I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but our entire day today was about soccer. Gosford City Football Club (GCFC) had their team registration today and we wanted to enquire about signing up the kids so we headed down to the Gosford RSL Club to talk for their open registration.
I'm not exactly sure what an RSL Club is, but I think we should have done our homework because we drew a bit of attention to ourselves when we first walked in. There were lots of people there and it was hard to figure out where to go, so we just decided to have a look around. Suddenly about 3 people working there started yelling to us to stop and to take our hats off. Then they told Tom he couldn't come in because he was wearing a tank top. We went over to the front desk and told a busy lady there that we didn't mean any offense, only that we were here to register our kids for the soccer league. She looked at me and said, "Do you have a red shirt?" Huh? Uh. Why would I need a red shirt? So I told her again it was just to sign up the kids and she told me that Tom couldn't come in because they have a dress code and that the soccer registration was back in the corner. So I followed her directions while Tom went to wait outside. We had some reservations about signing up the kids because we knew we couldn't commit to all the games. After talking to two of the coaches (one who also talked to the Club President about whether it was fine that we missed some games) they accepted us! On the 12 and 19th of February they are going to be assessed on their skills and placed on teams. The teams will be co-ed. Olin's assessment will be very thorough, while Alta's will be really basic. The season starts in April and runs through August. We are really excited about the opportunity for our kids to play. I played for some German clubs growing up and found that it is a great way to experience a country in a non-touristy way. This evening we went to Central Coast Stadium and watch the Central Coast Mariners play Perth Glory. The Mariners were having a deal on tickets. For every paid adult, a child under 12 gets in free! So our kids were free and we aren't about to pass up a deal like that! This was the kids' first professional soccer game. There were about 7,000 in attendance. Two things I noticed that I thought I'd mention for my soccer playing friends is that they watered the field before the game. Just before the game started all the sprinklers came on. Interesting. I'm not sure why they did it, but I imagine it is to soften the field a bit since it isn't as fun to play on a rock-hard dry field. The other is that at the kick-off both at the beginning of the game and at halftime the ball didn't make a complete rotation over the center line. The player just kicked it straight back to their team. I'm not sure if there is a FIFA rules change that I missed or if Aussies just do it different.
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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