AFL Round 4 – Gather Round: Rodney goes to Adelaide

 

 

This week I just wanted to say thanks and pay tribute to South Australia and Gather Round on a magnificent weekend of football. If you love your footy then put Gather Round on your bucket list. Our trip started the weekend before Easter by road to South Australia after work starting with an overnight stop at the Horsham International Hotel. We started our trip off at my Parents-in-law at Victor Harbor which is a beautiful part of the world. Our trip there included Clayton Bay, Beerenberg Farm, Hahndorf and the world famous Port Elliot bakery. From there we stayed with friends at Clare, and we visited the lovely Magpie Stump hotel at Mintaro, the historical town of Burra, we saw the Loch Ness Monster on Lake Bumbunga at Lochiel and the infamous Snowtown. For Gather Round we based ourselves at my sister-in-law family house in Greenwith.

 

Friday was a trip into the city on the O Bahn to Rundle Mall and then Elder Park to get some atmosphere of the round. I had been a few times in recent years to the MCG on the Friday before the Grand Final and this has an amazing atmosphere, but the crowd is 90% from the two competing teams. For Gather Round on Friday in the city and Elder Park I saw supporters of all clubs without any team being most in numbers. The vibe was great with everybody excited about the upcoming games, all in a friendly environment. I was there for lunchtime and the crowd was at a comfortable number. The entertainment at that time in Elder Park included interviews with Darren Jarman and John Platten on stage, a football quiz (where a Norwood supporter won a prize, unsure if it was Rulebook) and player interviews and autographs with five Fremantle players. At various stages over the weekend all clubs had their moment at Elder Park for the fans. It was just Fremantle’s turn when I was there. My sister-in-law is a Bulldogs supporter and they were training at Woodville. She was able to go and the Bulldogs, like all clubs, were encouraged to spend time after training with the fans for autographs and photos which she enjoyed. This enabled me to have a quick look at the Woodville footy ground.

 

We went to three football matches. As my in-laws are Bulldog supporters we went to the double-header at Adelaide Oval on Saturday and then watched the Mighty Tigers take on St Kilda at Norwood on Sunday. Adelaide Oval is a great ground though, prior to this weekend, I had only attended one game of footy there and done the tour. We had great seats six rows from the fence on Saturday night between the centre and the fifty.

 

The Carlton v Fremantle match was a great tussle and I honestly thought Fremantle had it won with 5 minutes to go. Watching Curnow, Cripps, Fyfe, and Jackson live without trying to think of ways to nullify them made it more enjoyable though we were confused initially with the result with the Carlton double goal. With an hour between matches, I was able to walk around the oval as there were no areas fenced off like the members. Geelong always seemed to have the Bulldogs at arm’s length, leading most of the night by between 2-3 goals. Jeremy Cameron was everywhere and Bulldogs could not find a suitable match up. Bontempelli and Liberatore were brilliant in the midfield and nearly got the Bulldogs over the line. The only disappointment was the Mexican wave happening while the match was tight in the last quarter.

 

On the Sunday we went to see the Mighty Tigers play St Kilda at Norwood. We had great seats 3 rows from the front right on the wing. Norwood had a great feel with a throwback to watching footy at suburban ground though on a smaller, closer feel of 9500 rather than 25k at Victoria Park for example. Near where we sat there was a house with an outdoor deck over the outdoor bar where the residents could watch an AFL game from their own house. Most of the play was on the other side of the ground as it was more sheltered and those in the grandstand there were treated to some great goals from Shai Bolton.

 

Richmond once again was brave and looked great in the first half leading 5 goals to 1 with our two stars Martin and Bolton leading by example. Unfortunately for us, St Kilda stepped up their polish in the third quarter kicking 6.6 with Hill, Steele, Sinclair and Wanganeen-Milera stepping up and Wilkie marking everything in defence.  Richmond fought on well and had three shots at goal in last three minutes, kicking 1.2, but ended up losing by 7 points. Richmond won three quarters (though two quarters were won by 1 point). Fortunately for Richmond this year our younger players who we had hoped would step up are showing signs of doing this. Miller finally has a position and is playing well at fullback; Tyler Young is only a few years into playing football and shows promise as a key defender and Tom Brown has shown he is very clean ball user in defence. Maurice Rioli, Rhyan Mansell, Tyler Sonsie and Seth Campbell have been good as small running forwards and Kane McAuliffe started well once he came on as the sub before coming off with an ankle injury. For us Richmond supporters we hope they keep this form up and continue to develop.

 

Straight after the match we left for our drive back home to Melbourne, overnighting in Bordertown. We unfortunately missed out on the Vegemite Museum at Beaufort as it is closed on Mondays.

 

While Adelaide did a fantastic job, I think Perth, Sydney, Tasmania and Brisbane deserve an opportunity to have a go at it. Out of those, Perth has its proximity challenges where it may not get the visitor numbers as the other States, especially ones by road. Sydney may struggle to get the crowds at non-Sydney matches. Queensland may work to a certain degree if held during the June school holidays when a lot of people, especially Victorians, travel to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts which are also home of many ex-pat Victorians. Regardless I cannot see any doing as good as job as South Australia. While it has the contract for the next three years, I hope to attend at least one more time and see more games at Adelaide Oval. I’d also hope to visit another new ground like Mt Barker or the new Barossa ground or  another suburban ground (though I’m very happy to go back to Norwood).

 

Well, done South Australia and the AFL.

 

 

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