A night at the footy

As many of you aware, I have had to accept a little bit of notoriety, hence Lord Og Bear OOC now Ozlander, as a result of being nominated the quintessential Hawks supporter.

Though never a player of Australian Rules I enjoy very much attending the games.  Every year I buy a seasons ticket (Hawthorn membership) and try to attend all the Melbourne games and would also like to attend a Tasmanian game sometime.

This time we are playing Adelaide, always a bit of an unknown quantity when we play them, and if we drop our guard we will be done!

Degraves Street, one of Melbourne's famous lane ways
[Photo: Og Bear]

Getting to the game from my place on the coast is a bit of a journey.  So I always make sure I am organised and leave earlier then one might.  But the side benefit of this is that if everything goes well I can find lunch at some little interesting place in one of the many lane ways that Melbourne is famous for.

I drove in from the Coast to the Geelong Station to catch the early train and meet the usual crowd I travel up with.

The train we are finally going to get to go to the Footy on, 20 minutes late!
[Photo: Og Bear]

Passengers getting impatient at the delay
[Photo: Og Bear]

The train is already at the platform and the passengers, including many Hawthorn (Hawks) and Adelaide (Crows) fans, are waiting to board.  But as time comes to depart there is no sign that boarding will begin.  Nothing, not even an announcement to explain the delay.

People are arriving, being forced to remain on the platform, and becoming impatient.

Finally after an hour has gone by we are able to board and the locomotive pulls the train out of the station.  No explanation!

Finally get to 'The G', in time though an hour late!
[Photo: Og Bear]

Sewell kicking the opening goal for the Hawks
[Photo: Og Bear]

Ball going through the goals for our second courtesy of Rioli
[Photo: Og Bear]

No time for lunch today, by the time we got to 'The G' we were an hour late and it was not long after finding a seat that the game commenced.

We got off to an unexpectedly good start and were 4 goals, 1 behind up by quarter time.

Q1

Hawks

5.3.33

Crows

1.2.8

Quarter time huddles. Hawks have kicked 5 goals!
[Photo: Og Bear]

Quarter time also gives the crowd a chance to stretch it's legs
[Photo: Og Bear]

The players formed a huddle around the coach to hear the instructions for the next quarter.  The crowd stood up and moved around for a much needed stretch before the game started again.

Umpire bounces the ball to kick off the game again
[Photo: Og Bear]

A bit of on ball action between Hawks and Crows
[Photo: Og Bear]

The Crows came back in the second quarter and took the lead.  Unbelievably we (the Hawks) kicked no goals!  At half time we are trailing by 1 goal, 3 behinds,

Q2

Hawks

5.5.35

Crows

6.8.44

Buddy kicks another Hawks goal!
[Photo: Og Bear]

Lord Og (Hawks) Bear OOC wondering about it all going wrong
[Photo: Og Bear]

In the third quarter we fought back, only one goal each,  Things got even worse and despite kicking goals again the Crows kicked more and won the quarter by 2 goals, 2 behinds.

Q3

Hawks

8.1.58

Crows

12.9.81

It was tight in the last quarter with each side only kicking one goal each plus a few behinds.  After such a good start we certainly did drop our guard and it resulted in a painful loss.

	Hawks	Crows
Q1	5.3.33	1.2.8
Q2	5.5.35	6.8.44
Q3	8.1.58	12.9.81
Q4	9.13.67	13.16.94
Final:	67 Points	94 Points

Game over. Disillusioned Hawks supporters leaving the ground while Crows supporters stay and celebrate
[Photo: Og Bear]

Despondent and waiting for our train at Jolimont
[Photo: Og Bear]

Stragglers make their way from 'The G' train to make their connection with their trains home
[Photo: Og Bear]

Trains waiting at Southern Cross to take supporters, sad or glad, to all parts of the State
[Photo: Og Bear]

Ron and John, a couple of regulars, making their way to the Geelong train in front of me
[Photo: Og Bear]

Ron and John have been coming for many years longer than I have. John is an old Hawks player from long before I was born!
[Photo: Og Bear]

It was a hard journey home on the train with my fellow supporters.

[Lord Og Bear OOC Ozlander]

For more photos go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/OgBear/Hawks91367Crows131694#

For a slideshow go to:
https://picasaweb.google.com/OgBear/Hawks91367Crows131694#slideshow/