CARN THE CROWS

We've been promising our avid crows fan son that we'd one day take him to a Crows game at AAMI stadium. So this holidays we managed to secure tickets (which is no easy feat - they sell fast!!!) to a match between the Adelaide Crows and Fremantle. For those of you not familiar with those names - Crows are one of the 2 South Australian AFL teams (AFL is a type of football for anyone not familiar with it - stands for Australian Football League) and Fremantle is one of the 2 Western Australian teams.

Being winter we packed up our beanies, jackets, scarfs and warm clothes only to find we'd been blessed with a beautiful warm sunny day for the match. Naturally, the only thing we forgot to pack was the one item we really needed - hats!!! Doh!!! Bit of a trip to drive home to get them (500km each way). LOL. I had sunscreen but that wasn't much help in shading our eyes from the setting sun. Never mind, DH had a hat in the car and I told him it was a good excuse for him to buy himself a Crows hat (being the inaugural crows supporter in the family and all). That gave us 2 hats to share between the 5 of us.

AAMI stadium is right near a large shopping centre so we arrived in the morning to do some shopping before the game with the plan to have lunch in the food court and walk over to the stadium closer to game time. There was plenty of Crows fever going on in the shopping centre. Stalls selling crows merchandise and plenty of supporters walking around dressed in all their crows paraphernalia - I don't think we were the only ones with the idea of getting there early and having lunch at the shopping centre. We'd been in Adelaide for 4 days and cash supplies were running low so I hummed and haahed a bit about letting the kids buy something from the stall selling crows supplies. Then I remembered my grandfather had slipped DH some money for a treat for the kids - perfect! So they were delighted to be allowed to choose one thing each from the stall. DS chose an inflatable crows fist, DD chose a Crows flag and the younger DS chose a beanie (which was great as he needs a new beanie!). They were all very happy. DH had some birthday money and used that to buy his hat. So I had a little flock of very happy crows supporters. :-)

Having booked our tickets online, we had to collect them on the day and not knowing how busy things were going to be, we arrived at the stadium in plenty of time (2 hours before the game started). Which ended up being quite good as a couple of local boys were playing in a match before the game and we got to see them play. We also had plenty of time to visit Crowmania (the Crows merchandise store) and for DS to drool over the many many Crows things that could be bought. He settled on buying 2 player badges and some face paint with his pocket money. Being a crows nest member meant that he got 10% off his purchase (and dad's hat) so he was really stoked with that.

I think the highlight of his day though was coming out of the Crowmania store and spotting the crows coach (hmmm....can't remember his name right now). I chased him (as all mothers would do - right?) and asked for a quick photo (he was in a hurry which isn't surprising less than 2 hours before the game was due to start). That was worth being there early for.



Here he is - my little crows fan posing with the team coach. A moment I'm sure he'll remember for a long time to come. DH is talking about framing it with his ticket as a memory of his first live crows match.

I can't say as I'm a big footy fan myself. But we wanted to make it a family outing so I went along too. The atmosphere was great and before we'd even entered the grounds the kids had all been given a free foam football and a packet of lollies. They were stoked!!!

I found it an interesting study in human behaviour. Everyone was very friendly and being an Adelaide team playing an interstate team - most of the 40,000 people there were Crows fans. Every time the crows kicked a goal there were flags waving everywhere! What I found interesting though was the way so many people became instant experts on what the players were doing right or wrong (or the umpires for that matter). I'd hazard a guess that some of them have never played a game of football in their lives and yet they seemed to "know it all". LOL.

The thing that disappointed me though was the lack of sportmanship. The way people were so quick to blame the umpires for everything. And the way they wished bad things on the other team. :-( One comment I heard go flying was "kick a point you drug addict" when a member of the opposition went to kick a goal. I found that a bit sad and really quite unnecessary. And the lady sitting behind us swearing when our team wasn't going so well didn't impress me greatly either! I was mindful of what the little ears of my children had entering them. I guess people get pretty passionate when it comes to their footy!

Not that those things stopped us from enjoying ourselves though. We still had a good day. DD got into the atmosphere a lot more than I thought she would. She loved waving her flag whenever the crows kicked a goal. Despite the loss, I think DS really enjoyed himself (and DH as well - he's not been to a crows game before). After the game DH took DS to the "shed" which is a place members congregate after the game. It was getting late so they could not stay long but DS enjoyed the chance to see what it was all about. He sooooo loves being a member of the crows. It wouldn't surprise me if it's something he continues with for life!

Thus endeth the school holidays! We didn't get home until about 8pm last night and the kids were back to school this morning. They're a little bit tired but I think they'll catch up over the next couple of days. I may even bore you with some of our other activities while we were in Adelaide over the next few days! :-) Today I'm taking it easy, trying to recover from the trip and celebrating the fact that we managed to survive the school holidays without too many dramas or fights. :-)