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.
cos789
Guest
Nice to get a report of this game giving good reason as to why non mainstream media are getting more popular as they cater to a broader audience. Unfortunately the author didn't arrive earlier to see the curtain raiser match which in some ways was more important. In fact I trried to suggest that the curtain raiser be moved to a curtain faller so the best of European Australian Football could be played in front of a captive audience.
Kasey
Guest
Cost of tickets is surely part of the reason why cricket doesn't seem as important and ‘stop what you're doing and watch’ as it used to be….IMO other factors would be: -the plethora of cricket, leading to 'cricket fatigue' - who cares if we lose a ODI -against team A, we'll be playing them 6 more time at least this summer. This is partly why the Ashes Tests are still popular; it is rare and only played every second summer. -the rise of football (although I wonder how much the 2 demographics share spectators?)
Bric Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Yes there are alot of churches and castles in Europe obviously but they're proud of it so i don't really condone my fellow Aussies openly disrespecting it.Plenty of drinking holes to get pissed at in Prague if thats anyones main objective.
Punter
Guest
Huh!!!!!
Reynoldsinski
Guest
They have a point though. Its hard work trying to pretend that a lot of those European cities are interesting. Although, I personally like Prague.
Bric Tamlin of the Pants Party
Guest
Having a tour guide tell me a group of drunken Aussies on a tour the previous day call the spectacular St Vitus church in Prague an AFC(Another F'n Church)wasn't my proudest moment to be an Aussie abroad i must say.
Tom Dimanis
Roar Pro
haha i went to that game too, it got a bit feral didn't it? I remember it was an unusually sunny day and I think the sunshine got to a few peeps!
Matt F
Roar Guru
Yeah they made it 45m for a year or two when the AFL decided to increase the size of the centre square around a decade ago (maybe less.) The players got a bit confused at times so they eventually made them 50 but cut them off at the square. The arrival of the Trumper stand fixed that issue.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Top end seats for those ODIs are very quickly reaching in excess of $100 at different places!
The Critics' Choice
Guest
Do you boycott going to events then? If you don't then things won't change. Obviously they have a monopoly on say the AFL Grand Final and its difficult to boycott that one, but there have been plenty of concerts that I've been borderline wanting to go to, and then find ticketek add $10 which is the straw that breaks the camels back.
Mitchell Adam
Roar Rookie
On Marco Polo's earlier point and the subsequent chain ... I'm based in Milton Keynes, 30-odd miles north of London, integrating myself with the locals. I was down in London on the weekend, catching up with a mate I met while traveling, who happens to be Australian. I've done the usual London things, footy was on, so I got along. I haven't spent enough time with Australians in London to make a comment on that front, but I ran into a lot of Australians on the continent. Other than one instance of a (completely separate) group chanting 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' inside a bar in Prague, I didn't encounter anything cringeworthy. We're not all all giving Australia a bad name abroad ...
Anthony
Guest
This article mirrors my experience of the night. I has already planned to be in the UK for a month (am leaving today) & was pleased the AFL scheduled the game especially to fit in with my schedule :-) Having lived & worked in London in my 20's I agree with comments about Aussies abroad. That is why I have never been to Bali! And just to counter-balance Kasey's comment - yesterday I went to the Tate Gallery to see the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition ;-)
Strummer Jones
Guest
Went to one of these AFL games at the Oval in 2003 (Collingwood v Freo). By the 15min mark of the last quarter, and despite a heavy security presence, the crowd had stormed the oval and it was complete chaos. Players were quickly guided off the ground. But that wasn't all... A couple of guys pulled one of the point posts out of the ground, carried it out of the Oval and headed straight for the Oval Tube Station. I'm not sure how far they got but I've always wondered how funny it would have looked to see an Aussie Rules behind post on a tube train. Priceless.
TC
Guest
It's true that there is a certain charm to ovals retaining different dimensions. In the case of the SCG, however, it has always been barely big enough for AFL standard. In fact, for a while, didn't the mark out the 50m arc a couple of metres shorter so that they didn't touch the centre square?
Marco Polo
Guest
When I went in 2001 and 2002 the tickets were sold out 6 months beforehand. Twickenham sells to it's members, then to the rugby family, the corporate brigade and there is nothing left over. Just too many people in the UK. They would sell 200,000 tickets if they had the ground to hold them all. What you can do, and this is the way I snagged tickets. You go around the West Car park before the match or go to the pubs in Richmond, like the Orange Tree and ask around. People are always over burdened with excess tickets. Just take a fair amount of money, do not pay over the odds, the tix come down in price closer to kick off. Avoid the touts(scalpers), they are scum and just out to rip you off. You will get tix at a good price if you hold your nerve and wait. I found it helps to dress like a rugby supporter, get a scarf or something or the sellers just think you are a tout looking for a bargain. At least then they know you are a true fan. Ditto the cricket at Lord's and Oval too. I always got in, and sometimes for free numerous times.
Matt F
Roar Guru
The SCG will match the Gabba for size when it's done (or be a metre or two off) apparently. It's a little bit sad that all these grounds are starting to match each other. I quite liked that each ground had it's own dimensions and played differently (both AFL and cricket) as it added another variable to the matches. They're not all the same but they're definitely getting closer
Timmuh
Roar Guru
It is. That is one of the reasons why it is difficult to find suitable venues for these exhibiton type games. Even in nations which have an abundance of ovals, usually cricket nations, those ovals are often too small for Australian Football at the highest level.
Marco Polo
Guest
Yep, Ticketek and Ticketmaster jointly won the Shonky award and won top prize for being shonkiest of the shonky award winners which is quite something. The clubs/grounds should just do things themselves, just lazy management over complicating things. These little county clubs in England and the various soccer and rugby clubs do it all themselves. You can probably download a free iPad app to handle tickets nowadays. I saw in a cafe a free iPad app that handles Point of Sale. In Australia we have the problem of too, WAY TOO MANY, middlemen with all their snouts in the trough. Why do you think we are the most over priced nation on the planet nowadays? Rip off Oz.
Kasey
Guest
I’m pretty sure Ticketek and Ticketmaster just picked up ‘awards’ for their practices by consumer advocacy group Choice. I wonder if handling fees for a .pdf I print out myself has anything to do with it?
glacier
Guest
MA You could also check out the England v Australia rugby (union) test to be played at Twickenham, London, on Saturday 17 November. A full house of 83,000 is expected.