Copa

I spent many years attending suburban soccer in Canberra. My local suburban soccer club has around 15 to 20 teams in the youngest age group and then 1 (sometimes 2) team in the early teen age groups. It’s an absolutely massive sport for tiny kids. The drop out rate is huge as they lose interest. The kids generally supported non Australian soccer teams and NRL teams. The club would even have a “Go Raiders!” sign up occasionally.

The ACT has teams in the A-league women (soccer), the Australian Baseball League (men), the Hockey One League (men and women… it’s the national field hockey league), Women’s National Basketball League, the Australian Ice Hockey League (men), Super Rugby (men and women), NRL and NRLW. I think I’ve covered it all. There are also teams in regional leagues and we have suburban competitions in sports like rugby league and soccer where you can be paid to play.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This covers Canberra and a few small villages. Australia has 3 separate mainland Territories with a population base. ACT, Northern Territory (where Darwin is located) and Jervis Bay Territory (this last one has a population of around 300).

The NRL also has a Territory. A territory that will probably have a higher population than Tasmania within a decade or two.

I was living in Brisbane when it was being developed. The builders kept digging up bodies from the cemetery that was there before the stadium. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are still lots of bodies underneath.

I had to watch Oz v Tonga with the Ch9 commentary. I’d forgotten how bad it is. What a dire set up they have compared to Kayo/Fox Sports.

Over 30 years ago my mother invited me in to meet a centenarian who lived in the nursing home (in Australia) where she worked. He was a very sprightly and chatty man who had a very old picture on the wall in his room of a rugby league team. I asked him about the team and he said it is Wigan and that he used to play for them. I totally forget his name but I thought it was nice that he was over 100 years old and wanted a photo of his team on his wall. He was so proud of Wigan and his time there.

I just went online to find a a few tickets and it’s sold out except for wheelchair/disability allocations.

Goodness, I also need to learn the rules.

Great game!

It’s fantastic. There are quite a few Tongans in my street and I’ve seen them in the park practicing their version with kids of all ages learning and joining in. At my local suburban rugby league ground a young Maori guy made his debut for a particular team earlier this year and his father did a haka on his own at the end of the match for his son to show how proud he was of his debut. It’s culture from Australia’s neighbourhood and we’re used to seeing it in sports. It’s entirely normal and acceptable. We are so lucky in rugby league to be exposed to such diversity.

Hilarious! Indonesia vs Australia stupidity

It’s very nice to be able to watch live rugby league from Fiji with multiple camera angles, video refs, captain’s challenge etc. This level of coverage from such a location was unheard of not that long ago.

Frolf is even worse!

Disc golf for me,

this made me revisit my joining date.. 4 May 2004. I’ve been blathering on about rugby league on here for over 20 years. Ha!

1.15 million people in PNG watched the Australian PM’s XIII v PNG match https://x.com/footyindustryAU/status/1848652361126056279

I still remember the days when Australia would steam roll any pacific team (excluding NZ) from start to finish if a match ever occurred. The island teams have progressed significantly.

I’ve never seen a bike like that before. It looks really interesting. Do you take it out onto roads or bike paths?

Looks like he’s really enjoying life!

Red Bull, JD Sports … the NRL seems to be flying with those sponsors coming on board. To think it wasn’t that long ago the NRL was considered so poisoned by some that a children’s cancer charity had to be convinced into allowing their name to be on a bulldog’s jersey for free.

It makes sense as they can avoid the heat of the day. Near my home town there’s a very popular and long established trail/road running group that starts at 6am every Saturday morning. Mid winter dark starts are for the committed! These days some of them run the 8 to 15km (they have a huge range of runs) 6am run and then complete an 8am parkrun.

The ABC are reporting there was previously so much confidence regarding the Bears a launch event was scheduled for 10 October. Not anymore!

I ran a Park Run on the Central Coast of NSW recently. Some beautiful runs up there! They also have a mix of 7am and 8am starts. Here in Canberra they’re all 8am starts. I’ve heard stories about foreign tourists arriving at the start just before 9am because they have not realised it starts earlier in Australia. I also did my first ever parkrun with pacers. I broke 25 minutes for the first time ever which was around a 1 minute improvement over my previous record. Using a pacer helped significantly. I realise now I start too slow and should try to pick up the pace in the first few kilometres. A better warmup would probably help with this.

I didn’t know what a mince pie was until I was in my 40s. My English partner brought some home and I put tomato sauce on it. The taste wasn’t what I was expecting at all!