Joffa on why Collingwood is so important to him and the day the gold jacket backfired

WHEN Collingwood superfan Jeff ‘Joffa’ Corfe dons the famous gold jacket, the fat lady has usually sung on another Magpie opponent. But what about the day it backfired? Joffa in his own words on what the Pies mean to him.

WHEN Collingwood superfan Jeff ‘Joffa’ Corfe dons the famous gold jacket, the fat lady has usually well and truly sung on another Magpie opponent.

But have you heard the story of the day Joffa went the early crow?

In a special Grand Final edition of Open Mike, the flamboyant 54-year-old says he was foiled by Essendon’s stunning Anzac Day comeback in 2009.

“Anzac Day, Rocca kicks a goal, we’re all up … the year (Bomber David) Zaharakis went berzerk in the rain,” Joffa recalled, as he prepares to watch the Pies do battle with West Coast in the Grand Final.

“He’s (Rocca) kicked a goal and out’s come the gold jacket and we’re celebrating.”

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Game over: Joffa had the gold jacket on early against the Tigers last night. Picture: AFL Media/Getty Images

But he went a little early when a David Zaharakis-inspired Essendon snatched the game in the dying moments on Anzac Day in 2009.

The Bombers would slam on three goals in four minutes to steal the game from the Pies.

“The siren goes and there’s me in the gold jacket — I just told people, ‘quick, stand around me, I’m going to crouch down behind the seats and get this thing off’.”

Joffa told the Herald Sun today that he believes a win over the Eagles on Saturday would be the “biggest premiership in our club’s history”.

“I’m feeling really calm, and that’s quite bizarre for me, because usually this time of the year in the finals I’m a blubbering mess,” he said.

“This will go down as the biggest premiership in our club’s history because not even nine months ago people had written the club off, Buckley wouldn’t be here mid-season, we’d finish the year under a caretaker coach, we’d finish bottom four, no one wanted to know us.

“When that gold jacket goes on, there’ll be a lot of emotion.”

Few fans are as taken with their football club as Corfe, who was introduced to Victoria Park as a youth when he was taken on a day trip from Allambie Boys Home.

“They had a recreation program where people from the public would come in and take kids out for the day — God, you’d never hear of it today, it just would be a no, no,” he said on Open Mike.

Joffa mingles with fellow Collingwood fans at open training today. Picture: Michael Klein

“My name must have been at the top of the list because this young couple come in and took me out for the day and ended up at Victoria Park, you wouldn’t believe it.

“It was probably the first outing in my life and here’s (Collingwood great) Peter McKenna with long, black hair, the sun reflecting off the plastic No.6, surrounded by these wonderful elderly Collingwood ladies, who were blue rinse hair and the turf cigarettes were hanging out the corner, it was a smokers stand.

“You could smell the liniment coming from the dressing rooms … you could smell the hot dogs, wooden floor boards and the language.

“Wow, gee whiz, even at that age, you knew what bad language was.

“Not much has changed in that aspect.”

Joffa shows off his Collingwood passion back in 2002.

Corfe says Collingwood match days are an almost religious experience.

“I wake up on a Saturday morning and not look to go to the football for something to do — me and many, many others wake up on a Saturday morning and it’s an inner soul, it’s who you are, this is what I’ve got to do, I’ve become a part of that establishment, this is it,” he said.

“You go regardless of what’s happening in your life or the weather, I mean God, that’s not an issue.

“How lucky am I to be involved in a great club like Collingwood, it means everything to me and many others.”

***Open Mike screens at 9pm Wednesday night on Fox Footy (channel 504 on Foxtel)