Good things come in threes

Playing soccer at the Melbourne Uni hockey pitch can be memorable, but yesterday’s game was quite out of the ordinary.

I rocked up to the pitch after work in the late afternoon, decked out in my new Ronaldinho No. 10 Barcelona top, to meet up with my soccer buddies. They were already settled into playing a game with a bunch of other people, who refused to let more players in the game!

From afar I heard them mention they “only wan 7 players a team” with an accent from some southeast Asian country. This was of course hard to believe as the other half of the hockey field was completely empty!

As I was ready to give them a go, I knew it wasn’t worth it. So the others and I played with more hospitable players playing on the opposite side.

When we began playing with these new,friendlier guys, a crowd of high school aged kids started hanging out on the end that I was scoring goals at. They seemed to be there for some hockey tournament/practise later that night, and were quite keen spectators. Their loud and rowdy nature could be heard all over the pitch.

(In your best imagined Aussie accent)
“Oh, mate, who’s playin?”
“Hey man I can’t see anyone, but there’s a guy in a Giggs shirt”
“Oh yeh, and Ronaldo!”
“That’s not Ronaldo you idiot, that’s Ronaldinho”
“Hey Ronaldinho, score a goal mate. Give us a wave”

Yes, I think they were referring to me. So not to disappoint, I upped the tempo and scored, and the kids let us know how they felt.

“Waaa, go Ronaldinho”
“Give us a wave mate!”
“Score another one!”

And score another one I did; a cracker of a goal with my left foot after making a good turn, edging it past a couple of defenders.

“Yeh! Ronaldinho’s on a hat trick”
“Pass the ball to Ronaldinho!”
“Give us a wave Ronaldinho!”

Of course the comments did go both ways; when I mistouched a ball or someone took a ball off me they let us know about it.

“Oh, that’s not good enough Ronaldinho.”
“Give it to Giggsy he can do better.”
“That’s disappointing man…”
“Wave back man…”

All said in a very loud and very audible tone, down to the other side of the ground.

When the hockey coach whistled and signalled that in 5 minutes teenage girls waving hockey sticks will come on the pitch and remove us with force, I knew I had to focus to get that elusive 3rd goal.

Some nice passing (thanks to good team mates) led to a chance, and I wasn’t letting this one go… GOAL! Top right hand corner, and it just managed to squeeze in!

“Yeahh, Hat Trick for Ronaldinho!”
“Give us a wave!!!”
“Man that guy is good looking” (note: I may have made this line up)
“Good stuffffff!”

So after celebrating the hat-trick in a reasonable fashion, I finally gave those guys a wave, and realised what home crowd support can actually do for players. They supporters can make it known when you improving, and their cheering can also make you feel like you can do absolutely anything.

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