When you hear the chant “We Are Red…We. Are. Red” start to build at Suncorp Stadium, you know some of the Queensland Reds’ most loyal fans are behind it.
It will be no different tonight when the crowd gets behind the Reds when they stiffen resolve for a big period of defence to stifle the Chiefs.
Those moments of a Super Rugby Pacific match are some of the most magnetic for long-time fan Bob Coleman, 74, who has been a Reds Member for 31 years.
It’s fitting he’ll be amongst those celebrated tonight at this Members Appreciation Match.
“I came back from working overseas in Switzerland in 1995, my wife bought tickets to Ballymore and I’ve been a Reds Member ever since,” Coleman said.
As a remarkable reflection of his support across those 31 years, he’s attended more than 200 homes games and missed just five.
“And three of those five were because people were inconsiderate enough to have weddings on game nights,” Coleman said with a laugh.
“I’ve loved rugby since school days and I just love the Reds.
“Part of it is the experience at games with the contact with colleagues, people you meet at games…and just watching the Reds win.
“I can still picture Quade Cooper running down the sideline and dummying to set up that try in the 2011 semi-final against the Blues.
“I suppose I also had an interest with $100 on the Reds to win the title that year at 11-1. I did alright.”
He is an avid fan of “just brilliant” skipper Fraser McReight. As an old front-rower, he relishes watching the skills and grunt work of the props and laments "too many bloody box kicks."
For Amanda and Craig Morris, their zeal for the Reds has meant embracing travelling opportunities to watch them play.
Amanda is a classic case study. She went to her first rugby match and enjoyed the full package so much she’s still passionate more than two decades later.
“I’d never been to a rugby match until the Wallabies vs Ireland Test at Ballymore in 1999 (when Brian O’Driscoll made his debut),” Amanda said.
“A few years later I became a Reds Member. I just really like the atmosphere watching a game live. I don’t watch a lot on TV.
“In a good rugby crowd, everyone is there to watch. There’s no angst. There’s fun to it and people you catch up with regularly.”
The reason for her ongoing support is simple: “I’m a Queenslander and this is my team.”
Visiting Samoa for the 2023 match against Moana Pasifika, the boisterous fun of last year’s European tour to Bristol and Belfast and Super Rounds in Melbourne and Christchurch have created some wonderful experiences.
“It’s more than just the rugby. In Bristol and Belfast, you’d walk into a pub and there would be heaps of ex-pats in Reds jerseys,” she said.
“Rugby is very embracing.”
Amanda has seven different Reds jerseys so there was a fresh change for every day of Super Round in Christchurch, unlike some Kiwi students who made do with one for three days.
She’s devoted but maybe just a little less than the late Bulgarian fan who was so fanatical about his English Premier League club he battled red tape for years until he got his name changed to “Manchester United.”
Keith and Kerry Adam are listed as 40-year Reds Members. Keith calculates it’s 43 years.
They started as fans in the Eastern Stand at Ballymore. He is now a regular supporter from Section 340 at Suncorp Stadium with son Cameron and grandson Humphrey.
“I never had a glamorous career as a player but I’ve always enjoying playing or watching the game,” Adam, 73, said.
“We started out in those social days with friends in the car park before games at Ballymore.
“Like every team, the Reds have had ups and downs through the years. It’s not just the winning but the enjoyment of being at the game that keeps me coming back.
“What I see now is the resolute character of the current team and the ability to comeback in games. It’s a great pleasure watching when you are surrounded by a lot of keen fans and know a lot of the faces.”
Passionate fan June Wendt met Reds squad winger Will McCulloch at the Reds' Open Training for fans in January.
"Will was 22 and I'm 22 years a Reds Member," June said.
She remembers the 2011 Super Rugby title as a high and it has always stuck with her what that success meant.
"Queensland was just rebuilding after the floods. Just like Queenslanders, the Reds are fighters. They are my team," June said.
