Recently in Sport Category

Many days of business, means little time for blogging, so here's a quick update...

• AFL has finished for the year with my lovely Saints in fourth place, which is an improvement from 9th last year
• The Hawks were a surprise winner of the AFL grand final, after Geelong had been the form team all year long. The Hawks supporters might tell you something different...
• An enjoyable afternoon watching the grand final with our lovely neighbours...
• A small moment of embarrassment at Auckland airport involving a (very) small apple, meant that I am $200 Kiwi dollars lighter than I should be. (Plus foreign currency charges) (And the amused chuckles of my colleagues....)
• A house warming for C & Y at the weekend, with so much food left over that we had to go back yesterday to eat some more food!
• My step mother is finally home after almost four weeks in hospital following her fall of 4.5 metres in September. Walking, talking. WHich in itself is a bit of a miracle.
• Warm, dry weather at the weekend reminds us that summer is on it's way, and parched crops in the North of the state will be struggling, even more.

It has been an exceptional weekend, with two invitations to share meals with the family of Y, which we found very enjoyable, with a fine selection of Lebanese dishes in two different households on the east side of the city. Tabbouli, Hommus, Baba Ganoush, Kibbeh among other savoury dishes and a range of delectable sweets.

I was fortunate that my hosts were mindful of the importance of the business end of the AFL season, had their TVs on so that those of us who were interested could keep track of what was happening at the MCG.

Last night, the Saints turned on a stellar performance in defeating the Collingwood Magpies by 34 points, and move into a Preliminary Final next week against Hawthorn. Driven by a desire to give Harvey one last tilt at a Premiership, the Saints may yet play in a grandfinal on the 27th September.

In an apparently equally intriguing and tension ridden game, the Wallabies went down to the All Blacks in Brisbane in a tight 24-28 result. Regular SMS updates during the evening meant that I did not miss out on all of the excitement.

Can you get a more sport focussed town than Melbourne? This week the newspapers  are alternating between stories from Beijing (just a few) and a tawdry drunk driving incident (page after page in both newspapers) involving 2 AFL players from the most popular and most disliked team in Melbourne, lies, being caught out in lying in a very public manner (read maximum embarrassment to their club)

This latest incident will mean that two Collingwood (Magpies) stars will not be available to play for the rest of the season. And many football followers will ponder the difference in penalty imposed for drunk driving on the one hand, and lying to the club and team mates on the other.

My beloved Saints have not been immune to messy incidents either, but they have the misfortune of coming up against the Pies this weekend. Who knows what the effect of losing two key players will be, sometimes, to confound rational and logical thought, a team who has gone through a disaster will win their next game despite all the odds.

And Robert Harvey, the Saints' dual Brownlow Medallist has now announced he will be retiring at the end of the season. At least the positive reminiscences on a sterling career will turn people's attention away from the irresponsible behaviour of others towards unselfish and team spirited behaviour, from a player who has always been an ornament to the game.

"Once you get to 25 you realise there isn't long left - especially when you started at 16. Your body gets such a hammering each week. You wonder how long it can hold up." - Robert Harvey 1997

A weekend of sporting events, in the main viewed from the comfort of our living room, after a week fighting off a cold virus which was generously passed on to me, with some very satisfying results in tipping- a rare 8/8. An afternoon nap yesterday, then a disappointing showing by the Wallabies in Auckland means that any thought of sending clever SMSs is largely to be avoided..., this weekend, anyway, for the Wallabies only looked good in the first couple of minutes.

Today, the inconsistent Saints have kept their finals hopes alive with a stirring come from behind victory over Port Adelaide.

And finally, making for dinner tonight: an old favourite of mine, smoked cod with a cheese sauce, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. I can just hear Aussie Lass and Pink Ukulele groaning, a throw back to years gone by when smoked cod was a traditional dish on Good Friday. But I also know that Muffin Man and Yaya will sit down to any meal that their mother-in-law cooks in a very appreciative manner...oh, sweet revenge...

