They've been doing it all day sir!
Two Englishmen in Australia, talking sports and life in a new country
They've been doing it all day sir!
Ep 1. Intro
Join Chris and Ben as they talk about how the podcast idea came about, what life has been like moving to a new country so far, and insights into comparisons between Australian and English sports.
Hello and welcome to They've Been Doing It All Day, Sir. I'm Ben. And
SPEAKER_00:I'm Chris.
SPEAKER_02:And we're two Englishmen navigating a variety of sports Australia has to offer.
SPEAKER_00:Brookie Oval regulars get into grips with the NRL, life in a new country, and following any major sporting events coming up over the next couple of years. Join us on our adventures in the 2025 season, the highs, the lows, and everything in between.
SPEAKER_02:How are you, mate? Yeah, not too bad. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, can't grumble, can't grumble. Nearly Friday, nearly the weekend.
SPEAKER_02:We found ourselves in an interesting position. Let's talk about how we got here. So they've been doing it all day, sir. Where did the idea originate from? How did we end up in these seats? How did we end up where we are? Well, I think the whole
SPEAKER_00:idea itself was after many Guinnesses in the DYRSL, just talking about how we're talking off. Why not turn it into something that people can listen to? I think it's also good to get it out there in different points of view. You've got your professionals that are there and two Englishmen who have come from a football and rugby union background. It just gives a different point of view, doesn't
SPEAKER_02:it? Yeah, and I think how we met is an interesting story. I've been over here probably about two and a half years now, or just under two and a half years. And we ended up in the same office, in the same workplace. We sat behind each other. I think I made a flippant comment about playing American football. And then all of a sudden, tap on the shoulder, you walked over and said, ah. whereabouts did you play before? And I was like, oh, I played for the London Warriors. He told me you played for the Wembley Stallions. We had a significant number of mutual friends in common, which was crazy, which was pretty weird. The fact that we were sitting at a desk opposite each other. And yeah, conversation started flowing from there. And we spoke about what sports we follow, all that sort of stuff. And yeah, I think that's where it all started. And then from there, we've done a lot over the last two, two and a half years. We've been to a fair number of sporting events. We've Drunk a fair number of pints. We've done a fair few things. And I think that's, like you said, that's where the idea of this has come from. Having a good social time, talking about sport, talking about our experiences in Australia and kind of wonder how many other people are out there doing this. I wonder how many other people there are moved over here, same interests, same likes, and kind of, yeah, just to create a community around that. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:and it's crazy how... sort of similar our stories are minus me not having any kids but we're both both me and a partner who's Australian in London me just a little bit after after Covid and yourself just before and and moving to what now 10 minutes away from each other and as you said ended up in the same office opposite each other it's it's crazy to think you move tens of thousands of miles to the other side of the world and you're you end up chatting to someone who who's like you said got so many mutual friends, it's ridiculous. And yeah, that's sort of quite the interesting thing is you're coming from landing on the sort of the northern beaches and going through that sort of thing of what they would do now. It's like you've not, as a Birmingham City fan, don't have the trips to St. Andrews. as it's getting into a bit better times than it was but how do you sort of fill that void side of things and from that why did you decide to go down the Manly route?
SPEAKER_02:Well the fact that I live at the top of Beacon Hill Road and the fact that Brookie Oval I can walk to in 10 minutes piqued my interest in kind of Manly I'd heard about them before I'd heard kind of about the NRL about Rugby League about all that sort of stuff but I don't know I went along to a couple of games in that first year that I lived here actually I was doing a bit of travelling back and forward but I ended up going to Brookie Oval watching I think it was Manly against the Storm and then the Cowboys as well Jason Sarbin accepting
SPEAKER_00:down
SPEAKER_02:on the wing and I just remember do you know what I'm hooked on this I'm hooked on this live sport I love being a Chelsea supporter I was going to Stamford Bridge week in week out when I was back in London and then came over here and I was like, what's going to fill that void? Went to Brookie Oval, saw tins of beer being thrown about all over the place on the hill as Jason saw it run down the wing to put it down and score. And I was like, if this is just down the road for me, I've got to take this opportunity. So that's kind of where it all started. But I suppose going back to the point around kind of how we met and kind of how we got on, we both have in common American football as well. So what sort of things developed from... from that because you invited me along to coach for the Northern Sydney Rebels. Who are the Northern Sydney Rebels and kind of what do we have to do with them?
