May 26, 2006
Its not cricket
What also made the whole evening really enjoyable was the party atmosphere. The train we caught on the way to the ground was jam-packed with families and kids. Many people were wearing half-and-half shirts and scarves representing both teams. The atmosphere was keen and excited but also good-natured.
I only went to the football once when I was living in the Netherlands and although we sat in the woosy 'good boys' section of the ground (which held only 20,000 people), I was keenly aware that I was the only female in our section and there were constant reminders of the aggression and violence that mar the games there. The atmosphere was not conducive to your thinking "Now that was fun, lets do it again!"
My scariest encounter with football wasn't even at a match but happenned once at Utrecht station when I inadvertently became caught up in the escort of supporters to the ground by the scary-black-clad-poilce. Not the nice smiley everyday police. The ones that beat up squatters and wear riot gear and have enormous truncheons. Trapped in the concourse over the yards with supporters and police I still can't decide who was scarier.
At Utrecht it took half an hour to just get out of the stadium itself, which held a maximum of 20,000 people. This was mainly because of all the extreme measures they've taken to minimise the opportunities for violence to flare out of control. Last night, 95,000 people left the MCG without much trouble as far as I could see and within half an hour we were not only out of the stadium but had caught a train, got off at our station and were sitting in a local cafe enjoying a Shiraz while we mulled over the match!
Football in Australia (AFL) has traditionally been a family affair and I'm sure it's the presence of families in the crowds that helps keep a lid on any violence. There may be the odd idiot going off his rocker but people are less likely to blindly leap in when their wife and kids are with them, or when there are families in the vicinity. I hope this aspect of Australian Rules Football becomes a feature of football (soccer...) as it assumes it's place in the Australian sporting arena.
The other remarkable thing about the evening is that Ronnie ate his first real-dinkum-four-and-twenty-meat-pie (which is what you do at the football) and survived to tell the tale.
Posted by Faith