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As part of a series we’ll be running on The Roar over the next few months, I’ve been asked to share my ultimate bucket list of sporting events I would like to attend.
It’s an essential question for all but the most casual of sports fans. Everyone has an identity as a sports fan, and the capital you can gain from attending some of the biggest sporting events in the world can bring unspoken benefits among mates and fellow fans.
From zincing up in the heat to wrapping up right in the coldest cold, nothing quite brings credibility like attending a match live.
Bragging rights, stories of when it all went right and lamentation for when it all went wrong. Moreover, plenty of opportunities to reminisce, compare and laugh about the grounds we’ve been to and players we’ve seen.
We all have a list of sporting events that we would love to attend. Mine has a few events that I would love to attend for very different reasons, and I’m also lucky enough to have ticked some events off my list.
Some of the events, like the 2014 NRL grand final with 50,000 Rabbitohs fans screaming their lungs out, wasn’t on my list, but quickly found its way onto it after the incredible atmosphere demonstrated by members of the Burrow.
Here are my ‘must dos’ for the sports I grew up with, as well as some I didn’t. Feel free to share yours in the comments section below.
Sydney Derby
Living in Sydney, I’ve watched this rivalry grow from nothing to something bordering on ridiculous in just two years.
Driving past Moore Park a couple of weeks ago, watching the Cove make their march over the walkway, flares in hand illuminating the blue jerseys, and hearing the noise of the chants… That’s something that makes for unparalleled atmosphere. Throw in the Red and Black Bloc, and I’m interested. Very interested.
It’s an event that is a must-do for Aussie sports fans, and is one that will only grow on the Australian sporting calendar.
You’d think a Merseyside Derby or North London derby would hold more appeal, and it probably brings more worldwide capital, but being an Australian it’s great to see a local football derby flourish, and I think it is just a little bit different for a sports fan.
Lord’s Ashes Test match
How many retweets would a selfie from the media box in Lord’s get? Probably plenty, and that’s not including the texts you’d get from your mates after you send it to them.
My professional goal has long been to attend a Test match at Lord’s and cover the game from the media box.
Hopefully, that day isn’t too far away.
Because what can bring more credibility to a sports fan than watching the Ashes at Lord’s, the home of cricket, from the space age media box.
Tour de France
Cycling is a fantastic spectator sport.
I was lucky enough to be at the finish line of the 2012 Olympic road race, when Alexandr Vinokourov stormed away from the pack to take the gold medal.
But administrators, crowds and cyclists alike have made the middle Grand Tour into the biggest by some margin.
To follow the great race, either in a van or on a bike, has to be on every sports fan’s list, even if you only see the peleton for 30 seconds a day, and spend the rest of it reading l’Equipe.
The Masters
Augusta National is the most exclusive golf club in the World. Chances are you will never play there, and you will never know someone who has played there.
However, once a year they open it up to the squirming masses and the best golfers on the planet to fight it out for the most prized of all things – a green jacket.
A true participant’s sport, this is the one time of year that the game of golf captures the public’s imagination. The waves in Australia when Adam Scott won the most prized major are still rippling today.
Being there would be something else. Seeing an Aussie win would be an absurdity.
Having only been alive for 26 years, I can’t say I have attended too many events that would make many people’s bucket lists. However, there are two, aside from the 2014 NRL grand final, that stick out in the memory.
Yankees vs Red Sox at Yankee Stadium
A teenager who had never seen a game of professional baseball couldn’t ask for a much better induction to the sport than this.
Yankees Red Sox on the hallowed turf of Yankee Stadium. Sweepers dancing the YMCA. Massive sodas, hotdogs and great food to go with a seat behind the plate.
Despite the many memorable days at Sydney and Gabba Test matches, this game sticks out as a must do.
Sure, I was lucky in that Pedro Martinez was pitching for the Red Sox against a batting line-up that included Jason Giambi, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui. Mike Mussina was on the mound for the Yankees, facing David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
If that doesn’t do it for you, you need to reassess your sporting priorities, because it was pure sporting theatre. And yes, I will brag about it.
Super Rugby final at Suncorp Stadium
It might not sound like a bucket list item, and it’s not really.
But it was one of those events where you had to be there to fully appreciate what the Reds accomplished that year. Perhaps it was similar to what the Waratahs did in 2014 – I can’t say, I wasn’t there.
Australian rugby can often be a fractured community. But in this case Ewen McKenzie had the Reds playing such an attractive brand of football in the right spirit that you couldn’t help but like them, no matter which team you supported.
Will Genia and Quade Cooper were at the absolute peak of their game, and some of the things they did with Digby Ioane, Rod Davies and the rest of the team were borderline unbelievable.
But more than that, the way the Reds club had managed to harness the Brisbane and Queensland community into a uni-coloured mass chanting “We are Red” had to be seen and heard to be believed.
At Suncorp Stadium, it is still the loudest and most excited I’ve ever seen a crowd.
So Roarers, what are some of your greatest sporting memories? And what are some of the things you want to tick off the list?
And remember, the better your list, the bigger the bragging rights among fellow fans.
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