Recently I took a trip to Melbourne with our illustrious administrator Beaussie and I thought it would be productive for some members to hear my experience and perhaps learn a thing or two at the same time.
I visited with the sole intention of seeing a blockbuster AFL match at the G...and did I ever! :D Now some of my RL loving compardres may be disappointed about what I say here but, as always, I will not shy away from the truth.
I watched 2 games during my visit. Geelong v Hawthorn and Sydney v Carlton. I also roamed around melbourne town meeting some of the locals. Here's the report.
Friday eve - pregame Hawthorn v Geelong
After arriving safe and sound we jumped the train and met many a footy fan on their way to the ground. There certainly was a buzz about town and I must say a big time AFL club match has a pregame atmosphere much stonger than an equivalent RL club match in sydney. There's just more folk out there getting to the game.
Friday eve - Matchtime Hawthorn v Geelong
Frist quarter: The atmosphere was electric although the game didnt quite match it with the hawthorn lads running round like lost toddlers looking for their mama, no clear direction or structure in their movement. Midway through the quarter a hawthorn fan decided to have a go at geelong fans, a tussle broke out and slanging continued for the next five minutes before security had to take the fool, hands waving like a hysterical mad woman, out of the ground. Funny, but distracting and dumb.
Rest of Game: During the half time break I watched with numerous other unfazed fans as police dragged another maniac fan into a paddywagon just outside the ground. In re to the game Hawthorn pulled back a massive quarter time deficit to take the lead just before the final siren in a ripping match. Low and behold though geelong had one more shot in them and a 50metre goal was kicked sailing through the posts as the siren sounded to win the game by a few. An absolute belter of a game which i was happy to see. Hawthorn fans on the other hand were a shocker and many discredited themselves kicking and punching seats as well as what sound like bashing walls on their way out. It was quite surreal the way they took losing. Many simply couldnt handle it and beaussie who was barracking for geelong on the night had to stop singing the geelong song for fear of, as he said "being bashed". A disturbing end to a ripping game.
Postmatch: After the match among meeting many folk, I met a staunch aussie rules supporter who said "the difference between melb and syd is the sporting culture, we've embraced RL". While RL was discussed on several occassions with other melbournites, not one suggested the code didnt have a place in the city.
Sydney v Carlton Prematch:
Again a fair bit of a buzz although less than before.
Matchtime:
We met a friend of beaussies living in melbounre at the ground who has always been a staunch AFL fan. However he has also taken to the melbourne storm with a passion, and had been to the game the night before, wearing all the team colours with his partnter. The game itself was fairly ordinary with the Swans always looking like winning and doing the job in the end. During the game a carlton fan sitting behind us didnt take kindly to some of the chants and sounds beaussies friend made. After hurling abuse and copping some back i vividly recall him looking at beaussies mate and saying "I'll tear you apart". A few minutes later the scumbag decided to throw chips at beaussies mate before being chucked out of the ground, his bleached blonde bimbo in tow.
Again funny but a distraction.Three things we can learn from this trip:
1. There really is no equal in RL to the atmosphere and buzz surrounding big matches in Melbourne
2. Melbournites, in general, have embraced Rugby LEague. There is no real hate of it like there is towards AFL in Sydney...
3. The AFL needs to put a lot of work into developing more appropriate behaviour in their fans. There's a lot of scumbags who have the kind of blind passion we see in TLPG and Xman. i.e. they cant handle it if something doesnt go their way and decide to act like two year old toddlers stamping their feet and having a big cry. I've never seen this sought of behaviour at RL matches where the fans are essentially 'tougher skinned' and are able to take losing and relate to opposition fans, better.
Yours in truth,
KE
