A Night For A Green Day

Went to Perth Arena on a cool Sunday night to watch the American band Green Day perform. I must admit their modern political messages have not been to my liking however I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Thought the lighting, sound and acoustics were just fantastic. The arena is a fantastic venue and I would encourage everyone who is in Perth or from interstate wanting to see their favourite performer/band etc to go.
The food and drink however at the venue is on the rather high 'mining boom' side of things which is just plain old highway robbery in my eyes. I did however sneak in my supply of jerky to tick me over during the show. You had most items over 8 dollars on the list and you can be bled dry if you are not too careful.

Overall the arena despite the high price tag on food and beverages is a great venue. There are plenty of bars, eateries and places to relax in and around the precinct. This part of West Perth is really taking shape and will be buzzing once other projects have come online.

Force Not Strong Enough Against Lions

Force played host to the Lions on another fine April evening in Perth but were not good enough against the South African visitors. The Force kept the Lions to 10 points at half time with scores at 7-10. While the Force were resilient in defence during the first half, their school-boy errors, the Force of the past came back to haunt them as they were brushed aside in a scoreline that does no favours to what happened. What is also frustrating is the way the Force gave up a bonus point right at the 80th minute, which left fans with a certain bitterness in their mouths as they left. Hopefully the Force can take that next step and start stamping their authority and turning it into points on the board.

As for the food, nib stadium food isn't very great but this was woeful. Cool drinks are 5 dollars which is high but the bratwurst was 9.80. While it was very nice it is a bit too much for a gourmet hot-dog. The pizza was the clincher. 12 dollars for a "pepperoni" pizza and was simply the worst pizza I have ever tasted. There were very few pepperoni slices, there was ham that was tasteless, not cooked and cubes of pure fat. The cheese was bland and revolting as it was not for pizzas. The bread wasn't too bad, sadly its only saving grace. That is terrible. I could only eat one slice and a bite of a second where my friend struggled to eat a slice i gave him. I doubt I couldn't get someone to eat this even if I paid them to do it. Was simply disgusting. My suggestion is to stay well away from this and eat prior or sneak food into the venue.

The members bar sold full strength beer for 9 dollars which wasn't too bad but is on the mining boom side of pricing.

Gwelup Puts Mandurah to the Sword

On a fantastic day for football on a bright, sunny and warm ANZAC Day, Gwelup Croatia played host to Mandurah City in the fifth round of the FFA Cup Western Australia division. Gwelup were just too good against the visitors as they never really allowed City to settle or form long periods of dominance. However Gwelup's opportunities were numerous and plentiful, causing havoc with the City defence from start to finish. However the scoreline doesn't truly reflect the dominance the hosts had over City and really should have been doubled, if not more.
Mandurah were busy early in the first 15 minutes pushing up and with some penetrating crosses and probing free kicks, but it was not to be for the visitors. Gwelup's class was head and shoulders above their opposition by picking apart the defence and going two goals up at half time.
The game opened up more for the hosts but their wasted opportunities frustrated the crowd and gave Mandurah a slim chance to claw back into the game with a few turn overs. This was not to be as Gwelup were unrelenting and put five past them with Mandurah scoring one against the run of play with a fantastic passage of patient play.

Sadly there was no food on sale at the sports club on Wishart Street as it is hard to cater for FFA cup fixtures. I tend to agree as it is just a one off game and the club could lose substantial amounts of money to cater for a possible full or empty house. Shame as Gwelup have a great canteen set up and with great offerings. Their beers, soft drinks and snacks like crisps were on sale and great to sink a few Karlovackos while watching some excellent football on display.

Another note is that the neighbouring Farmer Jack's, formerly an IGA is across the road and the revamped store looks very promising compared to the run down state it was as an IGA. However it doesn't have the takeaway foods like they used to have back in the late Action Food Barns days. However id rather have Gwelup food and beers than that.

The convincing win places Gwelup in the sixth round where they take on National Premier League giants Bayswater City at Frank Drago on the 21st of May.

Perth Royals Edge Kwinana In Close Encounter

Another great day for football in a fabulous city of Perth. Sunny, bright and warm conditions with clouds hovering over with the threat of a thunderstorm. There was a very very light drizzle at JA Lee Reserve in Lathlain. The game was ebbing and flowing from both ends with the hosts staying strong and scoring two goals to the visitor's one which caused the Royals to panic late in the game.
Shame a red card which was for a second yellow on a terrible challenge had some foul language as that kind of behaviour is not warranted for sporting officials.

Was pleasantly surprised by the food that the Royals had on offer as I wasn't expecting anything other than a few soft drinks and coronas. However they had chicken curry on the menu, chips, chips with gravy or chips with gravy and cheese. So of course i had the deluxe version of chips. Have to say cheese made it very good. To top it off it went down nicely with a big bottle of Bulmers apple cider.
Chips with gravy were 5 dollars, same as the curry and the ciders were 9 dollars each.

Another good day out at JA Lee reserve, Perth Royals put on a good display and hopefully should be pushing for top of the pile come season's end.