The Rugby Game!

Wanna see a cool picture? Well look no further:

This is a picture of the rugby game that I attended at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Stadium! It was the Australia Wallabies vs. South Africa (the team that the movie Invictus  was based on) and the Wallabies killed em so it was a really good time to say the least. What was so interesting was both the similarities and the differences between U.S. sports and Australian sports and the marketing/commercialization of each.

Interestingly enough, the price for this game was relatively cheap (only $40 AUD) and we were sitting literally 8 rows up from the field as you can see in the picture. For a Bronco game, which would most likely be far less entertaining these days, that price wouldn't even get you a nosebleed seat. Relative to everything else in Australia, their food and drinks inside the stadium were priced well too. Beers were $6 which is a pretty common price around here, I half expected them to be $12 in the stadium. Food was also pretty much the same price inside the stadium as it was outside.

Other than the rules of the games being played and the pricing of entertainment, the differences seem to end there. There were ads all around the stadium for insurance companies, beers, etc. and the colors/jersey of the teams could be seen on almost every fan. Whenever there was a South African fan cheering, they were quickly hushed by the rowdy Australian crowd (resulting in a pretty interesting rivalry for a couple guys behind us). Referees were booed, the crowd reacted to big hits, and cheered loud when their team in green and yellow scored. It was truly an awesome experience and one of my favorite of this trip so far. Granted it wasn't as intense as some of the Nuggets games that I have been to (I'm still having heart palpitations from the Spurs game and J.R. Smith's dunk last year) but what made it so enjoyable was the environment and the participation by all of the fans.

The stadium itself is really pretty, I remember seeing it my first time I was here, and it hasn't changed much, but it is still cool to think that this is where the Olympics were!

In addition to a great, high-scoring game with a final score of Wallabies 39 and South Africa 27 (I think), we also got to meet the players. As soon as the game was over the players went over to the sidelines and started greeting their fans, also something I dont think you would see in the U.S. (cough LeBron cough cough).

Well that's all for now! I'm finally starting to catch up on these things. I have a couple more ideas, specifically one with an update on my classes and the University coming up so keep an eye out. Also, I uploaded several videos to Facebook today so feel free to look at those. Adios!