After fairly short notice we were able to pull together a nice, cheap and easy Scratch Match (‘scrimmage’ for those not yet educated into Aussie folklore) against Houston, as a warm up for the upcoming Austin tournament. Several of the Houston guys showed up Friday night to grab a few beers and kip on the floor at Footy Central and a few more made their own arrangements.
By Saturday morning we all assembled for a good 9 on 9 match with a couple of subs on a regular sized American Football field. It worked out well with everyone getting a good run and Nick showing off his manliness by first breaking his nose on Chris’s head and then getting me to set it straight. As they say 3rd times a charm and by the 3rd attempt we had it straighter than before he’d broken it.
The teams were picked at random to mix up Houston and Baton Rouge players in an effort to get both teams to work together and highlight strengths and weaknesses. A lot of really good game experience came out of the 4x 15 min game with good numbers of friends and family on the sideline cheering us on, even if ½ of them still didn’t fully understand what was happening.
After the game, a few refreshments and a small photo shoot occured where the Hair Hat made its appearance. Some of the Houston Guys were then treated to a quick tour of Downtown BR and LSU (including Mike the Tiger), before heading back to Footy Central for a shower and some grub put on by the host. By early afternoon the Houston guys were clean and fed and on their way either down to New Orleans for the Red Dress Run or back to Houston.
All in all an easy, cheap and fun road trip for a good bit of Footy. Basically a blueprint for some future scratch matches with the Houston crowd.
AWESOME !!!!!
R.
Baton Rouge Tigers Australian Rules Football Club 