AECC Rugby v Netball Round 1 (Feb 2009)

Hello Bru’s!!

I’m sure you’re all moist with anticipation at the prospect of finding out the result of the sports event of the year (the rugby team against the netball team, at netball, in case you forgot), so I will withhold it from you no longer…

Okay, a little bit longer…

Netball Girls 18

Rugby Boys 23

The best warm-up to ever grace a netball pitch. No, not pitch. Rink? Paddock? The netball region? That sounds about right. The best warm-up to ever grace a netball region.

The atmosphere was electric at kick-off, following the boys’ impressive display of athleticism and aggression in their unorthodox warm-up. The girls capitalised on some pretty rookie errors to quickly jump into a 4-0 lead. Once the boys had learned how not to foul, though, they found their stride, and the first quarter finished at 7-5, or something.

Then came a scrappy middle half to the game, with lots of changes on both sides, and some very aggressive and violent play from some of the girls, who shall remain nameless, but for the sake of argument we shall call them “Gina”.

The game threatened to descend into farce with some frankly sexist refereeing, or umpiring, I’m still not sure how this game works you know, from the all-female officiating staff, which included the lovely Emma “Delicious Emmalicious” Hurst who is hopefully still my friend. Luckily chivalry is not dead in the AECC RFC ranks, and so the boys took these horrific miscarriages of justice with good grace, and let the girls have their little “penalties” for “intimidation”, or whatever it was.

This note is all about me and how good I am. Look at me! With the ball! On the netball court! I was playing Wing Defence, and as you can see, I’ve very humourously added a headband. Ho ho!

The boys’ obvious superiority in the air, on the ground, and generally everywhere was matched only by their complete inability to actually put the ball through that little hoop thing that’s at the end. Many shooting combinations were tried, but the combined efforts of Ricky Davis, Joe Frost, Tom White and (former University of Western Ontario basketball player) Nathan Lee only yielded 8 goals in 3 quarters. That’s 45 minutes of mostly missing.

Fair play to the girls though, they were trying very hard.

In the 4th quarter though, the boys’ plan came together. The “rope-a-dope” (google it) tactics so famously used by the great Muhammad Ali had worked to perfection, even into the first couple of minutes of the final period. The boys had leant against the metaphorical ropes for long enough, and now was the time to unleash their metaphorical knockout combo to send the girls’ team crashing to the metaphorical mat. In a manner of speaking.

For all his faults on the court (and he was rubbish), rugby captain and all-around good egg Mike Richards expertly pulled the strings from the sideline, like a master puppeteer, to engineer one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time. With 6’8” Callum Forrest rejecting people left, right and centre at GK, centre Iaiaiaiaian Crombie poaching everything and generally being a menace, and GA Matthew Bateman racking up goals for fun, the boys turned a 12-8 deficit into a stunning 23-18 final scoreline, with chants of “There’s only one Matty Bateman” ringing around the Sir David Engrish Sports Centre.

The girls, physically, mentally and emotionally drained from the defeat, were kind enough to pose for photos despite their obvious distress, before returning to the Toggler’s Arms for some responsible light beverage consumption.

The teams prove that what goes on the court, stays on the court. I’m at the back, still wearing my mirth-inducing headband! And my mouthguard! I had taken my bib off at this point however.

Standout players for the boys were the aforementioned Crombie, Frost and Bateman, as well as Ricky Davis. On the girls’ side, Georgie Acott-Smith and Gina Lear showed their class, but it was Camilla Birch who got the boys’ seal of approval at the post-match festivities, winning herself some lovely beverages that there was nothing wrong with, honest.

The boys, looking resplendent in their frocks, and the girls, looking united in their specially-made t-shirts, made their way to Elements nightclub, or whatever it is that the kids are calling it nowadays, where lots of fun stuff happened, but you kind of had to be there, so I won’t tell you about it, but trust me, it was well funny mate.

Summary:

Boys – Winners

Girls – 1st runners up.



AECC RFC

Not bad for a touch (rugby) team (at netball)

AECC Netball champions 2009