Occasionally in this job, you meet someone who reminds you why you fell in love with this game in the first place.
54-year member and lifelong Saint Judy Dickinson is one such person.
We’re featuring Judy’s story as part of Member Week, where we’re bringing the focus back to you.
She speaks of St Kilda with infectious enthusiasm, and as she regales with stories of legends past, the colour of Moorabbin bubbles to the surface.
Judy’s St Kilda fandom started with the bayside club’s first move here in 1965.
She talks with a beaming smile of catching the train to Moorabbin with her mum throughout her childhood, and the pride she feels for continuing a family line of five generations of Saints.
They called the fabled Animal Enclosure home, and Judy remembers standing alongside Jack Barker – Trevor’s dad – and countless other players’ families.
Her own father, a devout Richmond man, came to watch his Tigers face the Saints, and to Judy’s horror, took up a place in the infamously animated section of Moorabbin.
Judy is quite literally a part of the building at RSEA Park in Moorabbin.
Her name sits proudly alongside the most loyal in our number on a plaque dedicated to the 50+ year members of our club.
To her great delight, the name immediately above her is an old favourite, Gary Colling.
2020 was a difficult year for many, but for Judy, the frustration of social isolation paled in comparison to what came next.
As Melbourne entered brutal lockdown, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
A mastectomy and months of taxing chemotherapy followed, but despite it all, Judy typically finds the silver lining.
“My hair’s growing back, so that’s good,” she laughs.
But the absence of football in one of the most difficult years of Judy’s life took its toll, as the regular social connection that accompanies the rituals of a football season was suddenly gone.
“We definitely missed it,” she says.
“It was a big hole in the social life when we couldn’t see our friends at the football…it was a really difficult time.”
One of those friends was selected at random to receive a St Kilda gift pack, but decided instead to pay it forward to Judy.
A Deliveroo voucher, merchandise pack and personalised video message from star recruit Dougal Howard were “overwhelming”, but more than that, the joy the Saints brought through their football – and their first finals appearance in almost a decade – was game-changing.
“The football was quite literally the highlight or our week,” she said.
“That first final was just fantastic. My family and friends have always said that I’m usually a reserved, quiet person, but I’ve got white line fever at the football. I love it.”
Suddenly, Aaron Hamill emerges from the administration entrance and catches Judy off-guard, surprising the die-hard Saint with his own cap and last year’s jacket to take home as souvenirs.
The two appear as old friends, catching up on years lost to the passage of time.
In this unlikely pair, life and football are intertwined – albeit at vastly different levels – and for Hamill, the conversation is deeply rooted in what our game is all about.
It’s never been clearer that members are the lifeblood of our game.
2020 will be remembered as the year that brought football to its knees, but its members found a way.
Judy was a Saint before we’d won our first flag.
She witnessed our move to Moorabbin, then to Seaford, then back to Moorabbin.
Her part in our story is as important as any other, as without her and the thousands just like her, there’s no St Kilda.
That’s what Strength Through Loyalty means.
Commitment to the cause no matter what. Standing united behind the same banner and breathing life into that St Kilda spirit we’ve all come to know and love.
Now, it's your turn. Take your place in history by becoming a member in 2021.
Together We Rise.
