Ventured to watching some amateur premier league football for the first time in a rather long time and I must personally apologise that I have not been going to games more often, but I am sure that I have state many times on the Facebook page and perhaps here, it is due to my work load with university, family life and work having eating up time that I could be plodding around the grounds across Perth and be writing terrible blog entries for you to peruse through. So with that out of the way let us start our post about this match. This match is between Jaguars and Queens Park at Herb Graham Recreation Centre in Mirrabooka.
Now this place is a multi sport venue with the building complex hosting basketball and other indoor sports such as wrestling, then on the western side is softball that have virtually world class facilities and then on the east, you have a rather average series of football pitches where the most northern one played host for this match that I was to witness with my own eyes and my colleague's.
Why I say it like this is because I have never watched a match at any level where either side squandered not just the odd chance here and there, but both teams butchering golden opportunities with extreme prejudice in my honest opinion. Now I have never seen Jaguars, nor do I fully understand how they play, how they've gone historically, nor their history and background. I can only assume, please feel free to correct me, that they are an amateur side that has been formed by African immigrants who share a love for football and have entered the competition. Of course, very much like the diverse range of Croatian, Italian and other immigrant clubs in Western Australia, Jaguars could be from a certain area of African immigration etc, I am just not sure on their history. Though I do know of one side that is African, but of Zimbabwean, Zambian and Mozabiquean players, so I think Jaguars are either more west African or eastern.
Queens Park have been historically a state league main-stay and former powerhouse that have obviously seen better day but are now playing in the amateur premier leagues and hopefully a return to better days of their past. But for a side that showed talent over the match, just failed to take their chances and it looked as if there was a conspiracy to out-do each other with who could miss and fluff their chances better. They failed to win in that category also!
What can I say about the first half? It was a hard slog for both teams and for the neutral fan like myself and my friend. You had the match ebb and flow with either side probing for an attack with times it with dissipate and not eventuate into anything due to astute defending, or a poor pass or executed play. But there were many chances within the first half where either side should have put at least 3 goals away, yet blasted them well clear of the goals, making Aussie rules players start to go green with envy.
It was also a bit of a rough affair with both sides going in hard with their challenges and at times perhaps a bit too hard where it was a bit too close for comfort when these tackles were made on the edge or in the penalty areas for both sides. Surprisingly enough the referee allowed these to simply go ahead, with no card being issued and the whistle being blown to issue a free kick was few and far between. Usually this is a good thing but these challenges were rather crude, akin to the games I have seen back in Brazil and free kicks should have been issued perhaps more often. Even a few clumsy challenges should have resulted in a penalty being awarded for either side.
It was also due to the tackles coming thick and fast, a war of attrition. Two players, one from each side had taken a fall from a crude challenge and had to have the stretcher take them off. It was a tough game that was hard fought by both who were determined to not give their opposition an inch, it was much like trench warfare. But in saying that you had chances by both teams to capture or go beyond the enemy's trench lines, only to squander the chance and then go back to the stalemate that had preceded them. The match at half time was 0-0.
There's no food or drink on offer at this ground, so I went into the recreation centre's café and bought beef noodles and a cool drink. all up was just under 10 dollars. But before I bought the food and drink, I decided to watch some wrestling and that was certainly interesting. this could warrant its own blog entry, but I was not watching for too long and then we returned to the match to watch the second half.
I didn't miss much and it was just the same as the first half. It was just a painful match to watch with howler after howler with goal scoring opportunities gone astray. There was even a penalty awarded to Jaguars, but they blasted that wide like all the other chances and even if Moses had parted the sea, both these sides would still miss, it was just one of those games unfolding. The game concluded with a very painful 0-0 and I was just glad that was over and done with. I cannot say if recommending going to watch a Jaguars home game is worth it if they have no food or drink, but if you don't mind the café, or food from the shopping centre, then it isn't such a bad afternoon out. Just don't expect anything too out of the ordinary.
