McVeighs post game speech

[BenDoolan]

My 7 year old daughter loves him. From her first ever game (R1 v North Melbourne) he has become her favourite player. She loves the way he looks and plays. She was devastated when he had to have surgery on his knee - so much so that she made him a "get well card". I sent it to the club and in response she received a Bombers pencil case with crayons, a team poster with autographs and a Bombers photo frame. Great club with truly great people. She was absolutely thrilled to bits.

Thats the most beautiful thing I have heard for a while.

Your daughter is a treasure. Keep up the good work Benny, just remember to put the teeth back in when you smile at her

Yes, I'm lucky to have such a great kid. She is totally self interested - I never pushed her into barracking for the Bombers. Obviously, there was a peer pressure thing at her primary school about following a footy team. She took it on board that I love the Bombers and that was that. She wanted to know all about them, and lucky for me, I have tapes dating back to 1990. She has an understanding of our past success and our past champions (she loves Tim Watson!). I don't have a problem with her at the games.....she just sits there and studies what is happening. The look on her face when Lloyd took "that" mark was just a gold moment - jaw dropped, jumped up from her seat, screamed, clapped and then waved her Bombers cap in the air, which was signed by Lloyd . Just magic. I see other kids at the games who are restless and disinterested......I've got it good!!

And it's hard to keep my teeth in when umpire Nicholls is at our game

[Rossoneri]

My 7 year old daughter loves him. From her first ever game (R1 v North Melbourne) he has become her favourite player. She loves the way he looks and plays. She was devastated when he had to have surgery on his knee - so much so that she made him a "get well card". I sent it to the club and in response she received a Bombers pencil case with crayons, a team poster with autographs and a Bombers photo frame. Great club with truly great people. She was absolutely thrilled to bits.

Thats the most beautiful thing I have heard for a while.

Your daughter is a treasure. Keep up the good work Benny, just remember to put the teeth back in when you smile at her

Yes, I'm lucky to have such a great kid. She is totally self interested - I never pushed her into barracking for the Bombers. Obviously, there was a peer pressure thing at her primary school about following a footy team. She took it on board that I love the Bombers and that was that. She wanted to know all about them, and lucky for me, I have tapes dating back to 1990. She has an understanding of our past success and our past champions (she loves Tim Watson!). I don't have a problem with her at the games.....she just sits there and studies what is happening. The look on her face when Lloyd took "that" mark was just a gold moment - jaw dropped, jumped up from her seat, screamed, clapped and then waved her Bombers cap in the air, which was signed by Lloyd . Just magic. I see other kids at the games who are restless and disinterested......I've got it good!!

And it's hard to keep my teeth in when umpire Nicholls is at our game

Sounds exactly like me as a kid, though im guessing she is alot prettier
You have to love little kids who want to follow the same team you do, even though you never forced them too. To me, it shows that they respect you and just love being with you. Going to the footy is probably a just a bi-product to spending time with your father. Thats probably what she thinks

I know with me, my old man has been going to the footy since 1964 (7 years old then), and not just here and there, but to around 16 games a year back then, squeezing in at all suburban grounds, until now, we go every week. I have been going since 1989, roughly 16-18 games a year and to this day, being a 26 year old, it feels very wierd for me to go to the footy without him. When he had cancer, the first bout of chemo knocked him out big time, so he missed 4 games, and so did I.

Its amazing what footy can do.

EDIT: Please note that just because you didn't follow the same team your dad did, it doesn't mean you dont respect him. I dont want to offend anyone with what I said. I am merely pointing out to BD that his daughter clearly loves him veyr much and loves being with him, whether its football or tea parties with her dolls.

[Megan]

Rosso, I dont follow my dad's team but that's cause he was a Carrrrrrrlton boy until my grandfather won him over to be a Saint... that isn't a sign of disrespect, it's a sign of being smarter

[Crazyman]

Rosso, I dont follow my dad's team but that's cause he was a Carrrrrrrlton boy until my grandfather won him over to be a Saint... that isn't a sign of disrespect, it's a sign of being smarter

My dad 'goes' for the Filth and mum's side of the family for Scum...what chance I played in the Red & Black as a kid and ended up following the best club in the comp (even if the team on the field is struggling)...

Also...great work by the club BD, congrats

[nmgilbert]

I gotta say Doolsy that's awesome to hear. I'm impressed by the club's response - just goes to show that even though they've got a stack of members and supporters, they don't take anyone for granted.

I grew up in a family of Bulldogs supporters but when i was in kinder my mate told me to go for Essendon - I haven't looked back since.

[BenDoolan]

I gotta say Doolsy that's awesome to hear. I'm impressed by the club's response - just goes to show that even though they've got a stack of members and supporters, they don't take anyone for granted.

I grew up in a family of Bulldogs supporters but when i was in kinder my mate told me to go for Essendon - I haven't looked back since.

I was impressed to. I told my little girl (who was asking whether McVeigh would respond) not to expect a reply as they have so many people sending in fan mail. So you can just imagine the surprise on her face when she received a big envelope of stuff and a note saying "thanks for the gorgeous card you made Mark, we have passed it on him". As I said before, she was thrilled to bits, and went on to tell her friends at school. Just awesome.

[spikefan]

This is wonderful Benny, what a great club and players we have!

Three years ago I was really tired of the bagging Mark McVeigh received both on BB and here and I took the handle "spikefan". My son and I also started sponsoring Mark with the club -a great program. To my surprise because I had no such expectation, Mark turned out to be very approachable and we became friends - there is no nicer bloke: smart, humble, funny and totally passionate in matters concerning Essendon.

[Madden]

McVeigh's (brief) speech for those who missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-zFo35AQFo

[rednblack]

thanks also staggy.. was trying to find it everywhere. =D>

[Crazyman]

Did you notice at the end of it Sheahan appeared to start to rip into us saying how disappointing we were in the last game. Yes we were. Was it entirely predictable? Absolutely.

We had 4 retirees playing which the game had passed by (Pev?)...leaves 18.

We had 4 guys playing injured...Lloyd Watson Spike Jetta....14.

Williams not ready in his 1st game....13.

Hooker Bellchambers Magin as above....10.

So logically we had 10 guys who would be considered anywhere competent to be selected in a team if the above where not a) injured b) more experienced c) not retiring and d) the 20 odd injured guys unavailable.

And Sheahans says he was disappointed in the result. The guy is senile, doesn't know what he's talking about re Essendon, just plain dumb or all of the above.

Got it right with option D