Tigers tale.

Aradhna and I were often warned by Sydneysiders that moving to Melbourne meant being exposed to the cult of Aussie rules football (or, as Victorians call it, 'real footy'). We attended our first Melbourne footy match last night (photo above) and it, I have to admit, was a helluva of an initiation.

A crowd of over 40,000 witnessed a nailbiter between the St Kilda Saints and Richmond Tigers. Unlike in the U.S., where every team has a home stadium, the many Melbourne-area teams share facilities, making last night's Telstra Dome crowd a 50-50 split between red, black and white clad Saints supporters and yellow and black wearing Tigers rooters. The Saints had won the previous 9 games between the two long-time rivals. Would the Saints, early season under-performers but expected to challenge for the Premiership, make it ten in a row against a young Tigers team hoping to climb out of the AFL cellar?

The see-saw battle saw the Tigers miss several chances in the match's dying minutes to grab a lead, but their fight to the finish was rewarded with a final kick. Down by three. No time left on the clock. A kick through the center uprights would give Richmond six points and the most dramatic of victories. Jack Riewoldt began his slow walk to the 50-metre line, ball in right hand. The ball sailed high but fell short. Saints win.

Aradhna and I were impartial spectators at the game's start. But a combination of the underdog Tiger's tenaciousness and the two rabid Tigers' fans who'd invited us to come along transformed us into full-throated Tigers supporters by game's end.
Heading to the Telstra Dome, which sits alongside Southern Cross train station in the Docklands section of the CBD.
Aradhna flanked by work colleagues and ... ahem ... vocal Tigers' fans Liz and Craig.
The Tigers take the field.
Pint-sized future AFL-ers took the field at halftime.
Aradhna and I walked through the CBD to Flinders Street Station after the match for our train to Balaclava.