Police Rugby and Twenty Questions

Yesterday saw our involvement with two Australian customs that I wish we could see imported into the United States, and perhaps on a limited scale they already have been. After running a few errands and enjoying a delicious home cooked lunch together, Jayne and I separated for further adventures. I took the bus south to the Brookvale Oval where an amateur rugby game was to be played by two New South Wales police teams. I don’t know how many officers were left in the Manly area to patrol the streets after the purple and white players took to the field because it sure seemed like a substantial number. The opposing team was comprised of police officers from the western suburbs and they wore the colors of West’s Tigers, black and orange. The spectators were few, and almost all of them seemed to be relatives of the bold lads from Manly down on the field, so there was almost an intimate family feel to the entire event. The Manly team dominated from the first “try” (read “touchdown” my American friends) and managed to get possession of the ball during several heartbreaking turnovers for the Western cops. At one point in the second half a rather violent fight broke out when one burly Manly player attempted to slap the ball from the hands of a Westy, and both teams rushed forward to form a rather compact scrum of pushing and punching. The officials broke it up quickly, ejected the Manly player, and the game went on. I lost count of the scoring runs and had to ask one of the officials after the game for the final score: Manly 40, West 8. It was a really fun game to watch, and the shaded grandstands were quite comfortable. I understood the game was held in honor of two police comrades who had died of cancer, and I was glad to contribute some gold coins to the charity bucket as it was passed around.

After the game, I set out on a rather lengthy hike down along Pittwater Street to the Manly Fishos club. It was a pleasant afternoon, and although walking along side heavy traffic is never much fun the cars let up periodically and allowed me the leisure to enjoy the greenery. I estimate I walked about two miles to reach my objective, and was glad enough to put up my feet once I arrived at the club. Before too long, Jayne and Ronald joined me and we joined with several of Ron’s diving mates to form a team for Trivia Night. I suggested we name our team the “Earp Brothers” and got no argument, so the game was on with several difficult questions and some goofy bar games thrown in every once in a while. At one of these games, called “Heads or Tails,” Jayne managed to be the last person standing and won the prize for extra points and drink vouchers for our team. She even drew one of the prized green poker chips from a cloth bag that got us a bonus, much to the surprise of the game master. Our luck ended there, unfortunately, and I regret to report that the Earp Brothers came in second at the end of the night. We came in first for having a good time, though, and it was a great end to a great day.