East West wrap-up

The East West game is an oportunity for players throughout the country to show their talents to our National Coach and his assistant coaches as they consider the team to send to the International Cup in Melbourne in 2008. 

Here is a report from Joshua Goodstein, one of the organisers of the game.

May18th: The day before.
The week leading up to the EvW game was a weird one in Florida. The rains had come during a very bad drought, and not a second too soon as the pitch was becoming quite a hard one for Saturday's game. In the afternoon a group of 6 blokes traveled to the Broward County Central Regional Park. This park finishing in mid to late December of 2007 is the host of the only ICC sanctioned Cricket stadium in the USA. It will seat a total of 25,000 people (20K on the mound and 5K in covered bleachers). It has all of the latest in AV technology, scoreboards, and facilities. The park also features two practice/common play pitches outside the stadium, netball courts, basketball courts, a swim park, and plenty of meeting space. Talks have commenced with the local team (Squids), USFooty, and the AFL about hosting Footy events at the venue in the near future.
While the rain poured and we were not physically able to inspect the stadium, it is coming along at a rapid pace. The Squids will be working with the county to distribute updates and photos during the building process. All 6 people on the tour left quite impressed and anxious for the completion of the stadium and park in general.
 
May19th: Game Day
The teams met that morning from 10-11am. The plans were laid out and it was only a matter of time until the two sides collided in play. As the players arrived at the field they were happy to see a well organized event. The field was painted, the poles planted, the vendors were cooking away. Tents, scoreboards, cameramen, it was like a normal Saturday in Melbourne, except somehow transplanted in Florida.
The game took way a bit earlier then the planned tip off of 2pm. The East quickly jumped ahead of the West, 3 goals to nil. The West climbed back just as quickly and took the lead by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter continued with great play by the West who pulled their lead even further at the half to over 3 goals.
Halftime was quite the halftime. By Florida law if lightning is detected within 5 miles of a public park, all fields must be cleared and everyone should seek immediate cover. This is triggered by a 20 second horn blast, and not cleared for a minimum of 20 minutes which is signaled by 3 short blasts. So what should have been a 10 minute break quickly turned into a 50 minute halftime break. Every time the lightning was detected the time increased 20 minutes. Once the all clear sounded the 3rd quarter was on.
With the temperature in the upper 80's and the humidity in the 80's as well, it would prove to be a long quarter. The West continued their dominance by extending to over a 4 goal lead at the end of the third quarter with fatigue clearly setting in for both teams. The rotation and desire of the players however seemed to prevail and the game continued.
The fourth quarter saw the East down significantly but not out as the game announcer cantered over the PA system. The spirits were lifted and the game continued. Everyone got good playing time and the injuries were kept to a minimum. However at the final blast of the horn the West had prevailed 100 to 65. The players, umps, and fans all shook hands, cheered each other, and rushed over to get some great Aussie snacks.

The Evenings Festivities:
The players had cleared, the seating had been cleaned, the Revo's meeting was over, what else was left for 50+ USFooty players to do……..PUB & PARTY. The Squids had arranged a sports pub in downtown Ft. Lauderdale one of the hottest night life areas in Florida outside of South Beach. The players all met up with food and drink specials, watch a footy game on the telly, and enjoyed and nursed our egos and wounds. Many of the boys ventured off to other nightclubs throughout the night but a good time was definitely had by all.

Squids Thank USFooty:
Special thanks go out to Matt Jagger & BJ Gambaro for helping us plan and host the event. Thanks to Julie Upton for all of her hard work and support. Thanks to Wayne Krazka and Gregg Everett for their superb umpiring at the game. To the Squids who helped run the events, and mostly our thanks goes out to all of the players who attended the event. We here in south Florida hope you had a fantastic time, and we hope to see you all again at the new stadium SOON!!!!

Best players (in order by team * = Aussies)
West:  Rich Mann*, Steven Cliff*, Justin Valley, Mike Levalley, Zach Weaver, Marty Curry
East:  RJ Wheelock, Chris Carrol, Daniel Bridges*, Josh Loring, George Lakomy, Jeff Katstra
Submitted By Joshua Goodstein

- Joshua Goodstein
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