Opening Ceremony

Just about to head to bed after the first official day of Worlds.  The Dingos all arrived in Vancouver yesterday and we had a light run through today and did some throwing on some of the fields.  The entire Aussie contingent is staying at the Totem Residence at UBC and it is great to be together as a big unit: from the massive juniors troop complete with chaperones through to the Taipans with various children in tow.The opening ceremony was fantastic.  The Australian teams were the first to enter the "Thunderbird Stadium" and there was a decent crowd of 500 or 600 people to cheer us in.  The atmosphere grew and grew as more countries entered the stadium, filling up to several 1000 people by the time the massive Canadian crew had made their way in as the host nation taking up last place.

Preparing to enter the Stadium

The welcoming ceremony was an interesting mix of WFDF officials, local indigenous representatives welcoming us to the land, Brazilian dancers and Indian dancers from San Francisco.  The latter were a hit when they taught the entire stadium some Bollywoodesque dance moves which we then went along with in time to some simple sitar riffs.  Gold.  These preliminaries finished up (eventually ... ) and the showcase game between Canada and GB (mixed division) began.

Most people were expecting a Canadian landslide, and the hosts started strongly.  But the GB team was well drilled, athletic and didn't look overawed by the occasion.  Canada got out to a bit of a lead and was in front 9-5 I think at half.  However the Poms kept coming back and would not let go of the game.  In the end though, the Canuks proved too strong and ground out a 17-15 win.

Tomorrow sees the Dingos play one game against the Irish in the afternoon.  The Firetails are playing the USA in the morning, which should be a massive game, and then the Irish in the afternoon as well.

There will be a whole bunch of stuff going up on the official WUGC website so check it out - live score updates are happening I believe, so have a look if you like staying up late at night!

www.wugc2008.com

Jonno.