Aussie Rules is alive in Beijing! We had our annual grudge match Beijing Bombers ( ) aginst the arch enemy Shanghai Tigers last weekend. The group in Beijing is called BARF (Beijing Auusie Rules Footy) and the irony of this word has also not been lost on some of the players, especially after Beijing defeated Shanghai for the first time.

We have no gound so we actually played the game at a turf farm! In the spirit of pure country footy we taped the goal posts (white pvc pipe) to a couple of droppers and we were away. The game was actually of quite a good standard with a few highly skilled players. Fitness (or lack there of) was an issue but no hammies were torn and no lasting injuries.

The sun shone and it was about 26C so pretty hot. Plenty of local beer was used to cool things down after the game. The game was played in good spirit with only a little umpire bashing.

Yours truely is well past the playing stage so found myself in the goal umpire role.

A great day and you will all be pleased to know that in the "official" photos taken on the day a mighty BLUES jumper featured in the photo below. The wearer refused to have a Bombers jumper on his body so he wore his Carlton jumper underneath. Good to see a man of principle!

A big day next Saturday as we all get together for the GF in a sports bar in the city.

Go Blues (I just can't say go the other mob!!)

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Didn't think of brushing off the whistle one more time Taff?

Sounds like it was fun.

Plenty of Tsing-Tao flowing!

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

Very tempting Jars but the Military Attache had already appointed himself so not for me to question that one! The fact that he hadn't umpired before was irrelevant. The other umpire was also a senior Aus Embassy offical so no job for the Tasmanian!

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Haha, nice one Taff! Surely the Beijing Blues would have been a better name. I'm assuming the Beijing Reds is already taken.

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I think it's the Hong Kong Blues. They've been up and running for some time, apparently they are very strong as well.

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Sorry Taff but I could have sworn that in the good old days of the mid to late 90's that both Shanghai and the original representative team from China, (Mainly Shanghai-erites) that played in a round robin event in Hong Kong, around the same time around the VFL Grand Final date, went by the name of the CFC (China Football Club) and the moniker of the China Blues, hence my Talking Carlton member name. They also wore the Navy Blue with great pride despite being continually humbled by that mob from Hong Kong year in year out. I tried in the early days to get myself an original jersey for posterities sake but was unsuccessful.

Glad that you had a great time. I might have to tag along next year with the Shanghai side, but could never put on that skuzzy yellow number they wear. If you end up short of numbers for the Beijing team however, I'd be happy to play, but again not in red and black.

Will have a drink next Saturday in your honor, and think of Grand Finals past, watching the game with you in Beijing.

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A Blues Supporter - not a Blues Bagger.

Nice one, Taff.
Who is the military attache? I might know him from my halcyon days in the ADF.
I'd love to try and get a game going here but I don't think there are enough expats to raise a team let alone two. I'd have to goal umpire as well.
We do have a cricket comp which is sanctioned by the ICC but. Mostly personnell from the embassies of Oz, NZ, UK, India and I think Paki as well but not sure.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

Hi there CB! If my info was wrong, Im happy to put full blame on some of the blokes from Shanghai who I was talking with after the game. Given your time in Beijing, I'll go on your local knowledge.
Cheers for next Saturday!

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Sorry BS don't know the MA's name. Didn't mind telling people what to do either!!

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

Thanks anyway.
We can get a bit that way

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)