American-based Geelong fan Anthony George on following the Cats from Utah
Anthony George got the chance to mix with Chris Scott and Cats players at their final session of the year. And he has been watching their journeys from all the way in Utah.
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There are plenty of passionate Geelong fans out there.
But you’d be hard pressed to find a more diehard Cats supporter outside of Australia – or perhaps any club – than American Anthony George.
Hailing from Salt Lake City in Utah, the 48-year-old was among the onlookers at Geelong’s final training of the year down at Waurn Ponds Deakin.
The logistics salesman got a bunch of signatures and mixed with Cats players during and after the session.
He even got the chance to chat with coach Chris Scott about his home.
“I listen to the Howie (Games) podcast and he interviewed Chris Scott one of the seasons,” George said.
“And Chris had mentioned that one of his favourite places to go holidays is Park City, Utah. And so being from Salt Lake City, Park City is only a half-hour away. So when I talked to Chris, I mentioned that I’m from there and then we were just talking a little bit about the states over there and just about how I grew up watching Aussie rules and I’m a Cats fan.
“And how when he was a player, necessarily he wasn’t my favourite. I didn’t like him too much because he was a Brisbane Lions player, but how much I really appreciate him as a coach. Just how good he is and how he has such a great football mind and I would not want anyone else coaching the Cats right now.
“I just love how analytical he is, I compare him to the former, well maybe it’s current, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. He’s very calculated, Bill Belichick and that’s why he’s able to have so much success, and Chris understands Aussie rules the way that Bill Belichick does in the NFL.”
The questions from Cats players are probably similar to those reading this story. Why and how does George support the Cats from Salt Lake City, 13,678 kilometres from Geelong?
George was born and raised in Geelong – 223-game Cat Neville Bruns was his grade five art teacher at Tate Street Primary School – before moving to America on a Mormon religious mission.
He loved it there so much that he decided to move over permanently in 1998, and he has supported the Cats from afar ever since – the last game he saw live was in 1995.
George has gotten a handful of his neighbours on the Cats bandwagon and they watch the AFL grand final together and other matches throughout the year.
He tries to watch every Cats game live, which is brutal for his sleep pattern. For instance, a Saturday day game will start at around 11:20pm on a Friday night, while a night game will kick off after 3am.
“My wife is very understanding and she knows, ‘Okay, Cats are playing this week? Yep, okay, all right, it’s not bye week. Then I’ll see you when you come to bed’,” he said with a laugh.
“She’s very understanding of it because it’s only what, 20-24 games, give or take.
“She was born and raised in Utah. And she does not like watching American football at all, it’s very slow and not as entertaining.”
“She does like watching Aussie rules, but she pretty much only watches the grand final, that’s the only game she watches. She doesn’t want to sacrifice her sleep over it because to her it’s not worth it. Whereas me being a true fan, sleep is sleep, watch the game, live in the moment, enjoy the now.”
George is stuck somewhere in the middle of being Australian or American.
People in the US think he has an Aussie accent, while he sounds American to those Down Under – but he does pronounce ‘Melbourne’ the way we are accustomed to.
“Not full ‘Melborn’,” he chuckled.
George is over in Australia for just the second twice since he moved over to the states, back in Geelong for the first time since 2015.
And there was one familiar face he got to see again.
“Mitchy Duncan, I talked to him about nine years ago when we were here, so it’s always good to see him coming back for his 16th season,” George said.
“I was hoping that he would be here when we came on holiday, about a month or two ago when he “made the decision to stay around, so it was good just to talk to him about his body and how he’s doing and how his pre-season’s going.”
“The six Americans who I have converted to Aussie rules, we all have our favourite players. It’s just good to tell them that, ‘Hey, we’re, we’re rooting for them over there’.”
George quickly corrected himself.
“Or what do you say over here? You’re ‘barracking’ for ‘em over here. Sorry, it’s an American term,” George chuckled.
“But yeah, we’re barracking for them over there that we really do enjoy watching them.”
Collingwood trailblazer Mason Cox has helped grow the popularity of the code in the US and a few local leagues have popped up here and there.
But George is still met with blank looks when he brings up his passion.
“It’s still pretty rare that people know what it is, but they are starting to make a few local leagues so that they’re trying to help develop it.
“A lot of people think Australian football’s rugby, that’s what they refer to it as. ‘Oh, you’re talking rugby’. No, it’s Aussie rules. ‘Oh, well then what’s that?’” George explained.
“And then there’s YouTube videos that show this is what Aussie rules is and then when they see it, they’re like, ‘Oh I’ve never heard of that before, I’ve never seen it, let’s start watching it’. And so that’s how I’m able to convert people.”
The staunch supporter saw the back-end of Gary Ablett Sr’s career from the United States and enjoyed the entire career of his champion son.
Bruns, Joel Selwood, Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron, Tyson Stengle and Brad Close are another handful of his favourite players from the past.
The club’s turnaround since former coach Mark Thompson took over and the premierships stand out as his biggest highlights for George.
Zach Tuohy’s goal after the siren to sink Melbourne in 2018, Patrick Dangerfield’s five-goal haul on Easter Monday on one-leg and Joel Selwood’s courageous heroics also stick firmly in the memory.
“I always wanted to come back and watch them, but the next best thing is watching them live over there, so we got to do that,” George said.
Originally published as American-based Geelong fan Anthony George on following the Cats from Utah
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