The Running Man

Swans v Eagles (@ Telstra Stadium)

Last weekend (31 March) was the highly anticipated GF rematch between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans held at the Telstra stadium in Sydney as the opening match in the 2007 AFL season. Being pretty much the only West Australian in NSW, I was very passionate about my Eagles and how they triumphed over the Swans in last year's Grand Final (see Sept post). This time round, for the first game I got HY, Haz, Maxy, Q, Brad, Lil, and Mitch to the game (I was the only one in WC colours...the rest were all Sydneysiders..so was pretty much outnumbered). After much thinking, rationalising and pondering, I got myself a WC Eagles jersey for this game (a very brave move considering I was living in Swans territory), the game in Melb and any future games I might go to...nice huh ;)

Like I said...I was a passionate Eagles supporter :) haha...and this is Australia where the Aussies are more friendly in terms of sporting rivalries and always look at things with a sense of humour :) We sat in the Swans section...and I was surrounded (even amongst my friends) by a sea of red and white (the colours of the Sydney Swans)! Nevertheless, i was there to support my team and have a good time and hopefully it was going to be a good match (with the outcome of course in favour of my team...). In the background of the photo below, can you see the amount of red+white supporters there? :P

The Eagles were well in control by half-time...leaving the Sydney fans to 'entertain' themselves haha ;) However..

it was going to another one of those cliffhanger matches...with the Eagles opening up a huge halftime lead (at this point I am silently praying to myself for the Eagles to hold on and not get slack and maintain the pressure...because the Eagles are famous for letting teams back into the game). True to form...in the second half, the Eagles pretty much stopped playing, allowing Sydney to get back into the game...everytime they scored, the Sydney crowd (especially my 'friends') cheered and the Eagles players just seemed to drop their heads a little lower. In the second half, the Eagles only kicked a solitary goal to Sydney's 7 goals (how to win???)...it was nerve wrecking for me (especially since I was surrounded by Swans supporters who like to inform me about my team's current state and how the game is going..everytime the Swans kicked a goal :P) They had all the momentum... But...
The Eagles held on to win by 1 point (just like the GF)...and in AFL a point is the smallest margin you can win by...they won 74 to 73...they just held on!!! At that point in the night was just the night of my life (especially since I could see that the Swans supporters were devastated by the result...there was even this little 10-11yo boy crying :P...) I was just so jubilated and excited :) it was unfortunate that no one else was a fellow WC Eagles fan otherwise we would have hugged :P... haha

See all the disappointed looks? Overall a very happy night :) for ME! :)

posted by Darren at 2:25 PM