Queenslander!

In rugby league, it has been a great week for Queensland. The annual 3-match series with New South Wales is now level, following a 30-6 win by the Queenslanders. This is exciting for a number of reasons. It sets up a 'decider' in a few weeks time. But there's more to it than that.


The game itself was a wonderful experience (particularly for Queensland supporters). Throughout the history of the State of Origin contests, Queensland is perennially the underdog and this match was no different.

Many said that (in game one) Queensland was lucky to go down by just a point (17-16) and that they had been massively outplayed by the "Blues". With the side for game two considered to be even weaker, due to injuries, some experts (particularly those south of the border) were calling this the weakest Queensland team ever.

The other thing that is consistent throughout State of Origin is the 'Queensland spirit'. It's what keeps Queensland in the contest. It doesn't matter if everyone is writing them off. It doesn't matter if the opposition is huge. It doesn't matter if they have more experience.


Queensland, at their best, just go at 100% and do everything they can. They play well as a team, support each other, and never give up. It's truly an inspiration.

ps. The last time a Queensland team was labelled 'the worst ever' was in 1995. Queensland went on to win that series 3-0.

Socceroos - A Comeback Win

It was with much jubilation that i watched Australia's match with Japan in the World Cup. Of course, most of that jubilation was crammed into the last ten minutes, as Australia scored 3 quick goals to turn a potential 0-1 loss into an inspiring 3-1 win.

A day or two later (the days seem to blur when sleep is just slotted in between soccer matches) i was talking to a friend about the match. We talked about how exciting the match was - and how it was impossible to go to sleep afterwards - even though it was around 1am in Australia. We came to the conclusion that - apart from the great result - it was the circumstances that made it so unbelievably exciting.

If Australia had scored those three goals early in the first half, held a 3-0 lead for the majority of the match, and conceded a consolation goal right at the end, it would still have been 3-1, but somehow not quite as heart stopping. For some reason, winning means so much more when it's preceded by an hour of staring down the barrel at a loss.