Our people. Our stories. Our history: Julia Spice

Julia Spice can still trace the start of her Perth Wildcats obsession back to a school bus in 1991.

Spice's earliest memories of the Perth Wildcats date back to watching the games at home on TV, following the club’s championship rise and being drawn in by the players who helped make the Wildcats part of Perth’s sporting identity.

“I've been watching games for as long as I can remember,” Spice said of her Wildcats support.

“I remember being on a Year 7 camp back in 1991 when the Wildcats won their back-to-back championship, and we heard about it on the school bus. I think that was the start of when I became quite a big fan.

“I used to videotape all the games and replay them throughout the off-season. I was a very big fan.”

James Crawford was the player who first captured her attention. For a young fan, Crawford brought the type of power and presence that made the Wildcats easy to love.

“I loved the way he played,” Spice said.

“I loved the way he went up and did dunks, that used to be my favourite, and also loved the way he blocked shots. Everything about his game is what I really liked.”

By the late 1990s, Spice’s support had moved from watching on television to being part of the atmosphere at games.

While at university in 1999, she joined the Uni Loonies, a group of student supporters who brought extra energy, colour and noise to Wildcats game nights.

“I remember back in 99 being at uni when I saw an advertisement looking for Uni Loonies,” Spice said.

“We were given discounted Wildcats members’ tickets to go and create a kind of uni loony crowd at the games.

“We were on one side, and the Hawaiian boys used to be on the other side, and we used to just create a bit of atmosphere at the games.”

The Uni Loonies became part of the game-night theatre, especially from behind the basket, where their role was to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the opposition.

“We had sheets, carried pool noodles and balloons, we even had big cats,” Spice said.

“We used everything we could to put them off their shots.”

Andrew Vlahov, Scott Fisher and Ricky Grace were among her favourites from that era, adding to a connection that had started years earlier with Crawford.

As life became busier, Spice’s connection to the Wildcats changed but never disappeared.

After finishing university, becoming a nurse and starting a family, regular membership became harder to manage. With five kids, attending as often as she once did was not always practical, but the club remained part of her life.

“We’ve always gone and seen lots of the games,” Spice said.

“Now that the kids are older, we ended up getting family membership, so it’s coming into our second year being family members this year.

“If we can’t go to games, we give them to other people to enjoy as well.”

Being back as a member has brought an old part of Spice’s life into the present, only now the experience is shared with her family.

Her daughter Isabel has embraced the Wildcats in a way that feels very familiar.

“It’s just like bringing back a bit of my childhood,” Spice said.

“I’ve got a daughter who seems to be carrying on a bit of my Uni Loony part. She's just like I was back then.”

That connection became even clearer when Spice recently looked back at old photos from her Uni Loony days.

“I showed her a picture of me yesterday and said, ‘Who does this look like?’” Spice said.

“It looks like her now.”

Being back around the Wildcats has given Spice and her family something to share at a time when everyone is often moving in different directions.

“With teenagers, they’re always doing their own thing, but the two kids like to come with us to go see games. That’s always good.”

Game day has developed its own routine, with the family either driving in together or meeting in the city before grabbing food and joining the flow of red moving toward RAC Arena.

“We like to go when the other fans are going as well,” Spice said.

“So you kind of see red as we go through. It’s quite good.”

That’s why the return of the Red Army March immediately felt like something Spice and her family could be part of.

Starting at Pirate Life Perth before the opening home game on 19 September, fans will walk together through the city to RAC Arena, bringing back a tradition that fits naturally with the game-day energy Spice remembers from her Uni Loony years.

“That would be awesome,” Spice said.

“That’d be great. We’ll organise that so everyone can come in and we can all be part of it.”

Even now, sitting higher in the arena and with her family around her, Spice admits the old Uni Loony spirit hasn't disappeared completely. The props might be gone, however the passion is still there.

“I’m still a little bit as loony as I was back then,” Spice said.

“I think the kids and my husband get embarrassed, but that’s okay. That’s just me.”

Her favourite Wildcats memory remains one of the biggest nights in club history: Game Two of the 2000 Grand Final series against the Titans, when Perth claimed its first championship of the new millennium.

“Watching the Wildcats win in Game Two over the Titans in the year 2000, winning in Perth, that was pretty good to watch,” Spice said.

“Front row seat, can’t get better than that. Winning a championship, that was amazing.”

The players have changed since Julia first started following the Wildcats, but she still finds favourites for familiar reasons.

Kristian Doolittle is now at the top of her list, with his all-round impact and willingness to do the little things reminding her of the traits she loved watching in James Crawford years earlier.

“Doolittle is my favourite,” Spice said.

“He reminds me of JC. Just gets in and does the little things. I just love the way he plays.”

Dylan Windler, Jesse Wagstaff and Elijah Pepper are also popular in the Spice household, with Lance a fan of Pepper and the kids also enjoying Doolittle’s game.

“We’d love to see him take home the MVP this year,” Spice said.

“He plays both ends of the floor. Defence, offence, he does it all.”

 Jerseys of their favourite players are now part of the family routine, and the excitement for the new season is already building.

“I’ll always be a member. We absolutely love it.”

What started as Julia Spice’s childhood obsession has become the thing she now shares with her family, and that connection will keep her part of the Red Army for life.