As Australian as football, meat pies and being a passionate female supporter

This weekend is a huge weekend for Australian footy ( the shortened word for football for my overseas readers who are not ‘in the know’ re Australian slang.) Australia vs New Zealand in the Rugby League test (go Darren Lockyer) as well as the World Cup Rugby Union semi-final in New Zealand, again Australia vs New Zealand. Now I know that so many of my female readers will be about to close this blog and wander off to do something a little more exciting than reading about men’s football but I for one must state that I LOVE AUSTRALIAN FOOTY! Did I receive a little more testosterone than the normal female dose?(Females do have testosterone.) Nope I don’t think so. I grew up in a female-dominant family, two sisters and one bro. So why the great love of these male-dominated sports? I put it all down to great patriotism and a little male influence too.

My maternal grandfather was a keen sportsman in his younger days and I cannot remember a weekend when visiting both him and my darling grandmother that the television wasn’t on and featuring some form of a sporting event be it cricket, league, union, tennis, golf and being a made keen golfer (he lived across the road from the Ashgrove golf links here in Brisbane and frequented it very very often) I remember him often standing in front of the television, talking to the commentators and voicing his opinion to them as if they could hear him. Hilarious at the time and guess who has now picked up this habit?

My father too was a feather-weight boxing champ in his army days; a cross country enthusiast again in his army days; was a keen cricketer and a very good one (wicket keeper mostly) and I was fortunate enough to meet the great Sir Viv Richards because of dad's interest in cricket. Dad also found himself on the judiciary of the Mt Isa Rugby League back in the days when we lived in ‘The Isa’ (great times) and let me tell you this position evoked much passion from the offending players and their supporters but we won't go there! After having three fabulous daughters, came my brother eight years my younger who not only was a fine goalkeeper for his Hilton soccer club in Mt Isa but also represented North-West Queensland as captain for age team; he captained his secondary school ‘firsts’ in cricket and had an outstanding year and he also played Rugby Union at the same school. I am sure I will be reminded by family members who read this that I have missed some things out but regardless this is a fine list of sporting prowess on so many levels.

This fine list has clearly been a major contributor to my interest in a plethora of sports. To add to this fine list, I married a Scotsman who not only follows the great (cough, splatter) Aberdeen team (which is sad for him as I am a Celtic supporter, the great green and white – my grandmother was a Glaswegian lassie and me being Catholic...yep.....and of course then there is the fab Rod Stewart too….) Hubby represented Scotland in Volleyball, was a cross-country runner, naturally played soccer as a youngster growing up in Scotland (dah!) and is also a retired junior soccer referee. My youngest daughter also plays soccer (oh and can I mention that she received the award for ‘most improved’ for team this year…so so proud of you darling…...thanks Paul!)

Don’t get me wrong, my female siblings were also great sports people. We three girls were fabulous swimmers and we took many awards away with us at meets, my mother was an ace tennis player, so too my eldest sister and the list goes on too.

Hence these have been my connections to the sporting world and I guess this is where the passion has come from and yes passionate I am! I was sitting in a room at a family friend’s house last weekend and we watched the last half of the Australia vs South Africa World Cup Rugby game after having a scrumptious BBQ lunch and to my amazement - ‘tis true, I did not think we would make it after watching our thrashing by the fabulous Irish, and how lovely it was that I was wrong -we beat those Seeth Africins but was sadly disappointed by the lack of Australian support in the room!

Now let me tell you what happened:- whilst sitting in this room which was dominated by Scotsmen (who sadly?….I don’t think so…. are out of the cup whoop whoop!) I discovered by their clear lack of enthusiasm for the score that they were NOT supporting the great Australian Wallabies. Sacrilege!! Due to this obvious lack of support, I dutifully reminded them all that I thought that theirs was a ‘poor call’ and I asked them to think about what country they were all presently living in and which they chose to live in! What country they had all found wealth and a great lifestyle? What country provides sunshine to them for three quarters of the year as opposed to their mother country and what country’s economic climate has held up against all others including the UK in the present economic climate oh and what country were they all presently living in, oh did I already say that? Yes, you could hear a pin drop.

Karma happened to them as Australia went on to win that game resulting in me jumping up, punching the air with my fist whilst yelling jubilantly GO THE WALLABIES!!! My fellow viewers were silent. Wanting to make the most of their clear demise, I then regrouped and just prior to me momentarily leaving the room to seek out the bathroom, I counted out loud whilst pointing to each of these Scots, yes those ‘non-Australian supporting offenders,’ and informed them I would be returning with a tissue for each so that they could cry into it. Again, their response was complete silence.

Yep, I am a very passionate Australian and Queenslander and more than proud to support these male sports, female and all! It doesn't always 'go down' terribly well in male company at times when I quote players names; declare that I thought that that pass was a forward pass and then the referee agreeing with me and awards a penalty etc. I am known to regularly tell THE MOST BIASED NSW league TV commentator, Gus Gould, to 'be quiet Gus' during any game he is commentating where a Queensland team is participating, because Gus really, really, really dislikes Queensland and takes great joy in showing his clear bias....shame on you Gus! I am often momentarily disappointed when my wonderful Brisbane Roar soccer team miss goals but so proud of their achievements during last season after having such a poor start. They won the A-League premiership last year….Whoop! Whoop (take that Mark Bosnich....love you Adam Peacock!) Being competitive is healthy and without competition we wouldn’t be able to use the letters VS would we?

So let’s get together my fellow Aussie girls and you lads….show your support for our great Australian sports men and women we have produced and I say Go the Kangaroos, Go the Wallabies and go Australia. The land of the great!