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hnpccNetball, 6.50pm. I'm there, on crutches. Elisha is there. Where is everyone else?
6.55pm. Kynan and Marcus arrive, still walking even though "we're playing in 5 minutes!". And the other team. And the umpires, who claim it's 7pm. Both teams argue and agree that it is, in fact, not 7pm. We wait.
7pm. Players standing on court. Me walking up and down with crutch, in a way that would be frantic were it not so slow.
7.05pm. Ring Chris' mobile. "Where are you?" "I'm stuck in traffic near the Botanical Gardens!" "Shit!"
7.06pm. Ring Mandy's mobile. No answer.
7.08pm. Umpires come up to tell us we have to forfeit and we can have a scratch match. "Hang on, we've got another player!" Chris is trying to reverse park (badly, not least because he's stressed). A player who's turned up early for her game offers to fill in. Mandy comes sprinting down the hill. We have a team! "OK, you guys can play then. But you're starting 8 goals behind" Game starts at the second quarter.
7.12pm. Trish comes sprinting down the hill. "What happened to you? Did you get lost?" "Bloody traffic! St Kilda Rd is dead!"
7.17pm Someone finally scores a goal so that Trish can go on.
7.18pm Half time. We're doing pretty well considering. We only need another 5 goals to win! The head umpire comes up and asks who the captain of Freakazoid is. "Erm, I'm sort of acting in loco captainis today.." "Cool - you guys still have to pay." OK. I collect money and start slowly moving towards the clubhouse, about 150 metres away up the hill. The head umpire takes pity on me, and runs the money up and the change back. You're ace!
7.23pm Back on the court. Come on Freaks! 4 goals.. 3 goals.. 4 goals..
7.30pm Change ends. 4 goals... 3 goals... 4 goals.. 3 goals.. 4 goals.. 2 goals.. 1 goal...
7.38pm Whistle goes. The umpires come over to check the scores. And add another 2 goals to the other team's score because our fill in player isn't wearing the correct colours (funnily enough).
So we lost by three. But really we won 13-6!
And we didn't have to forfeit. Yay! :-)
Mandy, it turned out, had left her car "somewhere on Domain Rd" and sprinted to the courts. Both Trish and Chris had considered doing the same thing - especially since Trish spent 40 minutes driving one kilometer. Chris decided not to because he wasn't sure he'd be able to play if he did that. Trish (having never played at the venue before) decided not to on the grounds that she wasn't sure she could find it even with the Melways next to her. No one had any idea what had happened on the southern roads - I came across from the East and the road was fine. So did Kynan and Elisha. Marcus spent 20 mins having trains cancelled and delayed on him before finally grabbing a taxi to get from the CBD to Prahran.
So that was the last mixed game before Christmas. Hopefully by January I'll (a) be able to play and (b) the traffic will be a lot better!
6.55pm. Kynan and Marcus arrive, still walking even though "we're playing in 5 minutes!". And the other team. And the umpires, who claim it's 7pm. Both teams argue and agree that it is, in fact, not 7pm. We wait.
7pm. Players standing on court. Me walking up and down with crutch, in a way that would be frantic were it not so slow.
7.05pm. Ring Chris' mobile. "Where are you?" "I'm stuck in traffic near the Botanical Gardens!" "Shit!"
7.06pm. Ring Mandy's mobile. No answer.
7.08pm. Umpires come up to tell us we have to forfeit and we can have a scratch match. "Hang on, we've got another player!" Chris is trying to reverse park (badly, not least because he's stressed). A player who's turned up early for her game offers to fill in. Mandy comes sprinting down the hill. We have a team! "OK, you guys can play then. But you're starting 8 goals behind" Game starts at the second quarter.
7.12pm. Trish comes sprinting down the hill. "What happened to you? Did you get lost?" "Bloody traffic! St Kilda Rd is dead!"
7.17pm Someone finally scores a goal so that Trish can go on.
7.18pm Half time. We're doing pretty well considering. We only need another 5 goals to win! The head umpire comes up and asks who the captain of Freakazoid is. "Erm, I'm sort of acting in loco captainis today.." "Cool - you guys still have to pay." OK. I collect money and start slowly moving towards the clubhouse, about 150 metres away up the hill. The head umpire takes pity on me, and runs the money up and the change back. You're ace!
7.23pm Back on the court. Come on Freaks! 4 goals.. 3 goals.. 4 goals..
7.30pm Change ends. 4 goals... 3 goals... 4 goals.. 3 goals.. 4 goals.. 2 goals.. 1 goal...
7.38pm Whistle goes. The umpires come over to check the scores. And add another 2 goals to the other team's score because our fill in player isn't wearing the correct colours (funnily enough).
So we lost by three. But really we won 13-6!
And we didn't have to forfeit. Yay! :-)
Mandy, it turned out, had left her car "somewhere on Domain Rd" and sprinted to the courts. Both Trish and Chris had considered doing the same thing - especially since Trish spent 40 minutes driving one kilometer. Chris decided not to because he wasn't sure he'd be able to play if he did that. Trish (having never played at the venue before) decided not to on the grounds that she wasn't sure she could find it even with the Melways next to her. No one had any idea what had happened on the southern roads - I came across from the East and the road was fine. So did Kynan and Elisha. Marcus spent 20 mins having trains cancelled and delayed on him before finally grabbing a taxi to get from the CBD to Prahran.
So that was the last mixed game before Christmas. Hopefully by January I'll (a) be able to play and (b) the traffic will be a lot better!
