Badge

Thanks OzTennis. I have found this out since - one of the great things I like about Australia is how decent the stadiums are. A real sense of being in the centre of the city.

Badge

HiddenPaw

Any Poms in Melbourne in May please go and support the GB team at the World Track Champs (cycling) at the Vodafone Arena!!! Aus and GB have two of the best track teams in the world and a fierce rivalry (as always!). It's also the final qualifying event before Olympics so they'll field their strongest teams and individuals.

It will be a great week of competition as Aus and GB fight each other for medals and World Champion jerseys!

You can buy tickets for this on Ticketek

p.s. I'm not plugging this for any other reason than to say go down and support them!!

jezdavies

My pleasure Badger. As you can tell I am somewhat interested in the sport. I miss the game like you wouldn't believe. Over here all anyone talks about is Liverpool and Everton which gets a bit tiring. To be fair though, I didn't grow up with "soccah" and I appreciate how important the game is to the people over here just like Aussie Rules is so important in most parts of Oz. Only difference is, there's only two teams in this city compared to 10 in Melbourne.

If you think the stadiums are good in Australia now, wait until the MCG is rebuilt at the end of next year. It will be simply amazing! The problem with stadia in England is, there's very little room to extend them as most have been around for 100 years and housing has developed around them. Highbury is tiny and the Gunners have to move and Liverpool are building a new Anfield. Boro and Sunderland built new stadiums out in the middle of nowhere which makes it difficult to get to. Melbourne is lucky in the sense that the MCG was there 150 years ago and is surrounded by parkland and the Telstra Dome was built on the unused docklands. So they're within walking distance of the CBD with excellent public transport access.

As for a Hawthorn vs Melbourne match, you would be able to walk about to the gate and get tickets on the day. But for better seats you might want to pre-purchase them. Just make sure you don't sit in the Olympic stand. Not a lot of atmosphere. The sound goes straight over your head as there is no roof on that stand. Good thing they're knocking it down.

Hawthorn vs Melbourne will draw a crowd of 40,000+ I'd expect. It depends on how well Melbourne is going to see how many of their fans turn up.

Badge

My decision to support Hawthorn was based thus:

1) a women on the tram a few years ago said it was a good club

2) a bloke in the Footy shop in Fountain Gate said it was a good family club and offered me membership deals

!!!! so I was amused to see this thread.

3) he also said that the Swans were popular coming from VIC he said that they have a huge supporter base.

BM

OzTennis

Capper's not quite low enough yet to appear on I'm a celebrity then.

Les Stillman was a very decent guy. From memory he went to secondary school in Essendon but he came down from the bush originally. He was better at cricket, representing the big 'V' but wasn't quite good enough for Test cricket. (My schoolfriend from primary and secondary days, Alan Hurst, got a few 'baggy greens' though).

It's hard to imagine Dustin Fletcher having the highest body fat % - he looks like a jockey's whip! Who are your best Bombers of recent times? Apart from the obvious Lloyd and Hird, I thought Long and Wanganeen were (are for the latter) brilliant.

The real gossip of course was at the 'Roos with Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens' wife, which forced him out for a year and a change of clubs to the Crows.

I seem to vaguely remember that Trent Croad might be moving from the Dockers back to Victoria (?)

Good to exchange footy talk (and sorry too about the name dropping!)

OzTennis

OzTennis

Will Robbie McEwan be riding for Australia? When we were in Bendigo we used to go along each year to watch the Madison which was a very exciting event.

I knew you were keen on your cycling but I didn't realised you were into the competitive side.

OzTennis

HiddenPaw

my husband cycles competitively but I don't. A lot of the GB squad were in Vic for the Herald Sun Tour last Oct and stayed in Oz for their winter training. He was doing some of the training rides with the GB guys. That's the great thing about Melbourne bunch rides and road races - you can be cycling with the pros (both Aussie and foreign).

Robbie won't be there as he doesn't do track cycling but other big Aussie names like Sean Eadie and Brad McGee should be there. I was chatting to Robbie McKewan at the St Kilda criterium last November - he is such a lovely guy (I was 6 months pregnant so he was asking about the baby, etc).

Melbourne (and Vic) has such an amazing cycling scene, with lots of big events - track and road. Husband is definately missing the Oz cycling now he's back in UK!

Anyway, OT, I thought you were an adopted Scot?? You should be cheering for David Millar these days!!!

jezdavies

You're name dropping gave me the opportunity to do some of my own.

