the birm*

Balls, beers, bogans and migsycan waves.

8 of us hopped on the train at Cardiff station and headed into Sydney to see Australia thrash New Zealand in a One Day Internations series game. The trip down was fun, the pastries we bought at the small bakery in Chinatown were tasty and the day was lookin good (though a bit warm, with 38 degrees expected).

We got to the SCG just after the first ball. We knew that, unfortunately, it wouldn’t take long for NZ to lose wickets and we assumed they would bat first. 10 overs in the game and it looked like we’d be home for dinner (rather than the anticipated 2am). The sun and heat were unbelieveable and, while the view was amazing, there was no cover over our heads…the good thing was, we were seated next to some keen NZ supporters, which made it entertaining, especially after they’d all had 10 or 20 ales.

Light beer is now the only alcoholic drink served at cricket games, which means that it takes longer for people to get drunk. And drunk they get (usually with help of a smuggled in hip flask or camleback). At $5 a pop, we estimated that the supporters in front, who were going beer after beer, must have forked out $100 each. Sun + beer + sun + mates + bee = rowdy behaviour.

At the SCG, ansd other grounds for that matter, rules are constantly being put in place to make sure that the game is played at a high standard and that spectators can enjoy it safely. Light beer was one of those rules, other ones include no streakers, no banners bigger than 2m, no roudy behaviour, non smoking and no mexican waves. WHAT?? Like smoking or drinking alcohol, which I believe are not illegal for anyone (just the supply of these is illegal), being in a mexican wave is isn’t either (well…are they going to arrest 35 000 people?), it’s just starting one which is no longer allowed! Needless to say, when they started, they kept going.

People go to the cricket in groups. In front of us was a group of kiwi supporters, who, we noticed had smuggled in some spirits. As the day kept going, they got louder and louder and more and more outrageous. It was partly good, cause it kep the day entertaining when the cricket wasn’t.

It’s never a good idea to wear a jersey with yer name or nickname o it. A bloke with “Migs” written on an Aussie shirt became the centre of attention for about 4 hours. “Migsy….Migsy…” was often the cry when the game slowed down. “hey let’s start a MIGSYCAN wave” cried out one of the bogans. It was on.

If you haven’t been to the cricket, another passtime for drunk bogans is to make “snakes”. Snakes are empty plastic cups (in which the beer is served) put end to end. The aim is to make the longest snake. Oh, did I mention this was also banned? Sankes usually only start later on in the day/night for two reasons: firstly, it takes a while to accumulate enough empty vessels (even when everyone above the snake makers throw their cups down to add to them) and secondly, snke makers risk being expelled fro the ground.

So you may have guessed by now that the point of the cricket is not the cricket itself, but the atmosphere, the friends you go with and the bogans all around you.

Australia also started pretty badly, which made the game interesting (not many people like to see australia will all the time by a long way). Australia won fairly comfortably, but it remained an exciting game.

Before we left, it was anounced that fires north of sydney had cut the freeway and the train line. Bum. This meant that it would take us at least 4 hours to get home (rather than 3). We hopped on the train at 11:15pm (standing room only) and were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were able to make it right through, hassle free (unlike a mate who left 4 hours before us and got home at the same time). Whether you like cricket or not, I recommend you join a group of friends and go check out a game, it’s a good craic!