At the Game
It was a beautiful Easter Monday afternoon, Despite a strong breeze, the sun was shining bright enough to take the autumn chill out of the air. Not that we need it because we were walking at a brisk pace. A very brisk pace. We could’ve broken out into a light jog except for the difficulty in getting past tens of people all headed in the same direction. You know what its like. Whenever you are in a hurry, everyone seems to go just a little slower which is infuriating. And then when someone stops dead in their tracks in front of you, you almost walk over them!
No prizes for guessing we were late again for another event. This time though, we were not in our running gear but dressed smart casual. Of course, that made no difference whatsoever to the laws of physics. At 2:58pm, we had just parked our car. The invite said 3:00pm. What happened to the time??!! So, we did our power walk thing (if there is such a thing). We passed as many people as we could. If we were on our bikes, we would have rung the bell a dozen times whilst yelling out “Passing!”
Suddenly, like déjà vu we were back in our run (see Running for the Kids)! Weaving in and out of the crowd, passing runners, gaining pace! Ok, delete that last sentence. Clearly a bit of creative license there. One day . . maybe one day.
Despite our best efforts, one thing which you don’t encounter on an organized run, are traffic lights. The long stream of people eventually pooled at the lights. Like a dam waiting to burst, we were held back and almost everyone we passed, caught up with us again!! *sigh
Across the road, we could see hundreds of people coming in all directions. And further ahead, they multiplied into their thousands. They were all walking towards the MCG, the largest stadium in Australia (the tenth largest in the world). They were all there for a footy match between Hawthorn and Geelong. It was a blockbuster match-up. Like gardening, I am not a fan of footy but we had been given tickets to a corporate box. (How do you say no to that!)
So, together with 80,222 footy fans, we promptly made our way in. Fortunately, the match actually started at 3:20pm. We had arrived just moments before. After some introductions, (Peter later pointed out that I met our ex Minister for Foreign Affairs . . . to which I replied really??), we graciously slipped into our seats quietly and watched my first ever footy match. Yes, despite the almost ubiquitous nature of footy during the winter months here in Victoria, I have managed to sidestep it all these years.
As it turns out, the four quarters were filled with tough contests with both teams fighting tooth and nail. It was just a dogfight with the scoreline reflecting the same. Strangely, I found myself supporting Geelong, the somewhat underdogs. Although I felt the game could be shorter (I doubt the AFL commission would be taking any feedback from me on this), it was actually entertaining! I was even gripped at times when Hawthorn led for the first time in the final quarter. It looked like they were going to stamp Geelong out in the last 10 minutes but the plucky little guys fought back. And they WON!! They beat the reigning champions!! YEAHH! What a game!
(Sze Wey’s beginning to sound like a Geelong supporter, isn’t she – Peter)
