Essendon Vs Melbourne Footy Match - June 15, 2014

"What a boring game," Leah sighed. It was half time, and her beloved Melbourne Demons team was on 21, half the score of the Essendon Bombers on their comfortable 42. "I have a headache," Leah continued, as her head sunk into her hands. Meanwhile, Leah's friend, and avid Essendon support, Hieu, was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. How did we get here?

Even with headache, Leah is still gangsta!

It all started back on May 29, when representatives from Essendon's outreach program, GLoBALL, came to visit The Couch. It was there GLoBALL told us about the free tickets they offer to international students. One of the matches the tickets were available for was a match against Melbourne, and as Leah is a huge supporter of Melbourne, Gary suggested we should go to that match as group activity. Students from The Couch didn't need much convincing, and soon after posting the event on Facebook, GLoBALL had run out of free tickets to allocate. It was looking to be a great evening!

We made a mistake with our suggestion that students pick up their tickets prior to the official 'Couch' meeting time. What we didn't realise was that the super-efficient staff at GLoBALL were matching up students with ambassadors as they collected their tickets and sending them into the MCG. So, our plan to have The Couch all together fell apart as students were placed all over the stands with different ambassadors. However when you did finally make it up to the stands where we were seated, we were greeted with a sea of white GLoBALL hats. There is something also quite amazing about just how large the MCG is, and it can take your breath away for a moment when you haven't been there for a while.

Shiori and Saki were seated far away from the rest of The Couch

Once we all seated, the game soon started. A group of us were unfortunate to be seated just in front of Hieu and Leah. Why was it unfortunate? Because every time Essendon scored a goal, Hieu instinctively whistled very loudly! It led most of us to very quickly decide to side with Leah and barrack for Melbourne... a decision some of would soon regret as Essendon dominated the first half of the game.

So, by the time half time had come, Leah had a headache; as did most of the rest of us from all the whistling. Your humble narrator turned to Leah as she cradled her head in her hands. "Why did you ask me to support the losing team?" I asked. She laughed ruefully. "I'm sorry, I don't know."

By the time the three quarter break had rolled around, there was a change in the air. Essendon was still leading, but their margin had narrowed to just 12 points. Essendon was making a lot of errors, and Melbourne seemed much more sure footed. Leah was in such good spirits that, after messaging her dad that she thought they were in with a chance, she wanted to pose for photos with Eve. She was really excited; could a win for the Melbourne be possible? Also, her headache was gone!

As soon as the final quarter started, she quickly pushed past me, focused on nothing but the game.

Against all odds, Melbourne took the lead in the final quarter, and were seemingly going to actually win. They had a nice lead as the game was coming to an end. Then, in the final minutes, disaster struck! A player from Essendon scored two quick goals, pushing them back into the lead. Hieu was ecstatic as Leah's improbable dream was coming to an end.

I'm sure, deep inside, he was feeling sorry for Leah.

There was no time left, all Essendon had to do was keep the ball out of Melbourne's hands, which seemed easy to do with just a few minutes to go. Somehow, they didn't do this. Melbourne took possession and quickly scored a goal, putting them just a single point in front!

The whole crowd went wild, including Robin who had adopted Leah's cause as his own.

The game resumed, and Leah held her breath. "C'mon siren!" she finally yelled. Less that 20 seconds after the goal, the siren responded to her call; the game was over and the seeming impossible had happened! Melbourne had won, by a single point!

And Hieu's whistling (and all other signs of life) had, finally, ceased!

Some of the students had felt Australian Rules Football might be a boring game at first, but all found that last quarter a very exciting finish! Thanks again to GLoBALL for providing tickets to such an entertaining match!

And everyone lived happily ever after.

More photos in the album.