Trent Croad is back at Hawthorn now. He shouldn't have been traded in the first place.

I heard another rumour about a play who was in North Melbourne's 1996 Premiership side, Stuart Anderson. Apparently he was shagging Mrs Stevens years before Carey and was therefore traded to Fremantle. Once he had finished with Fremantle he returned to Melbourne to play for the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL last year. Rumour has it Mrs Stevens and Anderson reaquainted themselves with eachother. Nothing in the press about it.

You probably already know this one. If not, you might have been wondering why Brodie Holland was the next big thing at Collingwood in the first half of the 2002 season but barely played a senior game until breaking back into the side in 2003. He was arrested in about July 2002 for 'exposing himself in public'. Exposing meaning he was sitting in his car near a billboard advertising lingerie providing 'attention' to himself. Two women walked by and caught him and then phoned the police. But the worst thing for young Brodie was, it was a dare by a mate of his. Collingwood FC were rather unimpressed.

Also, a number of years ago a St Kilda player got a nasty surprise at the birth of 'his' child. I think his name was Cunningham or something like that. Played in the early 90's and his brother played too. At one stage, he and his wife had an American basketballer staying with them for a few weeks. Soon after, she fell pregnant and Mr Cunningham was none the wiser. At the birth, the baby had different colour skin from both Mr and Mrs Cunningham.

I'm 95% sure the last two are true. The Stuart Anderson one could just be a rumour.

Badger, while you were in Fountain Gate, did you see Kath & Kim? Hawthorn do promote themselves as the family club it's probably true. They look after their supporters well and are a very forward thinking-proavtive club.

OzTennis

Gee, if they still print 'The Truth' newspaper you could be their feature writer. Carey got 'thumped' by Glen Archer and co at a barbecue when they found out about his liaison with Mrs S.

We'd better watch some of these people don't log onto BE's eh?

OzTennis

OzTennis

Interesting to read that HP. Of course, when it really comes down to it I always support the Aussie against anyone (my wife will cheer for David Millar).

OzTennis

jezdavies

I think Justin Fevola gets up to all sorts of mischief. You might recall some time ago he and a team-mate were in trouble with the police for a drunken night. Turns out they 'hijacked' a 24 hour laundromat at about 4 in the morning and sprayed the fire extinguisher everywhere.

I know a lot of AFL players get targeted in pubs and nightclubs by drunk guys who want to see how they measure up against an AFL player.

I forgot to mention in my last post about Dustin Fletcher having the highest body fat. I think it's because he has no muscle. I used to have to do those pinch fold tests when I used to play footy (back when when I was a lad). There were lots of surprising results.

I'm sure you've already heard about this website http://www.thebladder.com.au Their slogan is 'Taking the p*** out of sport' Great stuff!

OzTennis

Brendan Fevola (?) He featured in a documentary a few years back on the draft - he and Des Headland were the top 2 and they were filmed for a while. Headland went to Brisbane but is back at Fremantle, Fevola didn't do too well at the beginning but is starting to look useful.

Yep, footballers of all codes have to put up with a lot. Not going out in public and to pubs etc isn't a realistic option - especially the age they are and the hormones etc.

I did know about the website - it's good.

OzTennis

jezdavies

You're right, it is Brendan Fevola. Had Wayne Brittain stayed in charge at Carlton he was going to get rid of him. My brother's mate was doing work experience with a player agent and met Fevola. Said if he was anymore more laid back he'd be lying down.

There goes that name dropping again! My aunty's friend's cat's vet, knew the brother in law of the optician who once met some famous person's cousin... :lecture:

loose

Love this thread. Its nice and reassuring to hear the similarities with following football in the UK.

Think I've plumped for my team without seeing any games yet. Was this close to picking the Dockers cos they're new and I like the underdogs, but I found out one of my girlfriends ex's used to play for them!! (Not sure of his name - cant look too upset and pursue it ) So anyway, thats kinda put me off a little. I'm leaning therefore towards the Eagles, with a late rally by the Bulldogs (British link to their nickname maybe).

This is hard - its easy when there's a team from the place you were born, but I cant see Bradford producing an AFL class aussie rules team.

bondipom

There are some amazing stadiums here. With League it is ashame they rarely fill them enough to create an atmosphere. I think it is the finals system which rewards mediocrity. You can come midway in the table and still get to the grand final and win.