SPEAKER_00:Well, they're just long and short of it, a gridiron team based on the northern beaches. When I knew I was coming over here, I very much did my research around wanting to play American football. So I was looking at the teams with the New South Wales Wales, I'd messaged Sydney Uni Lions as I thought it was just the easiest team to go to because where I was living in London, I was commuting an hour and a half to training anyway. It was just the norm. So when I was sort of Googling how far myself and partner would be stopping to then get the training, it was about an hour and I was like, ah, that's sound. And then partner said to me, you do realise there's a team 10 minutes down the road. And I was like, all right, sounds so. Started with the Northern Sydney Rebels, started playing. and then coaching the women's side of the game. And I was only a couple of, I think we were only a couple of months into the season when you joined, when we started working together and invited you along. And unfortunately, you haven't left since, have you?
SPEAKER_02:That's one of the bits, I suppose that's one point to touch on there that you've mentioned, like living in London, which we both did, the vastness of London compared to where we live. Like you mentioned there, Sydney Uni, you would have had to travel across the bridge to get there, to train, to play. People, it feels like, from Australia, are reluctant to travel a certain distance to anywhere, whereas it was the norm. Like, I played for the London Warriors. I had to travel all the way around the M25 to get to training. Whereas here, it's almost like I want to find something local and I need something local. And when I found out, okay, you managed to tap me up, I was like, oh, I was done with this sport. I was kind of over gridiron American football. And I thought, moving to Australia, what's the next thing? And then to find out there was a local team that were only eight minutes away from where I lived. I didn't want to play, although I got back into playing. That's another story. But although I didn't want to play, I was like, OK, let's look at this coaching option. So I came along, coached, met some of the guys there and kind of just built friendships from there, really. And that's one of the other things to kind of talk about. Friendships, friendship circles. What was your experience moving over here of building a friendship circle? How did you go around doing that? It
SPEAKER_00:was difficult. I think very lucky that when I started working back in sort of recruitment, I had a very social office and that was a major help for it. And the thing is when you sort of first move over here, And you do need to find those sports clubs. So I went down to one of the Rebels events. I think I landed on the Friday and then was at a Rebels event that they were doing a welcome back event on the Sunday. So I sort of jumped into that straight away and started making friends like that. And it's a lot more clicky, I think I found, than the UK. when it does take a little bit longer to, I suppose, break into friendship groups. But that's, I suppose, that's what you come to expect. You're this outsider and you're trying to sort of build these new relationships and stuff like that. I was very lucky. I had my partner who was born and bred on the northern beaches, so we were able to sort of socialise with her friends and her partners, which was really helpful. Yeah. But then obviously over the time you're here, it just expands, expands. And again, sport is a massive aspect of that. And being able to sort of have that friendship group, but also start going to games with people like yourself and other friends, it sort of builds and helps with that initial move because it can be quite difficult when you do move to the other side of the world and you don't know anyone. But yeah, it's taken its time, but I can't argue with it now. It's absolutely unreal. We've got a great bunch of lads who play American football, so I can't argue there. How about yourself? I know you've come over with your wife who's Australian. Do you feel similar?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it's difficult. And that's one of the biggest things that I found about moving over here is the fear of... I've got all my best mates back in the UK. I've known them for 17, 18, 19 years. How do I start again? How do I build new friendships? How do I meet new people? What do I do? How do I do it? And I suppose, like you mentioned, the office is quite social. There's still a few guys there that we keep in contact with or I keep in contact with that I no longer work with or no longer work there. Yeah. That's one of the first things. The workplace is really important. What I found really difficult is then I moved into a role that was work from home, that was solely work from home, which isolated me, which was my own doing. But it was like, how do I then make friendships from there? As you mentioned, sporting clubs were... We're absolutely massive. The rebels, the amount of guys that I've met there, we've had some good nights out, we've had some good times. And even now we're using the studio, one of the other guys on the team. So it's just building those connections is so important. It's so difficult. You kind of got to put yourself out there as well. Yeah, massive. Out of your comfort zone, turning up to events, going to socials, doing that sort of stuff. You invited me along to the... What was it that
