Our Time At The Swans v Saints

 SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

The only thing wrong about Saturday nights outing was that the Swans lost.

A friend of mine hooked eight of us blokes up with a corporate box at the Swans game on Saturday night. What a night we had. It kicked off at about 5:30pm at the Brewery, underneath the Novotel. Some of the guys who attended I hadn't seen in years. It was great chance to catch up and drink some beer. I don't know if you've been to the Brewery when there is a sporting event on, but it is a great spot to begin the night. The BBQ they put on there is one of the best I've had. I don't know if it's because I've had a few beers and can't taste it, or it's that damn good. I'm sure it's the latter. About ten minutes before the bounce we headed down the brick path to ANZ Stadium. We had some wicked seats, right in the centre of the field. You could not ask for much more, apart from maybe the fridge being filled with 3 cases of beer.

The good thing about the corporate boxes are you don't need to lineup at the bar with all the rif-raf down stairs. The seats were even padded. Footy heaven, I tell you. We also had a little TV in our corner to keep us updated on the happenings in the NRL and Super14. 

The game started at a cracking pace. The fans were treated to a couple of early goals from the Swans. It took St Kilda a while to get going, but when they did they strung together consecutive goals. The Swans did well to hang in the game, eventually going down by only 8 points. There were some dubious calls by the men in the middle. It must say somewhere in this years rule book that Nick Riewoldt, must get a free kick if someone is within 2 metres of him. A couple of those free kicks led to goals.

The crowd wasn't too bad, ANZ Stadium just doesn't do it for me. It's not like the SCG where it's so compact and the crowd can make so much more noise. Not only are they making more noise but it can be heard. At Homebush you can't hear the crowd chanting from the other side of the field. That's certainly not the case at the Cricket Ground. I'm sure if it was played at Moore Park it would have gone close to being a sell out. Then again, we probably wouldn't have got the box.

I'm not the biggest fan of Victorian sporting clubs, but the St Kilda faithful weren't too bad. After the game we had a couple of drinks with their fans, while they waited for club men to come and say a few words. A mate of mine supposedly dared himself to kiss an elderly woman on the cheek. He said it was to congratulate her for beating us. Sure Daz, you just wanted to lay it on her. It's a bit blurry, but you get the picture. I even got roped in by a St Kilda scarf. That Red, Black and White doesn't suit me at all.

All in all, a wonderful evening with the lads. It was disappointing we didn't get to see a Swans victory, but you can blame that on the men in the middle. Thanks again to our lovely friend for hooking us up. We had a blast, I'm sure no other group would have filled those seats better than us.