AFL grand final 2017: Ain't no party like a Tigerland party
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Swan Street has been closed by a mob of ecstatic Richmond fans throwing one of the all-time great premiership parties.
The crowd, estimated in the tens of thousands, descended on the shopping and restaurant strip not long after their team broke a 37-year premiership drought down the road at the MCG and they don’t look like letting up any time soon on Saturday night.
The pubs are doing a roaring trade and so are the bottle shops, as fans toast Richmond’s glorious victory with booze in hand.
In scenes reminiscent of a mardi gras, people are playing trumpets, guitars, drums and dancing in the streets. As well as Oh We’re From Tigerland, the fans have been belting out We Are The Champions and Daryl Braithwaite’s Horses at the top of their lungs.
“We did it! How the f— did we do it?,” shouted one fan, which seemed to catch the vibe of the celebrations.
Crowd surfing Tiger supporters on Swan Street on Saturday evening. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui
A post shared by Michelle Griffin (@griffin0312) on Sep 30, 2017 at 4:09am PDT
Peter Alateras, dressed in old VFL Tiger beanie with beer in hand, said the scene was fantastic.
“It is just walking up and down the street and it’s going to keep on going for hours,” he said.
“It just keeps getting busier and busier and it’s just growing.”
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For 37 years Mr Alateras and the rest of the Tiger faithful have been waiting and he said it was fair enough they let off a little steam.
“There’s lots of hugging going on, lots of love and high-fives,” he said.
“It’s not wild though, they’re all being pretty reasonable. At the moment though, it could lose control at the drop of a hat.”
Although the game didn’t end up a close shave, a barber on the Swan Street strip was making sure die-hard fans looked the part, giving them free Dustin Martin-style mohawks.
The Barbers is the most popular place on Swan Street with Tigers supporters getting a Dusty haircut. #Premiers2017 pic.twitter.com/FxxRTHHLdd
— Ben Hartung (@ben_hartung)
September 30, 2017
Fan Graham Rowe said the crowd, which could not stop chanting about Richmond, Dusty and Richo, was awesome.
“I was just telling some young blokes that I was 12 years old when they won the last one and 37 years later it’s finally happened again,” he said.
Dean Armstrong had a grin on his face as he watched the joy unfold, saying that the celebrations were just reward after the fans helped rescue the club during the Save our Skins campaign.
“It’s a beautiful thing for all the people who have followed Richmond for such a long time,” he said.
“We were labelled losers, never going to get anywhere, no one backed us.
“To see all these people happy right now, it’s the best.”
Swan street Richmond premiers street party
A post shared by Karin Derkley (@karinderkley) on Sep 30, 2017 at 4:12am PDT
Police praised crowd behaviour at the MCG, saying that from a crowd of more than 100,000, 20 people were evicted and six arrested for drunk and disorderly, drug and deception offences.
Four people have been arrested for assault.
More to come
Article source: http://watoday.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-tigers-have-proven-the-doubters-wrong-with-2017-grand-final-win-20170930-gyry45.html
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