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28 March, 1998    Washington DC Eagles    vs    Boston Demons

Report kindly submitted by John "Doc" Cheffers.

The ball rolled to a stop in Washington D.C. on March 28, 1998, for the Washington Eagles. They turned up with thirty players and an assortment of guernsey which represented pale blue in various forms. Quite a number were American citizens who had become entranced with Australian football by watching television coverage of the AFL.

For the first ten minutes, the game appeared to be in the balance. The boys from Boston turned out as a clean, eager unit of expatriates intent upon devastating the Washington bureaucrats, and this they did with disarming candour.

The final score was Boston 15 goals, 24 behinds, 114 points to 4 goals, 6 behinds, 30 points.

It was Boston's first game as a team after six weeks of practice, so there was an understandable tension before the game. They met for dinner the night before, and assembled in Room 303 of the Quality Inn at 10:30pm for Captain and Coach Darren Louttit to discuss strategy. He had marked a perfect oval with goal posts on his mirror with toothpaste. On the back line they would bunch in the center and then give leads for the Full Back or whomever had the kick. This was rendered ineffective by a persistent gusting cross-wind, which started somewhere in Kansas and finished on the playing field of Washington D.C. Louttit, himself, ranged the forward line, took the hit outs, marked strongly, and was a devastating force on the front line all day. Later he confessed to being exhausted ten minutes into the first quarter, a condition induced by lack of match practice and a balmy eight degree temperature with more than a touch of humidity. The temperature reduced both teams to battling status by final siren time.

The Boston team had differing Ruckmen on the back line, the center, and the forward line thus reducing the need for excessive mobility. The gusting (at times 40 mph) cross-wind produced a dead pocket and one that was very much alive. The Demons made much better use of tactics with this wind.

The original ground was changed at the last moment because the cherry blossom festival subsumed all of inner Washington and, I'm afraid, had much greater appeal to the masses than this Australian Football game. Eventually two hundred people massed on this flat field somewhere on the outskirts of Washington for the match. They had to wait until a local co-ed touch football game concluded before placing four posts at the each end of the field and marking the boundaries with witch's hats. Twelve team members lifted the grandstand from the middle of the playing field to the side of the dead pocket where families and friends gathered to watch the game. Two umpires appeared in motley uniforms, and a third kept running on and off the field to serve as an extra umpire and at the same time get a run with the Washington Eagles team. Various characters served as boundary umpires and goal umpires. This led to a slight initial disagreement in the final scores with Washington depriving Boston of one of its goals. Subsequent inquiry verified the final scores, and settled any dispute.

There are eight Ph.D.'s on the Boston team, along with several MD's, and other highly qualified professionals. I was initially horrified when surveying our backline. To a man, they were twenty pounds overweight. The fear of a slow team of defenders was relieved however, by a first glance at the Washington forwards. They were to a man, forty pounds overweight! So the tussles on the Washington forwards line were played hard but in slow motion.

The ball ran like a forest fire to the vicissitudes of the gusting wind, and frequently, required a second ball while odds and sods chased the first missile hundreds of yards down the paddock. The comments of Washington spectators were entertaining:
"They look like a real team."
"The look fitter than our team."
"Some of them are good looking."
"We have their numbers."

Hoping for a game of attrition, the thirty Washington players were disappointed especially during the final three quarters. Quite naturally, the amber fluid flowed at the final siren and continued into the night at the Australian embassy. Mike Lynch, and his good wife filled in amply for the absent Andrew Peacock during the pleasant evening activities.

Apparently, there are football teams now in Colorado, Chicago, San Francisco, Richmond, New York, as well as an eight team competition permanently established in Toronto. The possibility of a US/Canada game in the next two years is looming with Boston having its next game against New York on the 25th April, this year. The boys are planning it with due reverence. There will be ANZAC ceremonies in the morning, and the game at 2:00pm. Both teams are hoping to attract the local press, along with distant press in Australia.

Assisant Coach and Team Manager is Bill O'Connor, former Hawthorn Ruckman, and Hammer Thrower for St. Kevin's Old Boys. Bill distinguished himelf when at the age of 64 he was umpiring a practice game for the Demons. "Crowy," who is a Mathematics Professor at Tufts University, and Backman on the team, ran through him on his way to collect the ball, inadvertently. As Bill picked himself up from the turf he remarked on the absence of rules at this time in the league. A contrite Crowy assisted Bill to his feet with profuse apology. There is much fun in this league with these players at this time. A geniune spirit of camaraderie exists. As with most competitive institutions, this may change over time as more Americans are introduced to the skills of Australian Football and the quality advances. The real possibility of a game between the North American continent and the Australians looms in the future, perhaps ten years.

SCOREBOARD
 

 
GOALS - Boston:

GOALS - Washington DC

BEST PLAYERS:
BOSTON - Louttit and Webster (Equal Best) Burgess (Third)

DC - Purdie