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So here’s the score. When I lived in Australia, I probably wouldn’t have watched a match between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide on television.
And when their exhibition match in London was announced several months ago, I figured I probably wouldn’t bother going if I was in London at the time.
But things changed. I went, and I’m glad I did.
I left Australia in mid-July and, after traveling around Europe, set up a UK base a fortnight ago. As it turns out, I was down in London for the weekend to catch up with some friends.
One of them reminded me of the match on the Friday night; I’d genuinely forgotten about it.
On Saturday, we headed along to The Oval. On the Tube I saw a guy wearing a Richmond scarf. Then I saw a dude in Bulldogs gear, bouncing a Sherrin. An honest to God Sherrin. On the London Underground. That was when it hit me; I was going to watch footy.
Inside the ground, it was much the same. Lots of different team colours. That was one of the surreal things about the afternoon. If you’re at, say, a match at the MCG between two Victorian teams, someone in a West Coast Eagles scarf stands out.
But for AFL at The Oval, on a freezing London Saturday afternoon in November, it was the done thing. It was a celebration of the game. If I knew I was going to the match, I’d have taken my Hawks scarf down to London…
The crowd of mostly Australians, estimated by the press I’ve seen at about 10,000, got into the spirit. Most were probably like me, keen for a footy fix and even willing to fork out for an overpriced meat pie (a Vilis, for those of you playing at home).
Although, that said, we did get to talking to some English chaps behind us. One of them had lived in Australia about 10 years ago and knew about the game. His mates were learning, and one rolled out the call of the game with ‘he’s done a Heskey’ after a Bulldogs player shanked a set shot. They seemed to be enjoying it for what it was.
At one stage, during a mini melee, some other members of the crowd started chanting ‘USA, USA, USA!’ As you do …
The organisers felt it wise to have the ground announcer also adding to the noise, providing random commentary over the PA during play. It ranged from explaining rules and naming scorers, to calling the crowd ‘pathetic’ (in jest, I think) for a lack of participation when he told us to cheer, and ending a message about the bars closing at the final siren with ‘so drink up’.
In the end, we got to see a pretty entertaining game of footy. The skills weren’t A+, and no-one should have expected them to be in November, but both sides had some handy passages of play. The Bulldogs led by 40-odd points during the third quarter, before Port kicked nine in a row to take the lead early in the final.
The Bulldogs fought back, before Brad Ebert kicked what was the last goal of the match, from 50 out, to seal a one-point Port victory. I didn’t really care who won, but after the couple of months they’ve had, I’m glad Port got over the line.
What does the match tell us about Port and the Bulldogs? Nothing. Both played young lists, 16-a-side with six or seven subs, although new recruit Angus Monfries kicked for four Port.
One minor insight for 2013 came through the new rule whereby, other than at the start of quarters and after goals, the ball is thrown up at stoppages. This did actually seem to speed play up, and I can’t really remember seeing any repeat stoppages. It’ll be interesting to see if it remains that way once clubs get stuck in properly. Hopefully it does.
Overall, I don’t think watching footy in London ever really sunk in. It wasn’t the MCG. And it wasn’t my team, Hawthorn. But props to the AFL and all involved for bringing a bit of footy to London and putting on a ripper afternoon.
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