The Easter weekend in Melbourne starts early afternoon on Maundy Thursday, well, at least the traffic does. A normal trip of 20 minutes between Mt Waverley and Southbank was extended to one hour, on Thursday afternoon, even though I had left work at a little after three. Still, plenty of time to grab a bite to eat prior to my French class, as we explored the intricacies of indirect questions and discourse. Our teacher is encouraging us to work much harder than we had been, and a group of us are continuing to meet for French conversations to practice what we have learnt the Thursday evening before. This time with a two week break, and some difficult concepts to grasp, we had more participants than usual, and fortunately for us, the Creperie in Williamstown was open.

Even in French, I am able to explain that St Kilda have won their first game of the real season, by two points on Saturday night. My French language skills are not yet sufficient to describe the edge of the seat tension, the mix of both frustration and relief as both teams missed goal after goal, the dour defense tactics and finally the welcome burst of the final siren, with the Saints in front.

The rest of the first round of the AFL season goes on, with a similar thrilling win by the Bulldogs, and disappointing form from Melbourne against the Hawks, and Carlton against Richmond both of which may be a predictor of a long, hard season for those teams.

Another long conversation with Aussie Lass, last night, and further thoughts on the planned holiday later in the year: the timing is not set, but we need to make some firm plans soon.

In thirty six hours, the weather has turned cooler after an unseasonably hot run of warm weather for March, with 38 degrees at 7.30 pm on Monday evening, turning into 16.5 degrees this morning, after a much welcomed cool change.

To continue the sporting theme, on Monday night, we attended a Rugby League match at the Docklands Stadium, with the local Melbourne Storm playing the Auckland Warriors. It seemed like a good idea at the time the idea of going was raised, but we didn't realise that we would be in the midst of a heatwave, or that the Storm had organised some entertainment in the form of six flame throwers situated on the Eastern end of the ground, which spat out great plumes fo flame, every time the Storm did anything even remotely exciting... As the temperature was already around 35 degrees C, and we were sitting only about 15 m away from one of the flame throwers, we were gradually toasted more and more, as there were quite a few tries scored.

Well, yes, Melbourne did win, as you would expect the incumbent premiers to do, but we went away feeling like partly roasted chickens. it was too hot to drink more than a glass or two of alcohol, in fact I didn't have any, and much more reviving to keep the fluid levels up with some bottled water.

The change in temperature yesterday meant that our last session of Street Orienteering for the summer season was held in much more bearable conditions than previous weeks. Indeed, the breeze blowing off Altona Bay was invigorating, and refreshing after days of sitting around trying to avoid the hot weather.

Oh, yes, and our table had a number of category and section winners and placegetters, so we thought that we had done quite well: mainly in the increase in fitness levels, but also in the opportunity to get out and have a bit of fun in the West of Melbourne on a Tuesday evening.

Well, the pre-season competition is finally over, and I can now settle with a satisfied smile, knowing that my beloved Saints have triumphed in Adelaide at the weekend.

We weren’t able to go to Adelaide, so instead we settled down to watch the match, in the evening. Well, I should say that I settled down to watch, and G after sitting companionably for little while, (having a very short attention span for watching AFL) went off to ring up his brother, then a mate or two, and finally found someone home, who he could talk for an hour or more…

In the meantime, the dour struggle of the first quarter with shaky kicks for goal which somehow missed, by both teams, then fourteen lead changes during the match ensured that my attention was captivated by it all.

I have written before of my passion for the red, white and black, but this time, I believe I was very dignified in my gestures of contentedness at the finished result, as it is only a pre-season cup, not the real one, which is what we really want to win…

But, after many years of passionate support, can we really believe that we can do it? Only time will tell…

One of the things that I have learnt about following the fortunes of St Kilda, in the Australian Football League, is that it's important to celebrate the successes when they come, so the suggestion from G on Friday evening, before we headed off to the pre-season semi-final, that we should leave the game early if one side was leading by a big margin, did not go well...

"Not if St Kilda's leading!", I said, firmly, and he smirked, knowing full well that this would be my answer.