SPEAKER_00:you invited? The awards and the season awards.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think first it was the AGM that I turned up to, which was probably the most boring meeting I've ever sat through because no one wanted to do anything. No one wanted to be there. They were just there for the free pizza and the awards. But I was there for that. I met a few people then, which kind of eased me into then turning up for coaching as I knew a few of the guys. and then from there yeah it's the sporting side of things and joining a club was one of the biggest things to make in that social circle so it's really important that pushing out of that comfort zone you just say yes to things
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_02:i went traveling a number of years ago and that was kind of one of my mantras is like right just say yes to things i found myself in some unreal places around the world doing it some sticky situations as well but some absolutely unreal places just saying yes to things so that's one of the biggest things i learned about moving over here i have a wife i have kids it's a slightly different social setup in terms of being able to spend time away from the family but um like you say living over here compared to the UK, the outdoors lifestyle, the ability to have things on your doorstep, not have to travel. Sounds stupid, but get on a tube and go 15, 20 minutes, half hour somewhere. Just walk here, go there, have some of the nicest beaches in the world on your doorstep. It really, really does help.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, massively.
SPEAKER_02:For sure. So let's talk about sport then. So let's talk about sport in the UK first, and then we'll talk about sport in Australia. So You mentioned Birmingham Football Club. What's the history of them?
SPEAKER_00:Supported them from a very, very young age. Mum's from Birmingham, born and bred. My dad was from the northeast. He's a massive Sunderland fan. So I've got a little bit of a soft spot for Sunderland there. But there's a famous picture of me as a baby in a Sunderland jersey, cry my eyes out, which is quite funny. So never went down the Sunderland route. But with Birmingham, whole mum's side of the family were Birmingham. So uncles would take me down to the games and things like that. And you sort of just fall in love with it way there. First game was a... FA Cup third round against Leeds. Brian Hughes scored. I've sat in the upper railway, which is now the upper Gilmeric. You just fall in love with it. When you think back, it's the little things like the smell of the hot dogs as you're walking up to the ground. It's the smell of the grass when you get into the ground. It all comes back now. It's more the smell of the beer on the floor in the pubs before the game. The sticky floors. Yeah, very sticky floors in some of the best pubs in Birmingham but now it's very much I think you can not really compare it to Manly but we've had our highs and lows as a Birmingham City fan like relegation to League One last year doing alright this year in that side of things winning a cup against Arsenal in the last minute can't argue with that was that Wembley to watch that and yeah it's just it's a team of misses I'll get up at after clock in the morning to watch games and And things like that. So from that, the football side of things, grew up playing rugby. So rugby has always been a big part of my life as well as playing cricket. So it's just an absolute love of sport in general, to be honest, which I think is something that we both have very much in common in that side of things. And yeah, do you want to, I suppose, talk about Chelsea?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So, I mean, I was born in the 80s, so late 80s. So people that come out and move the allegations around, oh, you're just a glory hunter. You only support Chelsea for the trophy since the money came in, blah, blah, blah. I can squash those. Certainly didn't. My late uncle was a Chelsea fan. He gave me, when I was five years old, gave me... I was actually started in Arsenal support. I hate to admit that. Was standing in the kitchen one day and he just turned up with... I don't know if you remember, there's that grey and orange... horrendous Chelsea away top that had cores across
SPEAKER_00:it yes yes yes it is
SPEAKER_02:yeah he turned up and he gave me that as a birthday present my mum was like what are you giving him that for he's an Arsenal supporter anyway since that moment supported Chelsea so he unfortunately passed away like a month or two later so that's the reason why I follow Chelsea the first game I ever went to actually was a absolute snore fest at Stamford Bridge it was Chelsea versus QPR and it ended 1-1 and I remember being in primary school at the time And my teacher, Miss O'Neill, I remember her name, was a QPR fan. And she was going to the game in the away fan. It was when Stamford Bridge was still being redeveloped. The pitch was like a beach. It was sandy. It was terrible. And yeah, Chelsea went 1-0 up, but then QPR equalised. I believe it was late on. And yeah, I went back into school on the Monday and she was pretty happy that they nabbed a 1-1 draw. But since then, followed Chelsea. So in my early years, went to... kind of FA Cup final. What was it? The Carabao Cup final? No. What was the other callback? Worthington Cup. Carling Cup. Carling Cup. Or is it the Worthington Cup? It was the Littlewoods Cup. No, it was the Littlewoods FA Cup and the... I can
