Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 26th September, 2009.

Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 26th September, 2009.

(Contains some elements of ATAW 24th September 2005)

The Week Long Festival of the Boot.

Someone has called this week in Australia “The Festival of the Boot”. It is the week of the Grand Finals of our two greatest football competitions. Melbourne will host the final of the Australian Football League (AFL) competition today and next Sunday night Sydney will host the final of the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

In fact as I write it is Saturday night and the Melbourne grand final has been played. The victory went to Geelong who had a very close battle all through the match to beat St Kilda. The final semi- final has also been played in the NRL and Melbourne Storm easily beat the team I had tipped to win the Brisbane Broncos. 40 to 10 was the final score. The other semi-final was won by the Parramatta Eels over the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Next Sunday night, it will be the Rugby League National Competition Grand Final. Sydney is the home of Rugby League and this year it will be Sydney (represented by the Eels) versus Melbourne Storm.. The Melbourne Storm is a club created in Melbourne to attract followers from the home of Aussie Rules.

I cheer for the Brisbane Broncos and have done for many years. My keenness has been sharpened by the fact one of my Salvationist friends is the team’s chaplain.

In Melbourne, the Footy Grand Final Day in Melbourne is also known as “THE Day in September”. As I think about this day, I think about a conversation, I was involved in some years ago. It went something like this:

The conversation lulled as we sat around the table having dinner. Then one of my dinner companions said “Anyone going on Saturday?”

The answers were a variation of no and I don’t follow the team and I would love to go but I don’t have a ticket. I told them that I was going to my cousin’s wedding. Then the question was turned onto the questioner “are you going?”

The questioner gave his answer and it is one that I have wondered about ever since. He said “Well, I haven’t got a ticket but this is what I do”. He then went on to say he went down to the ground on the Saturday morning and enjoyed the atmosphere and the spectacle of all the fans arriving.

He told how he watched the antics of the supporters of both teams as they arrived, all full of hope for a victory. That they could lose was never given a moments thought. There were the fanatical and the ridiculous and those for whom this day was a very serious ritual. He told of how he listened to and watched ‘The Coodabeens’ who have broadcast their
football program from outside the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) on Grand Final Day for more than 16 years (www.coodabeens.com.au). Then as the teams ran onto the ground, he would head home to watch the game on television.

One of the others at the table said “Do you have a pie?” When the answer was “yes!” he agreed that he would come too and they made times to meet.

It is probably of no importance to tell you that these two guys were well known Salvation Army Officers but I do tell you that they are typical of those in Melbourne who gat caught up in the atmosphere of the Footy Final at the “G” (MCG) on that last Saturday in September.

The Footy is that purely Australian game “Australian Football” which used to be known as Australian Rules Football. Its closest relative is Gaelic football and at times international games are arranged with previously agreed rules and conditions to embrace both codes. Australian Football is played on an oval (like cricket and mostly on grounds shared with cricket). It has four upright posts (no cross bars) at each end of the field. A goal is the ball kicked between the centre two (goal) posts and scores 6 points. The outside posts are the “Behind Posts” and a ball passing between them and the goal posts ( a near miss) is termed a “behind” and adds one point to the score.

The score for each team is read as: goals; behinds; total score . So at the end of today’s game the score read: Geelong 12.8 (80) to St Kilda 9.14 (68) . The game is played in 4 quarters of equal length and uses an elongated ball something like a Rugby ball.

Now in the States and Territories where Australian Rules is the main game of footy (strangely enough it is the same boundaries as The Salvation Army’s Australia Southern Territory they do not know much about Rugby and to most both codes of Rugby are just
Rugby. Many would not even know that there are two codes: the former amateur game Rugby Union and the Professional (at senior levels only) Game Rugby League. Also Rugby Union has 15 players on the field on each side while Rugby League only has 13. Rugby League is the main game in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland (The SA’s Australia Eastern Territory).

Australian Football not only draws the biggest crowds (99, 251 at today’s match) but has the largest number of registered players at about 444,000. It would be a surprise to most Australians that Soccer, now called Football in line with the rest of the world, has the second most registered players at slightly less than 400,000.

Another surprise is Touch (a minimal contact form of rugby) has 210,000 registered players but this includes both men and women.. These last two sports are proving popular with their minimal contact. Soccer has many, many junior players as many parents are choosing soccer for their children for the safety reasons.

Rugby League is the largest of the two rugby codes with about 142,000 registered players. This does not include thousands of school boys who play League in school competitions. Rugby Union in Australia has just on 130,000 registered players and its main base in schools is the more elite private and church schools. In New Zealand registered Rugby Union players grew from 129,253 in 2004 to 137,960 in 2005.

Kiwis (New Zealanders - who have Rugby Union as their National Sport and self admitted national obsession) like to beat Australia in Rugby Union. They find it difficult to understand why Ozzies are so unenthusiastic about Rugby Union. They seem to think that Ozzies disinterest is because New Zealand sometimes wins. But it is genuine as the above figures show. Rugby Union is not a main stream game and only at the very top level does it gain much interest. This top level Rugby Union is played by Australia’s Profession Rugby Union players and they number about 120.

To Australians sport is something special. We love a huge variety of sport and will watch it all day and all night, if necessary. The Salvation Army Australian Eastern Territory website features sport: http://www.salvos.org.au/get-involved/other-church-based-activities/sporting-activities.php

I wonder, though, how many people will be in Church in our city of 400, 000 people this weekend? There could be 10,000 or even 20,000 (that’s 100 churches with 200 people each). That’s pretty special.

Jesus was pretty special because wherever he went the crowds followed. We even read of him escaping from the press of the crowd by using a boat! Jesus was the main event in town. Sadly for some his crucifixion was the main event they witnessed and surely the horror of that atmosphere would stay with them.

Even after Jesus was crucified, his Disciples remained the big event. They healed a crippled beggar and demonstrated the power of Jesus. What silence there must have been as they listened carefully to the words of Peter as he explained the events of the time and called them to repent. There was great rejoicing from that day on as hundreds and thousands joined the Believers.

Much, much later in history, another tall bearded man became the main event in town. William Booth attracted many and in meeting after meeting the atmosphere was less than reverent churchliness as men and women listened to the Word of God, sang songs of praise and of Christian warfare and gave their lives to Jesus.

I pray that Jesus might be the main event in my life and that you too may find in him all you need. I pray , too , that people will wish to soak up the atmosphere of people who are living for Jesus.



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