The Annual Tassie Guys Footy Trip gets planned in December once the fixture (or roster as they call it) has been released.
This year's trip included a new adventure akin to an adventure into Space.
Word had it that somebody knew someone (so only once removed) who could get us into a corporate box (fully catered) at The Adelaide Oval. It seemed to appeal to all so it was locked in, accommodation and flights booked by February.
Adelaide v Essendon on the Friday night and an early morning flight back to Melbourne for Richmond v Port Adelaide on the Saturday with another two games for the visiting Taswegians on the Sunday.
The month of July had only just begun when the first cracks in the plan appeared. The someone that someone knew had moved employment, but the word was out that there were favours owed and all would be good.
For two weeks no further word was received.
Arriving in Adelaide a day early we had a late afternoon tour through some inner city hotels and were pleased that most hotels were untouched by the "modernisation" that has affected so many Melbourne hotels.
Sos, John, Seal, Guesty and myself alternated between West End and Coopers and special mention must be made of the $10 massive Schnitzels at the Cooper Alehouse and the grunginess (but cleanliness) of the Crown and Anchor.
The morning of the game arrived without any tickets until around 10am a connection was made and if we turned up to a specific suburban house in Adelaide we could get some tickets for the game.
While we were grateful for any tickets, the printed words "General Admission" were not the corporate box we had expected.
All GA seats had gone well before the game so standing room was the best that we could get.
Our observations:
- unfortunately no MCC reciprocal rights at the Adelaide Oval
- extremely well behaved and family crowd in standing room
- don't rely on a promise, next time we will book seats
- a Balfour is not a Four 'n Twenty
- like a few other recent matches, the Crows didn't turn up after half-time
- the Adelaide fans seemed to give the game away at three quarter-time
- the crowd crush through the tunnel back to North Terrace (not unlike the old MCG bridge across to Swan St)
- on the walk back along King William Street the artist's impression of John Paul, George and Jimmy on the balcony of the Adelaide Town Hall
An early Saturday morning start for the flight back to Melbourne tested the group and dealing with various connections made it a rush. But we were all at the MCG by 1pm.
Prime seats on the MCC Balcony, beers in the Percy Beams, gourmet pies from Level 3 were a far cry from the experience of the night before.
Port go well against us and the omens were not great. However, a good start from the Tiges and a predominantly Richmond crowd on the Balcony made it a warm experience.
Despite a brief Port fightback in the second quarter it was a relatively comfortable Richmond win.
It is hard to not be excited by the silky skills of Stack, Rioli and Bolton, the unexpected kicking skills of Chol, Lynch and Jack working well up forward. And of course it’s all based on a really steady defence.
It was not a good weekend for the two South Australian teams while, for the Tiges, Friday night against the Pies makes for a different challenge (and supporter) experience.
A farewell in the Grey Smith Bar and the Taswegians were off to their digs to prepare to prepare for two more games on the Sunday.
A footy weekend is a good thing.
Greg is a sports and music tragic whose football career was short-circuited by being selected as a wingman on the AK Lines Reserve in Watsonia, which has the bleakest widest wings of any football ground in the world.
RICHMOND 5.4 8.5 12.7 15.11 (101)
PORT ADELAIDE 2.4 4.6 7.7 9.9 (63)
GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 3, Lynch 3, Prestia, Martin, Graham, Chol, Ellis, Castagna, Soldo, Edwards, Rioli
Port Adelaide: Butters 2, Amon 2, Dixon, Howard, Duursma, Sutcliffe, Rockliff
Official crowd: 41,642 at the MCG