Fathers' Day Sports

Happy belated Fathers' Day!

For those of you who didn't know (this included me until less than a week ago), Australians celebrate Fathers' Day on September 1 or the first Sunday in September. I'm actually not sure which one it is, but it happened this past weekend, so it's one of those. 

I participated by going out to lunch with a coworker's family - her mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were all present. We joined them at a Chinese restaurant and had "yum cha," which is what Australians call dim sum. Lunch was delicious but we had to hurry out of there because the men were going to the Roosters game as a gift.

The Roosters, as I was informed by two ardent supporters, are the best team in Sydney (although they're currently in second place in the National Rugby League, but we'll ignore that for now) and have a big rivalry with with South Sydney Rabbitohs (I just wikipedia searched that term to confirm that it does, in fact, mean rabbit). The Roosters think all the Rabbitoh supporters are from the wrong side of the tracks, and Australians have a hilarious word for "trashy people" that escapes me right now. These two guys helped me and my coworker find the way to the stadium and tried to educate me on rugby, the rivalry, Anzac games (the Australia/New Zealand armed forces games), and "fuzzy wuzzies," which is the endearing term that Aussies uses for Papua New Guineans. There is a general fondness for these people because they helped Australia win a battle against Japan (I guessed World War II, and wikipedia tells me I'm correct. I'm learning so much writing this blog post!) and apparently some Fuzzy Wuzzies made a special appearance at a rugby game. 

The Rabbitohs play at the old Sydney Olympic Stadium, which is theoretically cool, but the Roosters play at a stadium right in the middle of town (it was about a fifteen minute walk from my house) which is a big plus since sporting events are always better when they're woven into the fabric of a city. 

Of course, the Roosters and the Rabbitohs are playing each other this Friday evening, and it's the last game before the playoffs, so I'm currently debating if I should get tickets to that or fly down to Melbourne, since that's on the docket to explore this weekend.