The weekend just gone saw the culmination of both The Rugby Championship and NRL season, one week after the AFL season reached its conclusion.
The Rugby Championship saw a fantastic game between the All Blacks and South Africa played at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
There was many a hypothetical at play which could have seen South Africa win the tournament from the always impressive All Blacks, but as many a rugby watcher has become accustomed to, when the All Blacks see a trophy on the line they win – simple.
The game was played at a furious pace, particularly amazing considering it was being played at altitude, with the teams stretching each other wide on the flanks.
Bryan Habana bagged a double and Ben Smith scored again in a classy show from the two best teams throughout the tournament.
The All Blacks were a worthy tournament winner having won all their fixtures home and away.
The other game was played in Rosario in Argentina between the Wallabies and Los Pumas, with the Wallabies desperate to avoid the wooden spoon after a very poor season.
The Aussies were impressive and Folau grabbed himself a hat-trick.
A big win finally gave the Wallabies some much-needed joy in a year when they lost the British and Irish Lions series with a third game thrashing which was promptly followed up with big losses against the All Blacks and South Africa to start the Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies and All Blacks have one last encounter for the year in Dunedin next Saturday. This game is a dead rubber and I would not be surprised to see the Wallabies get up with the All Blacks having achieved what they set out to do in The Rugby Championship.
Their trophies are secured for the 2013 season.
The NRL decider had many a neutral wondering who to support. Did you want to see the Nick Politis Dollars buy a Premiership-winning team within one season or did you want the NRL’s most hated team winning a second premiership within three years?
All in all not a bad game to watch for the neutral, even if many did not care so much for the final result.
The Roosters were the best team over the course of the season, winning the Minor Premiership, and followed this up with a solid finals campaign.
The headlines are now dominated by whether Sonny Bill will stick with the code or head back to the Chiefs and play Super Rugby and All Blacks for the next two years leading to the World Cup in 2015. There is also plenty of talk that apparently he has set his sights on playing rugby sevens at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
SBW is his own man and I expect to watch him line-up for the Chiefs in their bid for a three-peat of Super Rugby titles in 2014.
Now that the AFL, NRL, Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship seasons have all come to their respective conclusions it is time for summer. And with summer comes the A-League!
Luckily for the multi-football fan there is not a long wait until the A-League starts with free-to-air coverage commencing this Friday night between Sydney FC and Newcastle to kick off season nine.
In my previous years watching the A-League I have mainly attended Melbourne Victory games. They were the first team in town and our option for some live football, particularly since I had not attended the NSL previously.
Being based on the Gold Coast my live football will this season take me up the M1 to Brisbane and Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar look to have a solid squad this season and the question will be if Mulvey can increase the appetite for more trophies while continuing to play attractive football.
Keeping the squad injury free will be the key this season for the lone representative team from Queensland.
I see this as the beauty of being a ‘football’ fan in Australia. The calendar is full for 12 months.
Whether I am in the minority for watching all our codes or if I am someone that will become more common as the codes look to expand their reach to all corners of Australia remains to be seen.
Already on the east coast in Melbourne, Sydney and South East Queensland you have access to all our football codes from a professional top-level perspective.
There are multiple options for the youth of today to support in those areas and great rivalries are either being developed or continued in these areas of the country.
Perth and Adelaide don’t yet have all codes represented at the professional level, my guess is that at sometime in the future they will also have the ‘full representation’.
The one-code warriors on this site who cannot seem to stick their preferred sports tab are an annoyance and they come from the fact that we have a multitude of options available.
They are stuck in the days of yesteryear where not all codes were available to all people due to history, geography and technology.
That has all changed and all codes realise the importance of taking their game to the greatest number of participants and followers (maybe not rugby union yet but that is a story for another day!).
From a south-east Queensland perspective in the next few months we have the following:
– Gold Coast Sevens at Skilled stadium
– Brisbane Roar home games at Suncorp Stadium
– Coolangatta Gold Ironman event
– First Ashes test at the Gabba
– BBL Cricket with Brisbane Heat
– Brisbane International Tennis Tournament
It is a veritable smorgasbord of sporting entertainment.
I for one will continue to enjoy as many sports, ‘football’ being my first preference, as I can and luckily being Queensland based at the moment the weather makes the live experience all that more enjoyable, particularly during the winter months!
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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