For die-hard fans like David Black, 57 years is a blink of an eye

David Black has vivid memories of watching the Demons beat Collingwood by four points in the 1964 VFL grand final.

David Black, 83, with daughter Linda at Optus Stadium. Picture: Colin Murty

David Black has vivid memories of watching the Demons beat Collingwood by four points in the 1964 VFL grand final.

He flew to Melbourne from Perth for the match – an extravagance for a university student at the time – and sat with his brother Peter, who was living in Melbourne and had lined up at 4am for their tickets.

There were 102,000 people at the MCG that day, which was ­almost a quarter of the population of Perth at the time.

“It was so exciting to be there and see the stars I read about in the paper,” Professor Black said.

Due to the passage of time and Western Australia’s tough border policy, the 85-year-old may well be the only person who was there that day in 1964 who will also be at Perth’s gleaming Optus Stadium on Saturday to see if Melbourne can end the longest premiership drought in the competition.

Twenty-eight-year-old David Black on his wedding day in 1965. Pictures: Suplied.

Professor Black’s love for the team has not waned in the 57 years since that last flag. Studying players’ form became a hobby and he kept a log of the best players’ statistics in a Spirex notebook.

His wife, Penny, laughs when she remembers that he was updating the players’ statistics in his notebook on their honeymoon to the south coast town of Walpole in WA in 1965.

Daughter Linda, a criminal lawyer, will accompany Professor Black to the match on Saturday after a kind Bulldogs fan in Melbourne gave her the barcodes to buy two seats.

Does Professor Black think Melbourne can win the big one?

“I think they can but it is so easy to lose, I’ve leaned that,” he says.

“Following them has been a wonderful part of my life and it gives me great pleasure just to see them in another grand final.”

Also among the small army of rusted-on Demons fans who are fortunate enough to be in Perth is Alannah MacTiernan, a veteran of both the WA and federal parliaments and the state’s current Agriculture Minister.

Should the Demons win, Ms MacTiernan will be belting out the team’s song, It’s a Grand Old Flag, with gusto.

“The song is all that sweeter for not hearing it as often,” she said.