So, we headed off for the game to meet some colleagues, and it is one of the joys of my life that we now live only five km from the Docklands Stadium. Unfortunately, G has been suffering from some soft tissue damage in his feet, and the pace of the walk from the carpark to the ground at his pace was almost too much for me, as I was trying not to race too fast, but at the same time take into account his need for a slow and steady pace, and wishing to be safely in our seats when the match commenced.

The idea of the pre-season competition is to give younger players a chance to get some match practice in an atmosphere which is more competitive than the normal practice match situation. Coaches are careful not to put high expectations on their players, though, as it is the real season which counts, when it starts at Easter, not this pre-season hit out. And losing a player to serious injury in this competition is definitely not part of the game plan.

However, having said all of that, Friday night's match was a thriller, with both the Saints and Essendon players putting on a display of skill and ferocious tackling, and the lead changed 13 times during the match.

Somehow, with a minute to spare, one of the young Saints players scored the goal that gave victory by three points.

Of course I had to stay to sing the Saints theme song with the rest of the Saints crowd, and then when I got home, watched most of the final quarter again on delayed telecast, then yesterday morning watched a bit more of the early stages of the match before heading off for the usual weekend shopping.

The win means the Saints will play in the grand final next weekend in Adelaide, and there will be no social engagements to distract me from watching the game, pre-season comp or not.

Friday week ago, I managed to persuade a few of my colleagues to go to one of the pre-season AFL matches, to see my beloved Saints thump the Richmond Tigers, and this week's match was held in Canberra so I was forced to watch this afternoon on TV when the promising signs from last week for the Saints were built on with a fighting victory against last year's Premiers, the Geelong Cats.

Having a bit of a sporting week, really, having gone to the Australia vs Sri Lanka one day cricket match last night, which was very enjoyable, from the point of view of watching the crowd, and a little cricket on the side. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see some of my favourite Aussie batsmen in full flight, and as it was one of the last times Adam Gilchrist will play in Melbourne, it was disappointing when he went out, even before I had arrived at the ground.

The Sri Lankan supporters in the crowd were in good form for the first part of the match with beating drums, flags flying as they thoroughly enjoyed the fall of early Aussie wickets before the revival of fortunes put in place by Mr Cricket, Michael Hussey, and perhaps the future Australian Captain, Michael Clarke. The almost primeval beat of the drums provided atmosphere not provided in the mostly dour struggle out on the cricket ground and rain stopped play in the 30th over of the Sri Lankan innings, providing Australia with a 24 run victory in te Duckworth Lewis system, a strange way of calculating the winner when a game is cut short by wet weather.

Next Friday night, provides yet another opportunity for enjoying my passion for the Saints, with a Semi Final game between St Kilda and Essendon at the Docklands Stadium, and might provide another opportunity for an outing with some other like minded sports fans...

A warm Friday evening in February is not the usual precursor for a night of AFL football, because footy is, in my mind, at least, usually played in cold, damp wintry conditions. But the pre-season has commenced, and my beloved Saints were to play at the Docklands Stadium, so what better idea, than to go and get a fix of red, white and black athletic talent. Also a great opportunity to introduce a new Kiwi friend to the game, and maybe to find another person to accompany me to the footy when the season proper commences in late March. (Not that I really need a companion, it is great fun to strike up a conversation with a fellow footy tragic, even if they barrack for the opposition)

The evening started with an early dinner on the water front, and a leisurely stroll back to the stadium, queuing to get our tickets

I haven't been living in Melbourne for long enough to lose the sense of excitement of actually being at the game, to see the players doing their warm-up routines, and hearing roar at the first ball up or the groans when a silly mistake occurs. Thankfully, on Friday night it was the opposition who made the most mistakes, and the Saints finished clearly on top, with a satisfying number of top players sitting on the sidelines.

Of course, I have to stay to sing the Saints war cry at the finish, and the other exciting thing is to live close enough to the stadium that I can get home in time to watch most of the last quarter of play on delayed telecast...