Glenelg Beach & Adelaide United
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
223
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Adelaide,
South Australia,
Australia
Friday, January 9, 2009
We spent the day being complete beach bums and treating ourselves to McDonald's Ice Cream Sundae's.
We stayed there most of the day before heading back about 3pm.
Later that afternoon I had a walk up to Hindmarsh Stadium for the football. Lorna vegged in front of the TV all night.
I picked up my ticket from the stadium, then went across the road to the Joiners Arms pub. This is the Home fans pub before matches. I ordered a pint and immediately got tagged by a local who realised I was English. He just kept chatting to me about all sorts of football stuff and even bought me a pint - wonder if he was actually trying to pick me up?!!! A quick exit was required and I headed over to the ground about 6.30pm (1 hour before kick off). There was a reserve game being played, but I headed to the bar & shop area.
The football shirts were really expensive so I didn't bother getting one and, as this was a rearranged game, there was no programme for a souvenier either! I went to the bar and ordered a drink. Once again it was picked up that I was from England and I got chatting to some locals again. They kept asking me loads of stuff about football in England. It was as though they thought that, because I'm from England, I must be some sort of football guru!! Ha Ha....Ha Ha Ha.....HA HA HA HA!! Of course, I just played along and fed them loads of bull about English tactics and my encyclopedia of football knowledge! They must have been impressed because they kept buying me pints (and I didn't have to buy any back) - Grand!!
One of the guys then gave me his Adelaide United scarf (got my bit of memorabilia - yay), and said that I had to put it up in my local bar back in England! OK - whatever dude! We will see. Got to say, they were all battered before the match even kicked off! I then went into the stands....with my beer!! Yes, you can drink beer in the stands!! And then to my disbelief, I saw that there was actually a bar - PITCHSIDE!!! Yes, you can stand at the side of the pitch and order a Toohey's! I wonder if any of the players have ever tried to order one?!
The atmosphere in the ground was really good. I was with all the singing home fans in the 'North Stand' behind the goal. There were two sets of drummers. One guy had what looked like a full drum kit that he was banging on throughout the match. There was also a group of Afro-Caribbean guys who were banging on their drums all the way through the match as well. And when I say all the way through, I mean for the full 90 minutes - non-stop! It was like some sort of mass party going off - really good.
I actually had a seat on the front row, but most people stood up near the middle, so I stayed there for most of the game. It's weird because they cheer goal kicks and yellow cards!! About 30 minutes into the game, I grabbed another pint and went to my seat for a rest! Whilst there, right behind the goal, Adelaide scored a goal - this will become significant later!
Adelaide ended up winning the game 2-0 and went back to the top of the league. It was a really good night. And I was pretty merry by the end of it.
Then the stardom happened. When I got back to the hostel, Lorna was watching the TV. The news came on and then it was Sportsnight. On the Sportsnight programme they showed some highlights from the game. You guessed it, they kept showing re-runs of Adelaide's first goal - and there's the Vickers jumping up right behind the net!! They even showed it in super slow motion and you see me jump up, one arm in the air and the other holding my pint - and I didn't spill a drop - legend!!
Yes, Vickers was on TV - and this time it wasn't porn!!! (Or a court case!).
I will have to get this on You Tube!!
