Board Riders,
Found myself last Friday deep behind enemy lines.
Invited, by sheer coincidence, to a late afternoon wedding on Collaroy Beach, of all places, with reception following at the Harbord Diggers Club.
Diggers is about as close as you can possibly get to being front and centre in the Manly-Warringah district.
The heart of enemy territory.
My, how the Diggers has changed since my last visit nigh on 20 years ago.
It's gone from a simple two storey red-brick clubhouse, to an RSL on steroids, with millions of pokies spead out over the multi-storeyed mega-plex with an impressive amount of floor space.
Harbord Diggers used to be rightly famous for it's magnificent views of Freshwater and Curl Curl beaches, perched as it is right out on the Queenscliffe headland.
But even as the club has got significantly higher, much of the old view has been built out by rich bastards.
Par for the course in that part of the world.
In another sheer coincidence the reception was held in the Duke Kahanamoku Room, who's name was invoked the following day when Freshwater [the surf was pumping by the way - local denizens were saying in hushed tones "best in years"] was officially named as only the third World Surfing Reserve, after Malibu, California and some joint in Portugal.
Even more coincidental, the next day the 'featured picture' on the Wikepdia main page was of the very boat we had travelled on from Circular Quay, the Manly ferry MV Collaroy.
Sitting down to write this blog post, started to become convinced that some kind of conspiracy was going on.
The only strange thing that didn't fit, was that the game was being played in Gosford.
The lone Tiger's supporter in the full kit in the main bar [which sports the largest television screen known to man] stood out like tits on a bull, needless to say.
Seeing a fellow shag on a rock, showed him my 2012 Membership badge on the key ring, and instantly regretted my mistake, as his eyes lit up.
The bloke just stopped short of telling me his life story.
Claimed he was on first name terms with several of the Manly players, not to mention the entire Stewart family, that he'd lived in the Manly area for most of his life [he was about my age], always drank at the Diggers and identified himself as a local, but he'd been born a Balmain supporter, and said with finality "so, that's that, isn't it?"
There is no chance whatsoever of switching allegiances in Tribal Sydney.
You are either born to or you marry into a football team; out-of-towners who breeze in and then stay on for more than 30 years are still considered fly-by-nighters, who can suit themselves.
One of the wedding guests, Jim the Macedonian [a crazy mad St George fan who, like many if not all, hates Manly, who said on his 6th birthday he felt like a king when he was given the full Dragons supporters kit] was also with me as we watched most of the second half.
So there we we're, the three of us, rooting for a lost cause.
It wasn't pretty to look at.
Never mind the two Tigers' tries at the denoument to make it a close game, which was widely trumpeted in the fishwraps as a "tremendous Tigers comeback", when it was nothing of the sort.
You have to wonder if the newspaper articles are being written by the Balmain Public Relations Officer.
After letting go of an 8-2 half-time lead in the blink of an eye shortly after the break, they were always playing catch-up football, which in this code, is very hard to do.
They were fitter than the home side in the finish, but the scoreboard pressure proved too much.
As soon as That Pom Ellis went off early in the second half with a corked thigh, not to return, the forward structure, as Jim put it, "went to shit".
At least there was some consolation with a free drink, or three, in the Duke's room, even though drowning one's sorrows is not generally permitted and is usually frowned upon this early in the year.
SC Sheens was not much concerned with the loss, commenting that after Gareth went down the race "we made a couple of mistakes and all of a sudden we were in quicksand trying to get ourselves out" - he's much more concerned with the very early season injury toll, with his first pick full back gorn for the year, important players like Galloway and Utai out for a month each, and how That Pom goes mid-week is anyone's guess.
You'd have to hope the Balmain roster is deep in replacements for the fallen with the current attrition rate the way it is.
Next Friday night, the lads take on St George at their Spiritual Home, Jubliee Oval, Kogarah.
Jim the Macedonian will be there front and centre.
He won't be a very happy camper after his team was right thrashed over the weekend.
And so it goes.
MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 22. Tries: King, Cherry-Evans, Williams. Goals: Lyon (5).
WESTS TIGERS 18. Tries: Blair, Ryan, Reddy. Goals: Marshall (3)
At Central Coast Football Stadium, Gosford.
Crowd: 17,532.
