Soccer Match

Living in rural NSW, there are few opportunities to attend major sporting fixtures. I used to watch a lot of soccer when living in the UK, and haunted the terraces at various grounds, including Newcastle United, Manchester U, Liverpool, West Ham, and, dare I mention it, Brighton. The last match I saw live was in a distant suburb of Buenos Aires when Rebecca and I stumbled across a second division match and paid to go in after being frisked by riot police. We ended up in the visitor's end of the ground behind a steel fence patrolled by armed police ready to throw tear gas grenades into a rioting crowd. Well 'our' team was losing and, towards the end of the match, 'our' crowd staged a riot. Beck and I exited rapidly from the ground!

I'm now in Canberra to attend and present at an Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) meeting. Arriving three days early to socialise with Em, Beck and Max and their families, I was invited to Bruce Stadium on Saturday night to witness an A - league clash between Central Coast Mariners (based at Gosford, north of Sydney) and Adelaide United. I have little idea why they were playing in Canberra, except it's located between the home-town cities. Anyway, there were some Australian internationals on display and the standard of play was quite good. However, both defences were well on top and the attacks rather unimaginative. So, I, Emily, Greg, Rebecca amd Max endured a scoreless draw. Most of the thunder and lightning was aerial. Max was there in body if not spirit as the event seemed to bore him greatly. I guess 5 year olds want to roam everywhere and not remain seated.

AS