Carn the Eagles! www. themagvietnam. com
Sport
Brent smiled and we proceeded to wander past some very frustrated patrons. The match was a sell out and my boy amazingly had performed a miracle. Our seats were right at the front and the players had just completed their warm ups. They didn’ t really need to do much as the mercury by them had soared to 45 Celcius when Brent checked his latest model mobile with every app possible.
One of his mates was sitting with us so I thought, since I hadn’ t had to hit my and kick, I’ d better buy the beer. I wandered over to the bar, and ordered three beers and the barmaid promptly filled the plastic cups from the tap. Without a smile, she pointed in the direction of the manager standing behind the till. I handed him a twenty and he looked at me like I’ d hit him on the head with a cricket bat.
“ You need more than that!” he grunted.“ How much is a beer?”“ Eight fifty.”
“ What! Where’ s your eye patch and pirate hat, you robber? That’ s ridiculous.” He shrugged his shoulders not giving a stuff. I reluctantly coughed up another six fifty.
Returning with the beer I sat down and then noticed our seats were not under cover of the stand’ s roof. We were exposed to the mid-afternoon burning sun and in minutes I could sense I was about to cop a serious case of sunburn.
The long and short of this yarn is that we made frequent trips downstairs to get out of the sun and naturally bought more booze to quench our thirst.
The Scorchers won the most one sided match of the season, losing just one wicket in their chase after the Sydney mob were skittled for a very paltry total. I went home and booted up the computer. Minutes later I was on the Jetstar site booking my return ticket to Vung Tau. I couldn’ t help thinking that at the bars within walking distance of my hotel in VT, I can buy a beer ticket and enjoy ice colds, top tucker and watch all the action live. Total cost?
What paddy shot at! That’ s what. Beer is just over a buck a stubby and a burger and chips cost the same as a beer ticket( 5 stubs) – 100k VND($ 5US).
Gee I like living here, especially when the winter chill closes in down south.
I confess I was both mystified and disappointed to hear the views on women playing cricket and footy from two grim-faced Poms whilst I was watching an ALFW match live in my favourite bar. I casually mentioned that in my book they were still living in the past.
“ The first Aussie footy match the women played was a wake-up call for the AFL,” I informed them.“ In fact they had to lock the gates at Carlton Oval an hour before the match commenced as more than 22,000 fans turned up and another three or four thousand were unable to get in.” They shook their heads in disagreement.“ I wouldn’ t walk across the street to watch women play sport,” one said angrily. The other Pom nodded his head in agreement.“ Channel 7 telecast the match live nationally and couldn’ t believe the number of viewers,” I added with a smile.“ You blokes believe a woman’ s place is barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. The eight team two month comp is already being touted to grow and include teams from all 18 AFL clubs. I won’ t be surprised if AFLW players the curtain raisers before the big boys in a season or two it’ s so popular.” But they weren’ t interested and ordered another beer and continued watching two blokes attempting to kill the other inside a steel cage.
It’ s tipping time for AFL fans and there are some great competitions for the experts. If you don’ t know where they are run get on your bike and go for a wander around the traps. If you don’ t expect to in Nam for the entire season don’ t despair. The internet is available and quite fantastic! And for those tipping geniuses among us who passionately believe they already know the Premier team for season 2017, remember the fairy tale victories in AFL and NRL Grand Finals last year. Write upset results off at your peril! The MAG is also running a tipping comp and you can place your tips online or give them to The MAG and they will do it for you. Details will be in the new publication coming out weekly from the MAG, check their new web site for details!
Carn the Eagles! www. themagvietnam. com
46 The MAG Vung Tau