World Footy News

In 1998, I had been living in the US for four years and I started to hear rumblings of footy being played around my new home of Madison, WI. I thought: “Great, I can go down and watch some footy.” I love watching footy and I don’t much care if it is an AFL Grand Final or a game between two of the Melbourne Uni residential colleges. The reality of course was that in 1998 there was barely enough people to play a game let alone have some left over to watch. With only East Ringwood U9 Thirds on my footy resume, I became a player for the Milwaukee Bombers and the Baltimore-Washington Eagles, an assistant coach, and a club and league administrator. However, yesterday, some eight years later, my dream came true.

My son and I hiked up to Baltimore from our home in DC to watch the might BW Eagles take on the NY Magpies. It was a great day out. There were dogs, kids and footys everywhere. There were hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. There were mates having a beer and comparing war stories. There was even a car horn for a siren.

My friend Sue commented that this was only the second game of footy she had ever watched in the US, which was an odd statement for the founding president of the Eagles. What "Seasick" meant of course, was that she had always been doing something – taping someone up, buying ice, updating the score. This was one of the first times she and I were able to actually stand and watch a game of footy. Other people were playing, other people were taping, other people were going buying the ice, other people were coaching and administrating. It was great to just watch a game of footy. Now, all we need is for the Eagles to win! Carn' the Eagles!

Editor: For the record, New York 12.5 (77) defeated BWE 6.7 (43), though it wasn't all New York's way on the day, with their B side going down to Philadelphia. A great effort from the Magpies to travel with two sides though.