I have a confession to make. I went to the Rugby League International between Australia and New Zealand at the Dome. Sacrilege, I know... but I did spend the first half with my walkman on listening to the Melbourne v Sydney soccer match. As a Victorian, rugby is not my greatest love, although I have found myself appreciating the Union World Cup when it was on a few years back. Some of the rules are a bit strange, but as a cricket and AFL fan, I know that this is nothing to write home about. The crowd puzzled me. For most of the match, it felt like we were at a cricket Test - very subdued. The only excitement came when someone looked like they might get somewhere. Considering this was supposed to be an international with a lot of passion in it, it was pretty civilised. I would reckon that you average AFL home and away game would inspire far more crowd activity.
One other interesting thing (at least for sport loving Melbournians) is that the seat-moving-in feature of the Telstra Dome was in action. I heard about it at the time it was built, but had never seen it used. It looks like it reduces the seating capacity so that could be why they don't do it more often. But it looked cool!
The final point is that we only went because we had free Medallion club tickets, including car parking. I wouldn't have paid for what I saw.
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ah, now the one and only time I went to see an AFL game I was horrified by the raving, the spittle and flights or pure fantasy displayed by the crowd.
If the absence of such lunatic fanaticism is what you mean by 'subdued' then long may it live. :)
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