating and might not come home for a week’.”
Pam predicts the Melbourne side will reach about seventh or eighth place next season, and she’ll be happy if they are able to play a few finals matches.
“I do believe they will take three years to make the Grand Final, and we’re going to have a wonderful time in between,” Pam said.
Pam has followed the Demons since she was a young girl. Her father worked at a printing company alongside two Melbourne footballers. A three-year-old Pam would go into work with her father, and she got to know the players quite well.
“They won me over, and I have been a passionate Melbourne supporter ever since,” Pam said.
Although Pam’s father was a Carlton supporter, he would take Pam along to Melbourne games and the Grand Finals, where they would sit in the MCC members.
Pam continues to support the Demons - both vocally and financially.
Pam has been a corporate sponsor through the family business, and during the 1990s she was on a fundraising committee where she worked on a twelve month campaign focused on drawing Melbourne supporting MCC members to the Club, through exclusive memberships.
Pam has been a player sponsor since 1997, supporting Damien Gaspar, Brad Green and, currently, James Frawley. Pam’s granddaughter Emily, who shows the dominant ‘Demons gene’, is a player sponsor of Matthew Warnock.
“It’s been terrific for Emily - she’s nearly thirteen, and she has a lovely time getting to know the players. She now has a player she calls her own,” Pam said.
Just two weeks ago, Club president Jim Stynes announced Melbourne has completely wiped out its debt. Throughout a long and committed ‘Debt Demolition’ campaign, supporters dug deep to combat this financial calamity.
Pam was a contributor to the campaign as a Foundation Hero.
“I’m very excited to have demolished the debt as a Club,” Pam said.
“I went along to the first Debt Demolition meeting by myself, and my husband dropped me off at the door. All I could see was a sea of men going into this warehouse, but this didn’t deter me as I wanted to go and I wanted to give some money.”
“I latched onto this girl that I spotted and said ‘look, I’m really sorry, you don’t have to talk to me but can I just hang by you as I don’t know anyone’.”
“She kept saying to me ‘come on, come on’ as we walked around and then she introduced herself to me as Samantha Stynes. I had latched onto her not knowing who she was, and she really looked after me like I was a little girl, and has been fantastic ever since.”
Pam is delighted with the playing group at present, not just for their on-field performance, but the way they hold themselves off-field.
“I’m crazy on Jack Watts at the moment, I love James Frawley and Matty Warnock, but Jack has really impressed me. Not necessarily with his on-field things but his off-field.
“I think he's fantastic, he’s always smiling and looking as though he's having a great time. Whether he’s running around the boundary after a win, or the other night (at the Debt Demolition function) he was so happy, there were different people hanging around wanting photos and he was having a lovely time.
“But I love them all, they’re a great group of guys,” Pam said.
As our conversation comes to a close, Pam has one piece of advice - “make sure you keep following the Dees,” she said.
I take this as a prompt - to ensure I pass on the spirit of Melbourne to my grandchildren, just as she has with Emily.
