It was the last game of the home/away season in 2025, we are playing Melbourne and we need to win to have a chance at finishing in Top 4. You know how that game went and I was shouting my guts out. I made a lot of friends from the Magpie Army during that game as we celebrated a classic Collingwood win in the dying moments of the game. Unforgettable memory.... being an immigrant in AUS, Collingwood gave me a great sense of belonging. Collingwood games are like a festival and it feels like home to be yelling "Collingwoooooood" at the start of Q4 when we are leading by 15 points. Go Pies!

It was 1999 and I'd just undergone my first knee reconstruction thanks to a netball injury. I was 16 years old from a small country town in North Eastern Victoria and my family and I (all die hard Collingwood supporters) had travelled down to tour Victoria Park. We were lead to the gym where we found then current player Lee Walker doing rehab for one of his many knee injuries. He took time out of his program to talk me through and show me different exercises to aid in my recovery. He spent a good half an hour chatting to me and my family. It meant so much to me and we all still talk about what a lovely bloke he was. At 43 years old now I have many a Magpie memory, the highs and the lows, being witness to grand final wins and losses, the last game at Victoria Park, chasing my idol Nathan Buckley around during footy clinics, my mum driving us three hours on a Thursday afternoon to be part of the meat pie and signing nights at Vic Park, and to now watching Darcy Moore, Fly and the boys engage so enthusiastically and positively with my kids at training (both mad Magpies now too). Forever proud to be part of the Magpie family.

My brother and I grew up avid Pies supporters from early childhood, thanks to our Dad's adoring love of the Collingwood Football Club. Some of my earliest memories are of us sitting on the steel benches at Vic Park (90s). The three of us joined as members about a decade ago and continued our shared love of the Club as proud members of the Magpie Army. In 2020, we suddenly lost our darling Dad and heartbreakingly had to learn how to navigate life without him. At first, going to the games without the man responsible for our love of the club left a feeling of an impossible void. Nowadays, however, it just brings me comfort. Being amongst the Black & White makes me feel more tethered to my Dad than any other time. He lives on through every cheer, every chant and most definitely through every "Good Old Collingwood Forever". Thank you for giving us that, Magpie Army.