SPEAKER_00:only
SPEAKER_02:remember back to where that was. Coca-Cola Cup. That's what it was, the Coca-Cola Cup. And we beat Middlesbrough in both of them. And when Roberto Di Matteo scored in 43 seconds, I was there on the halfway line. I remember just about getting into my seat and then erupting. And then, yeah, it kind of... Then the successful years of Chelsea came in and that's where you kind of got hooked on it. Just winning trophy after trophy and... was pretty good, having characters as managers, Jose Mourinho coming in, some incredible players that came through at Chelsea, obviously John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, all absolute legends, but then all changed. And I suppose, for me, in the early days, I didn't go so much to Stamford Bridge because, I don't know, I was young growing up, never really went, but as I got older, kind of just... It was around the time of COVID. It was around the Euros when it was held in England. I was sitting at home. England were playing Germany, I believe it was. Yeah, 2-0. And I logged on to the UEFA website for some reason just to see if there was tickets available for the semi-final because that was at Wembley. And I knew that if we beat Germany, we'd have Ukraine in the next round. So I was like, oh, let me have a look and see what the cost of tickets are for the semifinal. There was one available. I was like, oh, I'm going to buy it. So I bought it. Obviously, we beat Germany. Then we played Ukraine, beat them 4-0. So I was like, wow, I'm going to be going to a Euro semifinal at Wembley. It was carnage, absolute carnage. But that then reignited live sport again, like going to watch live sport, the passion of it. And from then on, then went to stanford bridge weekly like i'd be on i was i was a member and but it was so difficult to get tickets through the uh virtual waiting room for for chelsea obviously being like such a popular club with tourists really difficult to get tickets but um yeah managed to get them off twitter tried to got them off resellers i know people will hate that but got them off resellers and stuff like that and just absolutely loved going to stanford bridge absolutely loved Walking up the stairs, seeing the fresh cut grass, going to an evening game, seeing the floodlights on the pitch, the atmosphere before, the atmosphere after, the moans, the groans. People have referred to it, but the banging on the stands at Stamford Bridge. I was there when Chelsea played Liverpool, ended 2-2, but Chelsea went 2-0 down real early. Then Kovacic scored an absolute screamer. crowd erupted but then Pulisic equalized like five minutes later and the roar still to this day is like one of the best celebrations I've heard in a stadium and that just ignited the passion for the live sport again like going week in week out and when we when I moved to Australia I was like huh what do I how can I scratch that itch of wanting to continue to go to live sport so yeah that's how Kind of followed Chelsea and other sports really growing up. This is going to be a bit of a rogue one, but I was actually fairly good at badminton growing up. Managed to get to the final of a school's cup in doubles, but went skiing the week before and snapped my thumb. So I couldn't play in the final, which was really disappointing. So that was a shame. But yeah, cricket, rugby, all the sort of similar sports growing up.
SPEAKER_00:My rogue one was cross country. That is rogue. First couple of years of secondary school, I was very good at cross country.
SPEAKER_02:Never would have said that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know. 100 kilos ago, I was able to run a couple of miles quite quickly. But yeah, that's one of the big differences, I think, from what you were saying that I've found and I think we've found is accessibility to tickets, I think, is a huge thing. Yeah. In the UK at the moment, because Birmingham are on a bit of a good run and we're actually winning games for a change, you can't get a home ticket. You have to be a member. You have to join a waitlist like the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City. Away tickets, you just laugh at the thought of being a... with the sort of segregation there is in football and we're only going to grounds that are a few thousand. So your allocation gets smaller and smaller. So it's only making it to the first round of platinum and gold members. And with that sort of allocation and then pricing as well, it's like you want to go to a day of sort of lords to watch a test match, you're looking at 160 quid. You want to go to a Six Nations game at Twickenham, you're looking at, again, very similar, 160 quid. This seems like... people are being outpriced.
