Embassy Legends Defeat US Squad

Washington, D.C. - July 27th, 1997

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On the night before the big match, only the ever young Corrie Metz from the Legends team took on the Ambassadorial role and hosted the Midwest team out on the town at Champion Sports Bar. Corrie, drinking only ginger ale and tonic water, made sure that the visiting team got plenty of fluids into their system prior to the big match the next morning. Good onya Corrie, a job well done.

Sunday morning the long awaited footy match was about to take place at Bolling Airforce Base, Washington DC. With a 10 o'clock game scheduled and the temperature rising, the Legends team prepared themselves for the onslaught of the mighty Midwest Allstar team. As the youthful Midwest team showed up for the game, and with their two big 6 feet 8 guys towering over the field, the Legends knew they were in for a tough game. You could sense by now that all the Legends players were starting to have second thoughts. With only moments before the kick off, coach and player Allan Purdie, gave a great inspirational team talk and offered one more chance for anyone to pull out...... the Legends stood tall. Coach Purdie emphasized on how critical it was for us to put on as many points as possible early, as the chances of our guys running out of gas late in the game was high.

KICK OFF, and the Midwest scored the first goal within seconds. My thoughts at this stage were, "we're in for a long tough day". The Legends hit back quickly registering with a couple of wayward shots at goal, with only two points scored. Halfway into the first quarter, with the game played at a furious pace, and the Legends starting to their short game together, rover Matt Hall snapped up a loose ball, headed towards goal and scored the very first goal in history of the Legends Team. You could sense now that the Legends realized that with their experience and skill level, they could compete against their much younger opponets. Two late goals to Legend players, Michael Leow and Michel Skinner, saw the Legends go in at quarter time with the lead.

With Legends team now pumped, they started the second quarter with two quick goals. The most spectacular moment of the game came when our very own John "Dippa" Woods grabbed the ball above the pack from behind, in front of goal (ala Warrick Capper). So close in fact, as "Dippa" landed, he crashed into the goal post, demolishing it as he landed after the mark. At this close range, but on an acute angle, John with his trusty left boot (boots that hadn't played for twenty years) snapped the ball through for a great goal. Also in this quarter "Dippa" was again in the thick of things, this time picking the ball up off the deck, and displaying an extremely high level of skill with three defenders on him, passed the ball between them to an unmarked Dave Armstrong, who calmly kicked our seveth goal. This left the three defenders dumb founded and gave us a half time lead of some 30 points.

The start of third quarter saw the Legends now in full control of the game, and still attacking the goals at every opportunity. Andrew Gates, Michael Leow, and John "Dippa" Woods were rewarded for their constant hard work with goals. Disappointment for Matt Hall in third quarter as he had to be carried from the field with a leg injury. At three quarter time the Legends had opened up a 40 point lead.

The fourth quarter less one player and the Legends now running on empty, the Midwest finally worked out that we had been playing a back defender loose on the ball in the forward pocket creating an extra man for us up front for three quarters. With this the Midwest worked out a new strategy for the final quarter that resulted in a final onslaught. The Midwest kicked 4 goals to our nil in the final quarter, only to come up short as the final whislte sounded. Highlight of the final quarter was Mick "Sterlo" Hicking finally getting the ball with room to move, tucking the ball under the arm and racing up field some forty to fifty yards and then to kick a spectacular goal, only to have the goal disallowed by umpire Doug "play on" Comery, for running too far with the ball. Stick to Rugby League "Sterlo". The final score saw the Embassy Legends 77 defeat the Midwest Allstars 59. Well done team.

Scores

Legends Goals: Michel Skinner 3, John Woods 2, Michael Leow 2,

Matt Hall 1, David Armstrong 1, Andrew Gates 1.

Reported by Jason Eustice, Kansas City ARFC

Here is a match summary of the All-Star American team vs. the Australian Embassy (Called the Legends)that was played in Washington DC over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon at three o’clock the American team had a training session just north of the Washington Monument. There were players from Nashville, DC, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and New York to make a total of 14 players at the practice. After the training the American All-Star team made their way to a local bar in Georgetown to get to know each other and talk tactics for the pending game. At the bar the team recruited two more players, one Gaelic footballer and one rugby player.

The following day, Michael Skinner (the Australian Embassy organizer for the game) and myself arrived at the Bolling Airforce Base at 8:30 in the morning to setup the goals and to mark the field. The oval was 130m by 110m. We decided on playing with 16 aside. Also, because we were having trouble finding a umpire we decided that four different players would switch off and each umpire a quarter. The game commenced at 10:45 a.m. Since it was a hot summer day, we opted for 15 minute quarters which would lesson the stress on some of the older players out for a game.

The Embassy team started the game with a couple quick goals and took control of the first quarter, showing better handball skills than the American team, who were ashamed about the low number of kicks on goal. Score Legends 3-7-25 to All-Star 1-1-7. In the second quarter the Legends continued charging on and added 4 more goals, while the All Stars put 2 more goals to their tally. The score at half time was Legends 7-11-53 to 3-3-21. Everyone at this stage was thankful for the break and topped up with a few gallons of water and fresh oranges. The third quarter saw the Legends at three more goals and 3 points with the All Stars adding 2 goals and 1 point. Score 10-14-74 All Stars 5-4-34. However, in the last quarter the heat was taking its toll on the players, especially the Embassy representatives, and the All Star team showed their stamina by kicking 4 goals 1 point to the Embassy’s 3 points. The All Star team put in a last chance effort to try and win but the clock wouldn’t wait. The final score Embassy 10-17-77 to All-Stars 9-5-59.

Everyone had a great day with roughly 50 spectators cheering both teams on, as well as, half a dozen players having their first game ever. The day was a success for everyone involved. After the match we all made our way back to the Australian Embassy for drinks and raffles, and to talk about ‘what we could have’ and ‘should have’ done in the game. The raffle raised the national team just over a hundred dollars with thanks being given to the AFL and AFANA for donating the prizes. Michael Skinner, Lisa Pickel and Jason Eustice were thanked for organizing the game and it was decided that this should become an annual event, since we received such a great response from everyone involved. Since this was an Exhibition match to promote the game in Washington DC and help raise money for the National Squad, so they can purchase their own jerseys for the Canada re-match, we didn’t worry about picking best players and including score kickers.

There are three events coming up, that I thought I would let you know about. First is the Cincinnati Lightening Carnival on the 6-7th September, which will be host to half a dozen teams across the States as well as a team from Canada. Next, on October 11th will be the return match for the USA vs. Canada international game, which will be held in either St. Louis or Cincinnati. This will be decided in the next couple of weeks. On November 1st and 2nd a Lightening Carnival will be held in Kansas City. It will be a two day round robin knockout. If you are able to help us out with any raffle prizes, as before, with these events we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for the prizes we used in DC. They go a long way in helping us promote the game and improve our fund-raising account.

As you may know, there are at least 6 teams out of 15 that have been forming since Christmas. Each can fill either a 14 aside team or even a full squad of players. There is another half-dozen cities that can combine together and play matches. It has really taken off over the past year. I’ll try and keep you up-dated and informed about the going-ons here. Overall, the event and weekend was thoroughly enjoyed by Aussies and Americans alike. Below is the named players for each team .

Sincerely,

Jason Eustice, President
E-mail: eustice@qni.com
Kansas City Australian Rules Football Club

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