Friday Night Footy at Sydney Uni

I attended the matches at the oval on campus a couple weeks ago (May 6th I believe). I had been anxious to see some rugby at the university level and the free beer and pizza just sealed the deal. The first match was an all-star match I believe between Australia and New Zealand, while the headline game was with more local players (Sydney Uni First 15 against the Northern Suburbs). The atmosphere initially entering the stadium was one similar to that of rugby matches I have attended at my home university with the parents and families in the stands and the students out in the fields partying. Although there are usually less fans in the U.S., it was still a relaxed, but exciting atmosphere to be in.

When I gathered around the other uni students, I noticed there seemed to be many separate groups between them which I found to be interesting. As I joined one of the groups, I found that it was the separate colleges that were in their own areas. As I asked each members from the groups who the best players were, they all had their own opinions (which were inherently biased). The St. John's crew all believed that the players from their college were the best and this trend continued throughout the other colleges. Although it was clear that there were a few more dominant players than others, I found that it was much more of a team sport than I initially thought. The whole team had to do their jobs together and come together in order to succeed. Although they may have come from different places, (especially in the Australia vs. New Zealand game) they had to put those differences aside for the benefit of the team. Even if the fans were separated, the players had to join together.