SPEAKER_02:I remember in 2012, I think it was, or 2012, 2013, I went to watch England versus South Africa in an ultimate national test, and we were up in the rafters, and it was£125, so near on 250 bucks, just to go and watch a category D seat, and it was 250 bucks to go watch it. And you say on top of that, it's like... The beers are going to cost, the transport, the food. You're looking at a seriously expensive day to go and watch live sport. But how does that compare to over here? What have you found in Australia, your experience of access to live sport?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we've been sort of everywhere. Magic Round, I think one of the first conversations we had at work when we both sort of realised we... we were going to be sort of manly fans. We sorted out the memberships for the 2023 season. And then we were like, ah, there's State of Origin. So we do State of Origin and die hard. New South Wales, blue now. The other one was Magic Round. We'd known each other, what, a couple of months? And we were like, I got early access through the membership and early bird offer. And we logged on, I think it was$80 for the whole weekend. Scandalous. Which is incredible for, what, five, six games of league. And it's over three days. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible. A great value for money. And that side of things is... We've been very, very lucky and just being able to buy grand final tickets. As soon as they released, we went to the incredible 2023 final with the Panthers Broncos where Nathan Cleary turned into an absolute magician at halftime and absolutely ran the show. And what a final to be at as a neutral. I think we paid 60 bucks for those tickets. That goes to show. And that's... The massive difference at the moment is the accessibility and the price. We went to the SEG a few weeks ago to watch the last day of the Australia-India test, and that was$130, which is probably the most I've spent on a ticket over here. But even that, compared to back home, is very reasonably priced and something that I'd be more than happy to sort of pay while we're Well, just to scratch that, each of the last four, I suppose.
SPEAKER_02:I agree. The cost of tickets I find over here is ridiculously cheap. And even like the cost of our membership to where we sit at Brookie Oval, up in the Ken Arthurson stand as like a gold member, isn't that much. I can't remember the exact price of it, but it's still relevant. Or compared to the UK, the cost of a Chelsea season ticket is like minimum price.£1,000, so like nearly$2,000 at the moment, which is an absolute joke. And I think we pay a third of that, if that, for our manly. And to get to see 12 games this season as well. is absolutely incredible. So the access to tickets over here and being able to go and see sporting events, and we're going to talk a lot more about where we're going and what we're doing, but we've been able to get tickets to, like you say, some of the biggest sporting events out there. We're going to be going to see the British and Irish Lions. We're going to be touring with them, hopefully be able to get Ashes tickets. And there's so many sporting events coming up in Australia. We've got the Olympics in 2032. We've got the Rugby League World Cup. We've got the Rugby Union World Cup. There's so much going on that I feel that we're going to be able to get amongst it and kind of see a lot of sport in Australia, which is incredible. One other thing then to ask you, let's talk about kind of stadium experience compared to the UK. What is your experience of being in a stadium, the atmosphere kind of? Because I know we've spoken about this in the pub, but what are your thoughts on it?
