Today I am working my first non-International Cup game of this trip. The Western Regional Football League is one of the many leagues in and around Melbourne and the WRFL Umpires Association (where I was hosted on Wednesday night) has graciously offered me the opportunity to umpire one of their matches. This match is between Port Melbourne and Altona, Division 1, Under 18s. In the US, we would say "17 and under", either way, they have to be no older than 17. I am working with Henry McFadden, the President of this Umpires Association – no pressure! For these matches there is a new rule: each team has a photo album and we have to do roll call during pre-game inspections. Apparently a fair amount of cheating had been occurring. In addition, at the end, we must complete paperwork on the game whereby each team earns points for such things as having supplied the boundary and goal umpires and not having any players reported.

The match itself is a medium grade contest, meaning that there is a fair bit of skill on both sides of the ball, but still plenty of room for improvement. The boys pretty much don't test me: one of the coaches had even said during the pre-game to his players that they were to take care of me (over here that is meant in a polite way, and not in the Vito Corleone way!) After paying a few free kicks for the usual assortment of infringements, and a 50-metre penalty in the first period, the contest is pretty much incident-free. Until the final quarter that is. Henry reported a kid from Port who was on the side lines for verbal abuse. I never heard what he was saying: first I don't really care what they say: it won't change my call or my opinion. Second, I completely tune out everything but the game anyway. But overall, it was an enjoyable experience and thanks to the WRFLUA for the opportunity.

After a bout with the Suds and Duds (laundry), I head to Junction Oval where Old Haileybury (our host club last Tuesday) is playing Old Melbourne. Mark "Disco" Secull is playing his 200th match for them which is a very big deal: it means longevity, it means live membership, and it is a testament to skill level. Disco played for Orange County for a few years when he recently lived in the States and this shows that he is a Legend not only in the US, but here as well. OH wins handily by a dozen goals, with Disco getting two goals. He is carried off the field (think RUDY). He gets the game ball. I saw in Jay Mueller's journal that he heard football here is a religion. He was corrected: "football is not a religion here, it is more important than that". I think that sums it up quite nicely.

Sunday August 7th, 2005 Melbourne, Australia

Today is Round 3 and the US moves to TEAC oval for its match with newcomer Spain. The opening match of the day is South Africa and Ireland. I am being added to the field umpire group and we will run three umpires. Peter Dodd and Scott (forgot his name, but will get it later) and I enjoy a nice run on the slippery grass as the ground has not yet fully dried out. The Irish are much taller, but the Buffaloes are much quicker and surprisingly good leapers and spoil far more than one would think they could. The Irish dominate the scoreboard as the Buffaloes are unable to kick straight: 9.9.63 to 1.7.13.

The weather is chilly and the wind is whipping around the ground making it even colder. I am the camera operations person for the US today, so I hustle after my match to get set up for recording. As we the national anthem plays, the rain comes down for about 5 minutes, and I have to move the camera farther under the canopy, thereby missing the last half of the anthem. The rain, of course, means the game is going to be sloppy wet, and Spain and the US really struggle to control the footy. The US leads at half time 1.6.12 to 1.0.6. The second half of this match is a repeat of the first, as the rain comes down for the first five minutes: just to be sure the field is still wet. However, the US plays better in this half and manages to grind out a 28 point victory: 5.10.40 to 2.0.12. With the US at 3-0, they are in a position to get to 4-0 and guarantee a top two finish: the only other two teams undefeated at this point are New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and PNG and the US play Tuesday in Wangaretta. Of special note for the Roo Fan Club: Dee "Weeman" Vsetecka figures prominently in the game managing to get a lot of touches all game long.

After the games today, Weeman, Dave "Texas Ranger" Walker and I join our in town Roos Marcus Dripps, Stella Phelps, and John Brinker for an early dinner (photo to follow). There is a team meeting from 8-9 pm, after which some of the boys watch the tape of the game. The coaching staff will cut up the tape for review tomorrow night's team meeting. The rest of the evening is relax, read, and pack: tomorrow is an early train to Wangaretta for two and a half days and the fourth round of the Cup.