Footy is a bit of a misnomer as its the term used to refer to any kind of ball sport over here which may involve the occasional kick, apart from soccer! In fact, from what I can see, the more kicking it involves, the less likely it is to be called footy!!!
In the UK we believe that all this Aussie talk of football relates to Aussie Rules, but that isn't the case here in Sydney where footy almost inevitably means NRL (National Rugby League). A round of the league is played each week, with matches on Friday - Monday nights as well as weekend afternoons, meaning weekends are dominated by the NRL headlines. If you don't like sport, you've come to the wrong country!!
There are 16 teams in all, with a fair number of them being NSW ones. So, the number one question is which team do you choose to support? My friends up the northern beaches follow the Manly Sea Eagles, so I could have gone for them, but I'm not really a North Sydney girl. Having always been based on the South side of the harbour, the South Sydney Rabbitohs seemed like the team for me... they also have the best logo in the league, the Burgess twins (from the UK) play for them and the fact that I have a friend who loves anything to do with bunnies (to the extent that she spends her Christmases helping out at the local bunny rescue centre) was the clincher! The Sea Eagles would have been a better colour scheme for me... burgundy is much more me than the red & green combo of the Rabbitohs, but that would be far too girly a reason not to support my local team!!!
So having decided which team to support, the next question is how much does it cost to go and see them play. UK football matches are exorbitantly expensive these days, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the Rabbitohs offering tickets at $25 for standing or unreserved seating, with reserved seating only costing $40. You certainly wouldn't get a football ticket in the UK for the price of a main course pub lunch! You can get further reductions plus a whole host of goodies if you want to become a member and there are plenty of membership options, including just a 3 home game reserved seat membership for $100! If you fancy following the team, check out the membership options at http://membership.rabbitohs.com.au/membership-packages/.
So Friday night was my first introduction to live NRL as I headed off to ANZ stadium to see the South Sydney Rabbitohs play the North Queensland Cowboys! The ANZ stadium is the old 2000 Olympic Stadium and a nightmare to get to in rush hour gridlock which paralyses the length of Parramatta Road out of central Sydney. In the end I gave up waiting for a bus and walked to the closest train station... at least trains can't get stuck in traffic!! There were a good few Rabbitohs supporters in their red & green striped shirts on the train, so I was fairly confident I wouldn't miss the start, despite being much later than planned. We arrived just in time for kick-off to a great atmosphere, despite only achieving a crowd of just under 16,000. Playing North Queensland means there aren't many away fans (it's rather a long way to travel for an 80 minute match), but the lack of numbers were made up for by the noise of the Rabbitohs, particularly those in The Burrow... the standing area populated by those die-hard members and fans, just like we used to have at footy matches in the UK before standing areas were banned after the Hillsborough disaster.
The bunnies (as the Rabbitohs are fondly known) got off to a bit of a rocky start, giving the ball away and going 4 points down within the first 15 mins. They gradually got their act together, although it remained rather a scrappy game with some butter-fingers ball drops along the way. Having said that there were also some inspired periods of play with an amazing breakaway run down the pitch from the far end by Greg Inglis to score his second try of the night and the fifth for the team. Rabbitohs supporters are certainly a vocal bunch, so there was plenty of encouragement for the team to push themselves and make it a resounding win, which they eventually did with the final score being 28-10. That puts them at the top of the league for the time being, even if it's only until Melbourne Storm play on Sunday... if they win they'll go back into the lead not on points (which will be equal), but on goal difference.
Normally I hate the getting away from a sporting fixture... too many people, not enough transport and too much pushing and shoving. Not in this instance - the crowds were in good spirits, everyone was friendly (even the girl stood next to me on the crammed train who was wearing thongs (flip flops) and had her toes trodden on by pretty much everyone trying to squeeze into the carriage!) and it was great to see so many kids among the regular supporters.
I can definitely say I thoroughly enjoyed my first NRL game and will be going back for more... maybe next Friday's game against the Tigers, another local team which should mean a much bigger crowd! Who knows, if things pick upon the job front, I may even become a member... although I'll definitely be going for the black top with white bunnies rather than the red and green stripes!!
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