SPEAKER_00:First of all, I absolutely love an old school stadium. Absolutely love... Brookie Oval that old school feel four pretty separate sides of the ground it's brilliant like the Leichhardt Oval what a great little ground to go to to go and watch a game of league and unfortunately we lost there last year when we went and I think that's one of the reasons why we may never venture on away game again I
SPEAKER_02:don't think we've won we've been to see Manly about four or five away games and we've lost every single one of them yeah so
SPEAKER_00:I think we've got to stay well clear and Atmosphere-wise, it's difficult to always compare to European football, I think. I think that is a very hard thing to try and beat and replicate. I think the big thing is the segregation of fans. I know we've talked about it previously, and it may actually help an atmosphere, I suppose, if they do have an away section. You can still buy tickets next to your mates and stuff like that, but having that... specific section where there's songs of that team and coming from I think that could definitely add to it don't get me wrong Brookie on an evening is absolutely rocking but it's not what the it's not what the European football is
SPEAKER_02:it's rocking for a different reason and I suppose league has built up it's kind of the way fans are it's quite raucous I find like it's quite a raucous atmosphere when it gets going like if the game's a bit dull I find the atmosphere can be dull but One thing you don't get, and you kind of alluded to it, is the pack mentality. European football is one of the worst for it. It's a positive and negative of the game in Europe in terms of you can get some great atmospheres in stadiums. There's been times where home and away fans are going at it, chanting at each other, like something happens, cheers and cheers, then something happens the other end and it's cheers and cheers again. But then it can also bring out the worst in people
SPEAKER_00:as well. Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02:So especially when there's alcohol involved in the UK and there's like bans on alcohol in stands, you're not allowed to drink. I'm talking about Premier League and other football, soccer stadiums. You're not allowed to drink within the sight of a pitch and stuff like that. And it's to reduce kind of the... aggression and the bad things that can happen when it comes to drinking too much alcohol or that pack mob mentality. But it just adds to the atmosphere. I think it's something that you can't replicate over here. It seems to me like we went to State of Origin, we've been to it twice. I don't agree with the Accor as a stadium for a start for State of Origin. I think the pitch is too far away from the stand. But when you arrive to the stadium, There's no animosity. And it might be different in Brisbane. It might be different at the Suncorp. I don't know. But when you're walking to the ground, it's all quite friendly. It's all quite calm. Now, it doesn't need to be raucous. It doesn't need to be kind of New South Wales, Queensland bashing each other as they're going along. But a little bit of aggro here and there wouldn't go amiss. And I think it's fixtures like that where it's a rivalry or where it's a huge game, where it's a big kind of derby or something like that. there could be a bit more. I don't know whether it's the mixing of the fans in the crowd.
SPEAKER_00:It would be unreal to have an 8,000, 9,000 away end of State of Origin. That would be incredible. Especially up at the Suncorp, very much San Siro-esque. You have one of those whole uppity as just New South Wales Blues. I think that would be incredible. I think that would be... a very good addition to what already is a very pinnacle fixture. And that side of things where you do have that little bit of animosity, all it takes is that one big hit off a kickoff and the whole thing shifts. And it is pretty awesome
SPEAKER_02:to watch when that does happen. One thing that absolutely blows my mind about sports in Australia and going to watch live sport is the mixture of jerseys that you see in the crowd. I mean, I know there's that Instagram account that's, what's it called, Random South's jersey or something like that, where you do see a South Sydney Rabbitohs jersey all over the world, no matter the sporting event. But I still can't get over or get my head around seeing someone wearing a Penrith Panthers jersey to a Manny Melbourne game. It just blows my
SPEAKER_00:mind. It sounds like we're sort of hating on Australian jerseys. like sort of atmospheres and cultures here but we're not we're just very much comparing what we're we're used to to back home like if I went to when I was at university I was up in I was up in Sunderland and I went to a Sunderland Blackburn game I would never ever ever wear a Birmingham City top to that game it just it it is very foreign to me I suppose and and I suppose it's just part of the NRL culture going to watch an NRL game I'll just put on my jersey um but yeah it's it's it's a strange one um especially especially when it's like a a derby i suppose um in the in the sense of you've got what two teams that hate each other like roosters roosters rabbit o's and it's roosters manly and there's loads of rabbit o's jerseys there it's like it's it's it's it's interesting i think i'm gonna bottle that down too
SPEAKER_02:yeah i agree but I suppose on the flip side of that, you say it sounds like we're bashing Australian sports or Australian crowds. Having mixed fans, I also think brings out an element of being able to have a bit of banter with opposition supporters. Where we sit, quite often we had the row in front of us was general admission and regularly banter. there was a Wave fan sitting at them and we had some really good, I think they're the Gold Coast Titans fans sitting in front of us that they got up early, then Manly took over and it was kind of a bit of a back and forth. We had a Penrith guy who was sitting next to us. I think we've experienced a lot and kind of one thing that I'll bring it back to as well is when we went to watch Origin, we were sitting in the Batchy Blues section and again, this blows my mind, but we had a Queenslander sitting in front of us and yeah it got a bit tasty there but it's I just think it can bring out like a good a good side to to sport in the fact you see where it is like it's a competition on the field in the stands it's kind of a bit of a rivalry but it's actually just a load of people playing sport on a field and everyone's there to enjoy it so it is really good to have people around you where they um Yeah, everyone's there for the same reason, but they want a different team to win. They want a different outcome. And you can have some really good times in the concourse when you bump into people, when you're mixing with people on the train, the journey there, the journey back. So I do think it has some really good elements to it as well.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we made best friends with the people who were sat around at the Suncorp for Magic Round, didn't we? Yes, we did. That was a good Friday evening.
