What would you go through for your team?

Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but my family are Manly rugby league supporters.  Which makes sense since we live on the Northern Beaches.  (Apologies to those who don't like our team - please keep shopping at my store!).  It is almost tribal up here on the peninsular and the area certainly gets behind their local team.

Their home ground isn't as modern as many other grounds but the locals love it.  The atmosphere is fantastic and it is full of families on picnic rugs watching the game.  I think if they renovated the ground it would lose much of the character.

Well last night I went from a regular fan to a die hard fan.  I stood in the rain with only the most dedicated sea eagles fans and supported my team playing against the Parramatta Eels.  For me that is "huge" and even my sister sent me text messages asking me if I was insane.  I've always loved football but not enough to stand there in winter and in the pouring rain.  How times have changed!  And the funny thing is that "Parramatta" is her team. 

Earlier in the day I had bought a new burgundy pashmina (sorry, but I like it better than the supporter scarves - I do have some boundaries), and thankfully it kept me warm.  Lucky I took my umbrella too.  Those plastic wrap covers that you can buy for a few dollars don't do your hair any favours.  Trust me to think of that!

It was actually a funny night.  There is always good natured ribbing from the opposition supporters, though the man next to me who had downed way too many beers, loved leaning across to scream "Paaaaaarrraaaaaa!" in my face every time they scored. 

It is always fun to watch the banter between the supporters of both teams, including the manly fan who kept yelling (at the Parramatta fans), "We have the beach and you only have a river!" all the way down the road after the game.  I have no idea what that is supposed to do with rugby league but it seemed to make everyone laugh.  The rivalry between Parramatta and Manly is legendary and so is the "sledging".

Manly lost the game but it didn't matter to us.  We all had a great night despite the weather and had some laughs.  The team will be back and so will we to watch them.