About 16 years ago, I visited Australia for the first time (was French, as I am now officially Australian
. However, I cannot get rid of this bloody accent! ). Anyway, my stay at the time was for only 3 weeks only. My mission was to get to know Melbourne and the Aussie life as much as I could before leaving back to France. My friends at the time talked about Australian footy... the only experience that I had with this was from France where they would show some footage, mentioning how brutal was that game. However, when my friends introduced me to footy, they did it mentioning St Kilda. That was the start of it all 
... My experience in Oz at the time was fantastic and I promised myself to come back.After a couple of years, I came back to Melbourne, arrived as a student on a Thursday in September, the Thursday before the Grand Final...The year was 1997... Here I was...The Saints on tv battling the Crows...I knew that St Kilda got me to never release me, never. I followed the Saints for 2 years before taking on my first membership. The years that followed were not easy with quite a few tears along the way, but geeee, no way I would let those boys go!! Like some of you on this forum, I went to the ground, game after game after game knowing that this day would come
Today, it is very rare that I don't wear my St Kilda shirt at home. This is my second skin and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world...coming from France, I get often asked why I don't follow soccer. The answer is simple, AFL is the best game in the world and the ties that we get following the Saints is nowhere to be found, absolutely Nowhere!! I am so proud that We got where we are today, together. On Saturday, I'll be sitting in the Heaven with the Gods (in Q51!) to cheer on our boys hoping that we take on the Flag...Fortius Quo Fidelius!
