Rugby

This weekend is special in Brisbane. On Friday there was the semifinal in National Rugby League and today it will be the riverfire, huge fireworks which constitutes the ending of the Brisbane Festival. I´ll tell you about that tomorrow.

Back to Rugby.For a Scandinavian the interest for this game is a little bit difficult to understand. I mean, I would guess the final in the Swedish Rugby league (I'm not sure it even exists) would gather 50-100 people from which 99% would be friends and relatives. To be honest most swedes would consider Rugby in general as something oldfashioned that was played in English boarding schools and forgotten about 50 years ago.

But here in Aussie it's huge. They even have three variants: Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Football.
So yesterday it was semifinal in Rugby League, Brisbane Broncos vs Sydney Roosters. Me and William decided this is a must in the Aussie culture and decided to go. We were not alone. The Suncorp stadium was sold out so we shared the experience with 51 800 people.
Mighty!

Before start there were interviews, fireworks and cheerleaders and you could feel the expectations in the air.
And then the game begun....  and we understood nothing. I mean the basic rules you pick up quite quickly but the tactics... Why don't they pass the ball instead of just running straight in to the first opponent they see?

When someone does something good and scores it's called a "try". But not immediately. Each "try" must obviously be preceded by at least 5 min referee video scrutinising. When you get your "try" you also get a free kick for two extra points. And here comes the next strange thing. When the player performs his free kick noone else on the pit cares. He is left on his own and neither his team mates or opponents seem to even bother watching.

Did I mention that after each "try" for the home team a horse with a rider came galloping around the arena!
Another interesting thing is that coaches obviously are allowed to be on the pit during ongoing play. They sort of run around with a towel and water bottle serving the players while playing.
A strange game it certainly is!

Cheers!


ps Broncos were totally superior and won by 31-12.