For the love of the game

It was the biggest match of the season thus far and the ultimate litmus test for the tahs, a game not to miss. Unfortunately a crew were heading to the hawksbury for the weekend and the proper research hadn't been done. Anyway with 5 minutes to spare we rocked up to the Brooklyn Pub expecting at worst to have to convince the bartender to switch the box over from league to union (something I have become very proficient at after many south coast sorties) . As we walked from room to room looking for the big plasma screen, small plasma screen, any sort of viewing device, it became clear that the only TV in the pub was tuned in to a fuzzy "The new price is right". Any self respecting publican knows the value of catering to sport mad Australians who, due to Murdoch and Packer, cant watch sports at home without investing in cable (surley a good blog topic). Andy took charge and politely asked if this particular publican knew the value of Fox Sports. He did not. Seeing our anguish and being a rugby fan himself self he asked "how many of you are there?" At that stage there was only 4. OK he said, follow me. He walked us outside the pub. I'm thinking is there another pub? Is he going to tell us "we don't like your sort here" and hand us over to the bikers sitting out front? But instead the coolest thing happened. Pointing to a dingy alley across the road he said "go up there and ask if you can watch the game. If they ask you any questions tell them mike sent you." Bewildered we followed his orders hesitantly. 2 minutes till kick off and this left field, potentially life threatening, solution was our last hope. This kind man had seen the passion and knew the pain of not being able to watch the game. He had thrown a friken bone to fellow tahs fans in need of a fix. He had directed us to a local secret. Not dissimilar to underground bars in the days of Prohibition, the BRC (Brookly Rugby Club) is a haven of rugby, tucked in the back of a real estate agent is a less than hygienic little room with a decent but not huge TV. Behind that a verandah with a much smaller TV. It took a while for the cautious locals to relax but within a few minutes of kick off everything was cool. As more people including a few of our crew arrived and joined us the gathering spilt out onto the verandah and then into the backyard. All up about 20 - 25 people had converged on a tiny room to take part in a local tradition, a tradition that we were allowed to partake in.... for the love of the game.

ps shame we lost.