Aussie Rules Footie!

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Yesterday we took a trip to Melbourne to see and AFL game at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)! Collingwood vs Carlton were the two teams playing against each other, supposedly they are meant to be arch rivals so we we're hoping to see a good game!

We got the train to Melbourne at 10.30am, we saw a lot of people wearing Collingwood shirts/scarves/hats - their colours are black and white, and nickname is The Magpies, so Liam automatically supported them as Newcastle has the same name and colours!

After an hour on the train we followed the crowd and got on the first tram we saw, then onto another one at Flinders Street which took us straight to the MCG.

From the outside the MCG looked pretty huge, I suppose that's because it is, it holds 100,000 people!!! We got some food from a food stall was SO expensive, then went through to Gate 5, which we walked the wrong way for and ended up walking round the entire stadium!

After getting through the gate, we went to find our seats, we were on level 4 so we were quite high up but not right at the top, luckily. We took some photos which I will upload of the stadium, I don't know if it's as big as I thought it would be when I saw the stadium empty but when the crowds started to flood in, you could tell how big it really is due to all the people there! There was 75,000 so it wasn't even full to it's capacity and yet it still looked packed. It was very windy too, Liam did warn me about this but I didn't believe him lol!

We were there REALLY early, we didn't realise how easy it would be to get there, so we hung around inside for a bit playing on my ipod, got some more food which cost us more, then went to sit down again just before the game started.

The game has 4 quarters lasting for about 2 hours (we didn't realise how long the game would go on for!) and a part from that I don't really know the rest of the rules they are kind of confusing, but you can understand what's going on! The game is very fast paced compared to football back at home, usually you can't tell who is going to win an AFL game as teams that are losing often catch up fast. But yesterday's game was pretty predictable as Carlton were rubbish and stayed on 12 points for most of the game, until the end when they scored a few more goals, by that time it was too late! I can't remember the score but Collingwood won, which is the team we decided to support lol, although I gave the occasional cheer to Carlton as I felt sorry for them!

All in all we had a good time, if the game was closer as in the two teams were both scoring goals all the time, then I think it would've been better but you never know how a game is going to turn out! Also Liam said there is less atmosphere at the AFL game compared to a footie game in the UK as there is no singing. and stuff like that.

We have spent way too much money this week, so we won't be doing anything fun for a while, the good news is Liam has a job now so at least we can start saving for our travels after I finish uni in November! Speak soon, Chloe & Liam xxx

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