SPEAKER_02:They were Bronco season ticket holders, weren't they? They got kicked out of their seats and put up with us in the cheap seats for some reason. But yeah, we had a good time. We were there two and a half, three days or whatever it was that we went to watch. We sat next to them, which was really good. But that was a heavy weekend. That's maybe something that we can... Although Manly have got a bye this year, so we're not going to be at Magic Round this year. I think it's a shame Manly have got a bye, but a great weekend to go to. The Friday night was Manly, we played the Broncos, lost again because we went to watch Manly away. Got beaten fairly comfortably, actually. And then, yeah, it was a very good night after that, and the Saturday was a struggle. But, yeah, and that goes to show, talking about the mixed crowds again, where it can work like Magic Round I think is a great example of where people are down Caxton Street you have a number of different teams what is it the 16 teams that are playing each other that weekend everyone's there everyone's out and about celebrating and the one thing that does I'll take it back to what I said earlier about the Euro semi-final so when I went to watch that in the UK and this is kind of this was in London this is one of the bad sides and I think it got publicised worldwide for the final especially but The scenes of kind of, I don't know, just chaos before were too much. Like there's no way that people would want to take their families along to that. Whereas over here is very much a culture of where you can go over your family. You can take your young kids. You can go and have a good time knowing that there isn't the threat. I mean, there's always going to be some idiots there. Yeah, but there's never going to be the threat of that. it's going to kick off. I'm going to have to protect my family. I'm going to have to do something. I'm going to have to watch out for myself or anything like that. I'm going to be checking over my shoulder for this, that and the other. And I think that's what I'm real positive about. It's a very inclusive, anyone can go along and watch it, no matter when, you can go and watch a random game if you want and wear a jersey and you'll be absolutely fine. And
SPEAKER_00:going on from sort of that as well, like sort of the family atmosphere and it being the NRL, very inclusive, it's, One thing I've got to mention is just seeing the players walking around like they're just going about there every day, which is absolutely crazy because I was in the gym a few weeks ago. I was there with his mates having a workout. You would never, ever have what Frank Lampard working out in a 24-hour fitness sort of gym with Joe Bloggs and the rest of the public. It is crazy. And after, I think it was the end of the 2023 season where we were last home game, we went to the Brookie Hotel after for a few and we were there till like very early hours of the morning. And then the whole Manly team just strolled in. And it's like, this is incredible. It's mental. The access, not the access you have to the players, but just the... calmness around it is is again so different to back home
SPEAKER_02:and it probably goes back to that mob mentality like because these these sports stars in the uk are seen as idols people just want a bit of them like in terms of i want your autograph i want a photo with you i want social media this whereas here they just go about their business like you say they're in the gym they're in the pub down Bunnings grabbing a snack like there's so many times that we've just seen people kicking about at cafes or anything like that and I think that that is a really good thing and it would encourage people to come over here it would encourage people to kind of get involved in sport knowing I mean I saw Michael Hooper he walks regularly down Manly Beach like just playing in in the um on the swings on the beach like I know he's a keen surfer you see that and it's great that I think sports stars can just be themselves and and walk up and down and not get hassled. And that's, yeah, real positive, I think, of over here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So let's talk about what's coming up. So big sporting year ahead.
