Footie!

When in Rome, do like the Romans, when in Melbourne, don't miss the footie as it is called by the Aussies. Australian Rules football is something unique to Southern Australia.

On Friday the 7th of August, a big bunch of MUSEX members (Melbourne University Student Exchange) invaded the Melbourne Cricket Ground stadium. The 50 of us met up at the corner of Flinders Street and Swanston, in front of the Transport Bar at 6pm.

Here's the concession ticket we got, $12.80 for students! Much cheaper than other places in the world. No wonder Australians love their sports.


We took a short walk to the MCG, on of Melbournes two 100,000 seater stadium, which was filled to the brim with eager Aussies. The seats below, are only open to members and the membership list is currently at 50years waiting. The people tell me that fathers buy memberships for their unborn children! Today's game was Geelong Cats vs Carlton and it promised to be a tight match.



The aerial view of the stadium. Trust me, it is huge.

Okay, the Australian Rules Football is really different from other football and here are some key differences for newbies in case anyone asks:

1. The field is the shape of a baseball. Fits into round stadiums!!
2. The are 4 sticks as goals, two short ones beside 2 tall ones. Scoring into the centre space gives most points. No keepers.
3. There are at least 4 umpires, 6 waterboys, 1 guy in flouroscent running around for the most obscure reason.
4. It is started by throwing the ball at the ground!
5. In football, a throw in requires the thrower to throw forward with 2 feet on the ground. In footie, the umpire throws the ball facing backwards with one leg flying up!
6. You pass like rugby but have to dribble like football every 15 metres.
7. It is a very gentle game, tackling is like hugging and the players fall down like men. They get up and don't squeal like lil girls.
8. There are 3 scores, 1 is the total.
9. There are quaters each 30 minutes long, hence 2 hours of play.
10. There are 18 players and hundreds of tiny rules that must be adhered to.

Daylight in the night, 4 ten storey floodlights illuminating every move the players made. The moon was full and the crowd was howling like wolves in the cold. There was also a short fireworks display from the Yarra river nearby. The players were mostly skinheads. These were real men, wearing only their uniforms and muscles n the playing field, they seem to have an inexhaustable source of energy. Kicking, punching, scoring, passing, and tackling was the highlight of the night. What an atmosphere it was, and it would have been greater in the summer warmth.

It was intense and Geelong was a formidable foe. Yet in the end, both teams played well and Carlton emerged champions and will proceed to the next stage. Cheers!

Frank Mortons @ Newcastle

The night started at the Imperial College Union, 3 busloads of crazy chem engers were squeezed onto the waiting coaches.. 106 ppl only actually, so not really a squeeze... anyway.. we made our 6 hour journey from central London to nowhere in Newcastle. Unlike the rest of the people on the second year bus, the 4 of us, Nigel, Ke Lun and Ricki sat on 2 seats each! smart a plan it was as one seat alone was made backs ache. Im still having neck aches even after 2 weeks! some lousy seats.

Arriving at Newcastle, first thing we did was GET LOST. Even with the high tech GPS navigation, there is no substitute to good planning. Imagine 3 buses circling the stadium like flies before dawn. We finally stopped infront of st jame's stadium, home of Newcastle FC! we four guys could not help but take a pic of the coat of arms in the lobby. Cold.

Next order of business, Frank Morton's Sports day, where almost all the chemical engineering departments from around the UK gather to beat it out on the field and trek. Frank Morton is a chemical engineering lecturer in the university of Birmingham who likes sports i guess. Winning for 6 times was enough for Imperial I guess as the university of Manchester swept the overall trophy this year of 2009.

However, It was a real interesting experience playing dodgeball!! Was a really fun game and although i was really blur in it, I hope i made my team proud. We were knocked out after 3 games but was good for noobs! I might blog about it some other time when i feel like it.

Newcastle is a really small place. But in any place, its really bad to leave your friends without charging your hand phone battery!! Ended up walking around newcastle alone for the evening after the games. Yet, the city has some amazing sights to offer, particularly its architecture which is to die for.

The bridges offer such a spectacular sight as they span half a kilometer 50 feet in the air. The lights were traditionally English and gave a really romantic feel about it. I would take my girlfriend to visit this place just for the photography!

Did'nt i tell you? such a romantic sight Newcastle is at night. The lights and the serenity. The colours of the sky. Anyone who visited the place would be amazed. Sadly, in the midst of things, I forgot to drop by the castle. It was not even lit in that time so I guess round 2 is calling!

After skydark, I managed to meet up with my buddies again. Nigel, ke lun, ricky and Kuo Jian, aka CISM. We had dinner at a local Italian restaurant right after meeting up at some Epsom square. The diner was homely and there was this gorgeous waitress that nigel kept asking her to take pictures for us.

Our bus did not leave until 2 am that morning so we decided to go walk around Newcastle. Took some pictures at the Hilton hotel and more pictures on the bridge! there were 4 bridges close to each other but I managed to walk on all of them! yay, no better things to do!

If there is one lesson learnt in organising, it is never ever send the bags of 3000 people into 1 nightclub... it would be utter chaos when everyone needs to claim their bags at the same time. The club was called Liquid (has chains all over the UK) and i guess they were pissed. Luckily I took my bag along with me while I went sight seeing!

Battered, tired and frustrated, we left at around 230 and and reached london at 9.00am on wednesday. just in time for PDC lectures!!

Newcastle - I give it an 8 out of 10!!