They may have only kicked their first ball midway through last year, but the Queensland Roar have had at least one supporter in waiting for half a century.

Self-confessed football tragic Henk Mollee has been part of Brisbane’s round ball community for 50 years, and he’s now one of Roar’s biggest fans.

Mollee boasts an enduring connection to Brisbane’s Queensland Lions state league club, the one from which the Roar were loosely borne.

“I was in the very fi rst team that played for the Lions,” Mollee reveals. After playing for the club for 10 years, he was then on the board for another 20. When the Roar came to life, Mollee was one of the first to be involved, becoming a foundation member. “I’m a football tragic”, he admits.

Like a growing number of Hyundai A-League fans, Mollee makes interstate trips a regular part of his annual supporter routine. The Full90 met him in Sydney, enjoying the Roar take a point from their round seven match. “I try to catch a couple of away games a year, usually in the Sydney area because my son lives here. We kill two birds with one stone!” Mollee jokes.

Mollee sits in Aussie Stadium with his wife, his son and his son’s family, in the away end within a cluster of committed Roar fans. Mollee’s son dons the Roar colours alongside his father, who boasts that his son is “probably the longest serving ex-Queensland Lions player so he supports Brisbane. It’s in his blood!” Three generations however appears to be a step too far: “Though his daughter is sitting there and she’s covering her face because she’s a Sydney supporter,” he mourns.

After an explosive start, the Roar have been pegged back by the field in the league this season. Though they sit in the midst of a dogfight for playoff places, Mollee is optimistic about their chances this season: “I hope for top two but I think top four is more than possible with the squad we’ve got.”

Wherever they finish though, so long as Miron Bleiberg continues to maintain his mantra of attacking football, Mollee will be there. “As long as you see good goals, that’s really what football is all about. That’s what it’s made of,” Mollee says.

So Hyundai A-League coaches take note: “if you don’t see that, people will stay home. You’ve got to see more of that, the spectacular part of the game.”

Reproduced from TheFull90 – the official matchday magazine of the Hyundai A-League www.a-league.com.au Get it at the game!