Before I even came over to Australia I knew they liked their sport and disliked it when the English beat them. They especially hate it when we win what they thought was their trophy in there own backyard, I won't even mention the W word...... I think his name is banned over here! But now that I am over here I can see that sport runs far deeper in the Australians' veins than I had ever believed. In Britain, on a Saturday you get Sue Barker and Grandstand on the beeb, but over here it occupies almost every channel and features every sport! Netball, rugby, swimming... I have even seen bowls and sailing on at 3pm on at Saturday! They really don't seem to have a dead set national sport, but as I found out it really isn't football. The hostel I'm working for as a bus driver (still only one parking ticket.... big sigh of relief!) has a football team which plays every Friday in a Cairns league. Having been sort of player in England, I got roped in to play. Yes whilst I am a girl, I have been known to play football regularly and enjoy it! However, this is back at home where the last time I played with boys was when I was 10 and playing in Hull Grammar School primary team. Back at home it's deemed the fellas are too rough to play with girls once you get to secondary school. (Having played ladies football, I'd say some of the lasses were too rough to play with the boys but hey maybe that's just me!) So it's a Friday night and still terribly hot but I pull on my staff T-shirt and play in the Cairns Area Cup. Now a good game was has by all, especially us since we walked away victorious, and hey I won't rub it in but I did get a hat-trick (just call me Rooney)! Now initially you'd be impressed with that, but I have to confess that some of the guys I was playing with and against had never gone through the process of playing football in the school play ground and had never played a full 90 minutes football in their life, so the experience was a bit different to your usual 5-a-side tournament!
The joys of victory were short lived as Australia's passion for sport reared its ugly head again. Losing one rugby game was bad enough, but to lose twice in the space of hours in league and union was not the nicest experience for a British back packer in Australia. My word they celebrate their victories, all we have had on TV since is repeats of the games and features on players. Now considering when the British Lions beat the Kangaroos and France beat the Wallabies only a few weeks ago there was no mention of it, now the reverse is true! It is splashed everywhere and every British backpacker is constantly reminded that we lost!
Oh well, they may have won this battle but we will win the war once Mr Wilkinson returns!
Claire M Could you be a student diarist?
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