0
City of churches falls for game they play in sevens
GREG GROWDEN
March 22, 2010
MONDAY MAUL
It's not always smart to admit you spent your early years in Adelaide, the weird crime capital of Australia. Neither does it help that some distant members of the Monday Maul family hail from near Snowtown, where bodies found in barrels became all the fashion, and that a cousin's place in Adelaide was supposed to have later been inhabited by those involved in the Truro murders.
All vehemently denied, of course, by certain relatives.
Growing up a Croweater certainly taught you not to talk to strangers, maintain an open mind and be prepared for everything. Still, there was a shock to the senses when surfing pay TV over the weekend, the Adelaide Sevens tournament suddenly appeared on the screen.
In South Australia, the only footy that matters is AFL and the common enemy is those who wear the big V - mongrel dog Victorians who pilfered South Australian talent for years until they were forced to accept two teams, the Crows and Port Adelaide - into their own competition.
And for years Adelaide Oval was the state's showpiece for Aussie Rules. But on the weekend, this majestic ground embraced something else - the spirit of international rugby.
The Adelaide Oval terraces were buzzing and full of colour as a large, vibrant crowd got into Sevens football. Near the Victor Richardson Gates there was more atmosphere than at recent Waratahs matches at the Sydney Football Stadium.
And that is nothing new for Adelaide, even if it is hardly an Australian rugby hothouse. Sure, there is a local rugby competition, but it is well below Shute Shield standard. Yet each time representative rugby comes to Adelaide, it is an event.
Ask anyone who wandered around the country during the 2003 World Cup what was their highlight and many will pinpoint the weekend the tournament came to Adelaide.
It became a massive 48-hour party and numerous pubs in the middle of town were worried they would run out of beer because of all the rugger-buggers who had invaded the city.
Even the Wallabies got into the intoxicating spirit by putting the Adelaide Oval into the rugby history books as the venue for their biggest win - defeating Namibia 142-0.
Now the annual Adelaide tournament has become a critical part of the world Sevens circuit.
Sevens football doesn't get much publicity but is an important stepping stone for numerous aspiring Australian representative players.
After all, Matt Giteau, James O'Connor and Adam Ashley-Cooper are former Australian Sevens players, while two youngsters who were on last year's Wallabies northern hemisphere tour - Luke Morahan and Richard Kingi - hail from Sevens. Current Australian Sevens captain Patrick McCutcheon last week signed a two-year contract with the Waratahs.
The game, made famous by the Hong Kong tournament - where bonhomie and binge drinking has been as much a lure as the flashy football on show - is now being treated far more seriously thanks to the decision to introduce Sevens as an Olympic sport, starting in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Suddenly, some big names want to play Sevens again. Rio has that effect on certain people, and the Australian Olympic team is bound to include numerous front-line Wallabies. But if the current squad continues its strong form on the international Sevens circuit, alterations might be difficult to make before Rio and, sooner, the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
''There's two sides to it, there's the profile of the game, and it is a one-off opportunity as in once every four years and most players if they're lucky will only get one crack at it,'' Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said.
It is still not wise to talk to strangers in the City of Churches, but despite Australia's 24-12 loss to eventual champions Samoa yesterday, on the weekend Adelaide happily reminded all of the value of Sevens rugby, the game's wide tentacles, and how the most unexpected of towns take to it.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...0321-qo55.html
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by TOCC
