A Day of Footy

After arriving in Melbourne, VC suggested we kick off our time there with a Footy game. Now, this was the second or third time that we had heard him say "footy," and we began to realize that it might not just be a silly name for Soccer. Turns out our instincts were correct-- even though Australia does like to give everything a nickname, this was actually a completely unique sport. Part soccer, part American football, a dash of rugby and a hint of cricket all mixed up creates Australian Football, with the collection of 18 teams becoming the AFL.

We bought our tickets and headed for the 1:00 afternoon game of the Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne Football Club (both teams are actually from Melbourne) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), known for being the largest arena in the Southern hemisphere.

After a short ride on the train full of fans, we made our way into the stadium where the MFC theme song started blaring, since they were considered the home team. This gave us both a good laugh because in a stroke of genius, they set their song to the tune of You're A Grand Old Flag, which naturally had the lyrics "Every heart beats true for the Red and the Blue/ And we sing this song to you! Should old acquaintance be forgot/ Keep your eye on the Red and the Blue!" Creative.

After the highly entertaining song (to us) riled up the stadium, the players rushed out and promptly began playing. Now, VC described to us that this was a highly intense game, with very few breaks unlike the NFL, which has to cram in those commercial breaks. He was right-- this was sensory overload to us newcomers. As the players rushed across a field roughly the size of the outback, they began dribbling an oval shaped ball (how?) and performing speckies, which is literally using an opposing team member as a spring board, launching the players into the air. There seem to be few rules... Amazingly, no one got hurt.

Sadly for Tori, the Western Bulldogs lost, but it was still an action packed game that we had just begun to understand by the ending.

After, we walked around the down town Melbourne area, enjoying the river walk, and incredible architecture reminiscent of a turn of the century European village. The train station looks slightly Indian in design, allegedly due to a mixup back in England. The sister station in India is strikingly English.

We finished up our day with a wonderful meal at Malay Momma, a restaurant serving up Malaysian cuisine from the friendliest operator. She enthusiastically served up her favorite dishes of rendang, laksa and roti--Just another remainder of how great the people are here.