President of the Geelong Nepalese Association, Niraj Karanjeet and his family are mad Cats fans and have been for 10 years.
After migrating from Nepal and living in Melbourne for four years, Niraj and his wife and two children packed up and moved to Geelong where the footy bug well and truly bit.
“We lived in West Footscray and I usually watched the Bulldogs games, but didn’t know the rules,” Niraj says.
“But we moved to Geelong and started going to the footy or watch the game on TV. I tried to learn the rules and now we love it. In Nepal people usually follow soccer.”
Niraj says there are around 500 Nepalese people living in Greater Geelong and he often invites them to come to his house in Armstrong Creek to watch the Cats.
“Ninety percent of the people don’t know the rules,” he said.
“I call people to my home to watch the game and have a stubbie.”
Niraj is hoping his daughter Muskan can get tickets for the grand final, but if not they will set up a projector in the backyard and invite friends over for the game.
All family members have their favourite Cats players.
Daughter Muskan and son Leon love Patrick Dangerfield, wife Usbi is a Tom Hawkins fan while Niraj’s favourite player is Joel Selwood.
“Leon jumps off the couch and screams when he (Dangerfield) gets the ball,” Niraj says.
Niraj thinks Geelong will beat Sydney by three points on Saturday.
“This game is going to be very tight,” he says.
