AFL Round 14- Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs: Schulz to King One, Checkmate

                                                                     

 

I still recall the first time I tried a mataro. A dark, berry favoured wine rich in tannins. It was in a small boutique winery just north of the Barossa Valley town of Nuriootpa and it was a long, long time ago. It was during the annual Adelaide University Football Club’s lower grade winery tour back in mid eighties. This tour was held during the mid season break and the organiser, Sue, was astute enough to realise that wineries would be reluctant to allow a booking of a busload of footballers. For this reason the tours were usually booked in as the Adelaide University Chess Club. Unfortunately for the organiser the lower grades of the AUFC consists of a mix of nasty western suburb state school types, rambunctious country lads and decent private school spooner folk (as our coach used to refer to us).

 

The tours usually started in a dignified manner but it didn’t take too long before they would deteriorate. I remember enjoying the mataro with a few of the decent spooner folk when I decided I would have another.  I asked the owner if I could try the mataro now. He poured me a second sample just as the nasty western suburb types and the boisterous country lads entered chanting “Gimme a C”. “C”. “Gimme a H”. “H”. “Gimme an E”. “E”. “Gimme an S”. “S”.  “Gimme another S”. “S”.  “What does it spell”. “Checkmate checkmate checkmate”. The owner of the winery was starting to look confused as he thought this does not look like your average chess club. He took particular offence when Brett the Weather Chap created the “drink of day” which consisted on one part wine and three parts beer. After one of the guys let it slip that we were a football team, we were asked to leave. I thought I would try to see if I could get a third sample of mataro however the gig was up.

 

What has this got to do with Port playing the Doggies? Not a whole lot but it was probably more interesting than the game. Port dominated from the outset but couldn’t put this ascendancy on the scoreboard. At half time Port lead by two goals but should have been five or six goals up. After half time the flood gates opened and the only interest in the game was whether or not Schulz would bag ten goals. At the end of the game Schulz had played a blinder and finish with a club equalling record eight goals. Ollie Wines was clearly second best racking up numerous possessions but also winning clearance after clearance. After a bit of debate the other members of the NSW Port Supporters Group we agreed Westhoff took the honours of third best just ahead of Wingard.

 

By the way the name of that winery just north of Nuriootpa was Schulz Wines. After the game I wanted to celebrate and went to the front bar of the Royal Exhibition Hotel and asked for a Schulz Wines Mataro. The barman gave me a confused look and checked the wine list. They didn’t have one. I then said “I guess a Schulz Wines Westhoff is out of the question then?” He said he had no wines from that winery and I settled for a Coopers Pale Ale instead.

 

PORT ADELAIDE              3.1   7.5    13.9   19.14 (128)

WESTERN BULLDOGS    3.5   5.5     6.7     8.7 (55)

 

GOALS

Port Adelaide: Schulz 8, Westhoff 3, Boak 2, Gray, Jonas, Cornes, Mitchell, Polec, Ebert

Western Bulldogs: Giansiracusa 2, Liberatore, Stevens, Hrovat, Minson, Tutt, Bontempelli

 

BEST

Port Adelaide: Schulz, Wines, Westhoff, Wingard, Polec, Boak

Western Bulldogs: Higgins, Macrae, Picken, Hrovat, Boyd, Liberatore

 

Umpires: Margetts, Stevic, Hay

 

Crowd: 34,258 at Adelaide Oval

 

Our Votes: 3 Schulz (PA), 2 Wines (PA), 1 Westhoff (PA)

Comments

  1. Luke Reynolds says

    Is the Adelaide University Chess Club still going? Or folded due to their bad name at wineries?
    Was Rulebook on this trip and if so was he classed as a nasty Western suburb state school type, a rambunctious country lad or a decent private school spooner folk?
    Great tale Dan.

  2. Malcolm Ashwood says

    A great wine tour , the horrified look on the wine conissers face as , BD mixed his wine with beer , the raucous cheering of check mate , check mate being asked to leave , legends such as Sniffer Pasarris on the way back certainly did the glamour sides team spirit no harm , well until the famous speech from , Peter Maddern about you 7 drinking every day of the week , great memories , Danny .
    No Luke I was the only eastern suburbs high school non spooner in the side I reckon

  3. C’mon Rulebook, you’re not being too hard on Sniffer. He was always a solid character with a stiff upper lip.

  4. Malcolm Ashwood says

    Correct weight and all clear Danny

  5. Neil Anderson says

    Just when we were starting to get over this disappointing season and hoping for a better one next year, along comes a reminder of one of our bad losses.
    It sounds like it was a fun day for you chaps from the upper-fifth doing a spot of wine-tasting while keeping an eye on those beastly western-suburbs ruffians taking on your boys.
    I imagine you included a drinking game where you took a rather large sip of the mataro every time Schulz kicked a goal. You and your pals would have been quite squiffy by the end of the match.
    Next year if all the chaps agree, you can invite young Will Minson to join your group when he returns from Victoria.

  6. Great memories. Partly anyway.
    Well crystal clear for the first half, gradually fading to the point where I have no recollection of how we got home on any of these trips.

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