I was made an honorary guy last night….Dave invited a few of us over to his place to watch the State of Origin rugby league game between New South Wales (*Cockroaches) and Queensland (Cane toads….nice nicknames eh!?). The State of Origin series is one of Australians biggest sporting events and this year was the 25th year. The game was played here in Sydney at the stadium in the Olympic park, there were 82,000 people there. I had to laugh, there was a whole stand of NSW supporters all looking exactly the same…. blue clothes, painted blue faces, blue curly wigs, they looked like a cross between the Smurfs and one of Harry Enfield's Scousers!! The State of Origin is an annual competition, the 2 states play 3 games against each other, and the winner is the best out of 3. Last nights match was exciting because it was the second game and Queensland had won the first one, so we (I keep saying 'we', that’s how at home I feel here!) had to win last nights game. Even if Queensland would have won the first 2 games, the third game is still played. Anyway, NSW won 32 – 22 with the help of Andrew Johns, who Dave says is a god, he’d been out of action for 7 weeks with a broken jaw, but he was definitely the man of the match by all accounts. It was a good match, the best bit was when the cameras were in the changing rooms at half time ;o) sorry…..anyway, it was so different from watching a soccer match (I have to say soccer now, it’s very confusing here as they call rugby league ‘footy’ and football ‘soccer’, so half the time I don’t know what sport people are talking about!) The cameras get right in on the action, they don't pan out like they do in soccer, they shoot reverse angles and all sorts, and because everything was really close up I couldn’t tell which end of the pitch each team was supposed to be running up to score….but you don’t really need to know, as Dave kindly pointed out, whichever way they are running with the ball is a good indication! Sometimes I really should think before I open my mouth!! They also have a video referee, so sometimes you have to wait for the decision before you know whether they’ve scored a try, they should try that with soccer, I’m sure it’d stop a lot of arguments, and would stop the poor ref getting shouted at!!!
So the boys were happy that NSW won the game, the final match is in July in Brisbane, so fingers crossed. As you know I have not much of a clue about rugby, (this was only my second game!) but I’m learning more now with Dave’s help and I’m determined to know all the rules before I leave here!
* Cockroaches – because they are plentiful in NSW, and Cane toads for the same reason in Queensland. Apparently Queenslanders boil up the skin of the cane toads in a pot and drink the water….the toad poison trips them out...how lovely!!!