SPEAKER_00:Massive. Massive.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely massive sporting year ahead. So we're both, as we've mentioned, manly members for the upcoming season, which... Kicks off in a few weeks' time. Manny are playing at home against the Cowboys on a Saturday night, Brookie Oval. I think it's going to be an absolute barnstormer. Cowboys went well last year. I think it's a great game to open the season. We think it'll be physical, but we've got the season to look forward to. Where are we going for the British and Irish Lions as well? All over.
SPEAKER_00:Tour of Australia, here we come. Heading over to Perth for the first game, first warm-up game against the Western Force, which is going to be an incredible experience. Something that I've wanted to do since I was a very young child was a Lions tour and being able to do it with... relative ease i suppose i think even even again going back to the access of tickets like you're able to get two tickets for six of the games for again only something like 800 which which is which is mad when you include like three tests in that um and and and yeah going from that we're going going up to brisbane as well down to melbourne we'll be at the uh mcg on my birthday which which is going to be a great day for the for one of the tests and then we've got the the two warm-up games within sort of New South Wales and the ACT as well. So the Allianz, which I think is a fantastic round. And I think going back to what you were saying about state of origin, I think that would be an incredible ground to hold it out. Just with the proximity of how close the fans are to the field. Granted, the attendance will be a little bit lower, but I think it would just be a great, great sort of ground to have that.
SPEAKER_02:I think the Allianz has the opportunity to be the Suncorp of New South Wales. I think the atmosphere that you get there, I mean, we could talk about this for ages about kind of, and I'm sure we will coming up because state of origin, but the only, as you mentioned there about the British and Irish Lions, the only difficulty with that is one of the tests or warmups overlaps with the Sydney fixture for, for origin. So unfortunately we won't be going to origin this year, but yeah, Yeah, we've got a lot to look forward to. And the big thing about it is we've both got our British and Irish Lions tops. We've both been sporting them. Going to don a pair of shorts and socks as well and go around in full kit. So keeping out for that one, I think it's going to be a real fun tour. Really looking forward to it. I think the Optus Stadium could be a real good one. And the MCG, 90,000 people in there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and the great thing is sort of seeing Australian teams Australia's resurgence under Joe Schmidt has been a really good thing because they had quite a... I'd say from a rugby championship point of view where they didn't go so well to then be able to flip it around quite quickly to the November internationals, I think it's going to be a lot closer than people think. Yeah. I still think it's going to be 3-0 to the British and Irish Lions but I think some of the games are going to be a lot closer. My opinion may change very soon depending on what happens with the Australia team and if any other NRL players end up getting bought over which Joseph Swaley has been an unreal addition to that Wallabies team. I didn't realise how much of an impact he would have had but it It was incredible to watch him play.
SPEAKER_02:He's a great player. He definitely added something. And in the future, before we go on the tour, we'll probably do an episode where we preview what we're going to get up to, kind of where we're going to be, what we're doing, and kind of what we think is going to happen in each fixture. But I'm just trying to think, what else have we got lined up? So far, for the moment, we've got those two. And then at the end of the year, a
SPEAKER_00:real big one. The Ashes. Five tests, five days. 25 days of test cricket.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's only going to be 15, 16 days total.
SPEAKER_00:There's no draws in Basball. Basball versus Cumball, it's going to be a good series. We're definitely trying to get tickets to Sydney, try and get down to Adelaide as well and try and add the ashes to a great year of sport in general.
SPEAKER_02:So what can we expect next? What's on next week's episode? I think we're going to talk a bit more about kind of how we got into the NRL, why we support Manly, go a bit deeper into that and kind of talk a little bit more about our experiences of following Manly over the last two seasons. We've touched on a few things in this episode, but we may be able to talk about kind of our experiences at Parramatta away. Wasn't
SPEAKER_00:it sort of 20-0 up in the first 20 minutes and ended up shooting us off. We'll touch on that anyway next week.
SPEAKER_02:But it's terrible. Yeah, but we'll talk all things Manly next episode, all things NRL, kind of how we got into the sport. We'll wrap it up there. Thanks for listening to They've Been Doing It All Day, Sir. We hope you've enjoyed this first episode. Be sure to subscribe, follow along on socials and keep an eye out on social media platforms for upcoming episodes.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks very much.