Football
Australia is a very sports and fitness orientated culture. However, when it comes to "the beautiful sport", they don't seem to share the general fever you'd find across Europe and South America. And I miss that. I miss sharing that enjoyment and passion over a beer on the pub, especially watching the English Premiership. As much as I love my Benfica, for the past decades the Portuguese league sunk so low in corruption, that I must admit we became worse than Italians. An achievement.
Fortunately however, I don't miss playing, and that's because I play twice a week, with 2 teams in different tournaments. I joined my first team through a colleague. That team is a blast! With 2 wins in 8 matches, we have qualified for the DIVISION 4 FINALS!!! (That's the trophy for the bottom of the league) so next week we can be crowned CHAMPIONS! Oh yeah, fortune and glory!
Its a group of Chinese guys, for whom the ball is a curious and probably square object, although they're not too sure what to do with it. But they do run! I've never seen such a dedicated bunch! They can hardly understand what they're doing, but they never give up. Compared to them, I'm a detoxed version of Maradona. Talented but lazy as hell! To add to the already peculiar pot of 5 Chinese and a Portuguese, there's also a Greek, who wisely does not have an habit of reminding me of past miseries, and an Iranian: Kam Ran! This dude is 100% Borat without a moustache. He's the lousiest player in history (with the possible exception of the late 90's Benfica defense), but he became the mascot! Its just too amusing to hear him speak, let alone see him try to hit the ball forward. Results are low, but spirits are up!
The other team, I met through the only Portuguese I've met here so far. They're top division champions and seem to be aware of the rules and actual point of the game. Nice for a change. As nice as the definitely sweeter taste of victory. With the "Chinese" team, the ball always seems to be between our keeper and our net. But not with the clockwork orange! Oh no!! We're a killing machine! (for some bizarre reason that escapes me, 3 Brits, 2 Portuguese and 2 Aussies play with a Holland jersey...) Somehow our last opponents got into the "killing machine" mode, and I limped for more than a week.
And when I crave for a bit of the good old footy chat, I can always call Bruno, Chris or Marcos, and rest my spirits. Et Pluribus Unun.
