GAP Footy Adventure

The field work gods were with me Friday as I wrapped things up and made it back into the office in record time. (See, I told you not to stress about this stuff!) I was able to attend my group meeting, see the tech talk, socialize with everyone at beer-thirty, and then, the footy adventure.



About 70 people from the Melbourne office attended this year's game, organized by one of the guys in the office who just happens to also be one of the boundary umpires for the AFL. (They wear green jerseys, do a lot of running backwards, and do a crazy backwards-bridal-bouquet-on-steroids toss of the ball when it wanders out of the oval to resume play.) Aaron is a West Coast fan, though he said that he doesn't pay much attention to the score while he's working a game. Hmmm.


Anyway, it was a 40,000-fan crowd in the Telstra Dome, (the other home of footy in Melbourne besides the MCG) and it was a pretty rowdy lot. The office was split half and half for St. Kilda and West Coast, and since I've actually been to St. Kilda, I chose to barrack for them. Apparently, I am a very gifted predictor of the losing team. Oh well.


We had amazing seats, just 13 or so rows up from the grass, and so we could see the pain on the players faces as they crashed into each other or were blindsided by the opposing team. Or in the case of the Saints, their own team. Jeez. The dome is a great venue. Since there is a roof, it's a bit warmer than the MCG, and definitely louder. There's something about having the night sky overhead though, that makes it better at the MCG. Plus, the MCG has a bigger oval, so...

This photo shows the row of GA'ers I was cheering with: Melinda (GIS), Tara (phase I's), Suzy (admin), Carl (enviro), ME!, John (enviro), Ian (IT), and Jacqui (admin).