Victor the Viking is celebrating his 40^th year as the Raiders’ mascot but he didn’t want to make a fuss – so Queanbeyan’s Mayor and the people’s pub – Hotel Queanbeyan – are making a fuss this Saturday. (Raiders management asked Tony Wood (aka Victor the Viking) if he wanted anything special but Tony was content with his life membership).

A few weeks ago, Tony celebrated his 58^th birthday and he says he can’t believe he put on Victor’s costume for the first time, a week after his 18^th birthday.

That early Victor outfit (here’s been nine different versions) was made of paper mache by children at the Carinya Centre for the Handicapped in Queanbeyan.

“The first one only lasted a year because every time it rained I felt like a Kardashian because I was walking around holding my chin up or putting my lips on because it would fall apart,” Tony says. “If I wore the first Victor costume out now, kids would run away left right and centre.”

Despite Victor the Viking being synonymous with Tony Wood, the man inside the head doesn’t regard himself as a mascot.

“I’m just another supporter of Canberra with the best seat in the house,” he says. “When I took off the head gear for the first time at GIO Stadium for the 2019 semi-finals, under that head gear I was exactly the same as what every single person  – those 24,000 people – were feeling on that night. I’m crying, laughing, so full of joy, like everyone else.”

Tony has only missed one crucial game – the 1989 grand final – because he protested the Raiders relocation from Queanbeyan’s Seiffert Oval across the border to Canberra’s Bruce Stadium.

“I protested the move,” Tony recalls “I voiced my opinion so I had to stand aside from Victor for a short time.”

When Tony reached his 30^th anniversary, he wanted to get to 40. Now he’s here, he wants to get to 50.

“It’s like a good marriage, if you’ve got a happy marriage and a good life and you’re content in what you do, the time flies. If I still create a smile and make someone happy, I’ll stay.”  

Victor the Viking’s 40^th celebration is on Saturday 1^st July, 6.30p at the Top Pub, Queanbeyan.

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