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Rah Rah - Waratah
So, what do you do on a pouring / raining afternoon when you've got a million and one things to do and another long day ahead of you?
Well, you get on the train and get yourself over to the nearest park to watch 'the game!' We treated ourselves this afternoon and took off to the Sydney Football Stadium to watch the HSBC Waratahs (oops, NSW Waratahs) in their Super 14 round game against the Lions.
We went together with Lita and thoroughly loved the experience of not only watching the 'big game' live, but loved the atmosphere.
We got great seats (obviously there were better for offer, but what we got was pretty good) and we were close up to the action. The Sydney Football Stadium is way cool, with a real great buzz in the atmosphere. Totally forgot about taking a shot of our view, but here we were just beside the 22 line.
The forwards had a great game, and Vickerman / Mumm continued their strong efforts.
Tatafu Polotanau had a strong game as the run-on hooker, with great impact play by Adam Freier when he came on late in the 2nd half as a replacement.
Alfi Mafi and Tatafu Polotanau came over to our half of the ground to pass out little Waratah Rugby balls for the kids. And there were a lot of the older kids hanging around asking for balls too.
O4 grabbed a ball, but gave it to a thankful young Waratah fan who was standing behind her. Fortunately, there were plenty of balls to go around so we ended up having one each for the kids to bring back.
It was great to see Tatafu after the game spending so much time (in the rain) signing autographs for the young Rah rah fans. All the players and officials had gone in from the rain but he was still out there signing signatures and standing with patrons getting his picture taken.
I'm sure the above normal fans can spend time with their choice of players at the after-match piss-up, but for all young fans, that isn't going to happen. The only time they'll get with the players is the few moments after the game when the players are willing to stand around.
We were seated 13 rows from the playing field, and didn't get the roof cover protection so we enjoyed the Sydney rain along with the game. Unfortunately, we gated through gate "H" which just happens to be right around the backside from the entrance, quite a long walk when you're going to the game with a pregnant woman (not O4, but Lita.) Fortunately, whilst the girls scampered back up the stairs, one of the "true" fans, gave us a hint that the easier route out is to just walk around the oval on the inside (same rain as walking around the oval on the outside) except the walk is shorter.
The Waratah crowd is a little sedated, which may be the influence of the wonderful beer culture we have here in Australia. Mind you, the younger stallions seem to behave more excited with more chemicals in their blood so there were a few vociferous moments as the crowd poured out of Sydney Football Stadium, but thankfully everyone seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere.
At half-time, the girls sent me on a run to get a raincoat for O4, being as we totally forgot the umbrellas in the car, and O4's jacket didn't have a hood. I came back without the raincoats to greetings of inquisitive eyes with the question: you didn't bring any chips?
Girls, there's lines everywhere at these things, the critical ones being the lines for the toilets so we'll leave that one until we get back to the train station. Aside from that, the patronage here is most interested in the foamy stuff passing around (alcohol.) Wall to wall bars with a few smatterings of places where you can actually get food.
A wonderful time at the game, and I've already been told to book for the next home game.
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