Connectivity in Jakarta
by Darren Spence
Sunday brought the start of the Holy month of Ramadan and with it the closure of all entertainment venues for the day (i.e – pubs). This brought with it a problem. Whilst I have access to the internet, for most private houses in Indonesia, connectivity (especially for streaming) is on a par with South Sudan so for a 10am start I had to find a business open that had sufficient streaming capabilities to watch the game.
Enter Starbucks. The Starbucks idea went pear shaped during the first quarter when people started staring at this weird guy with head phones screaming at his IPad so a new venue next door was sorted out for the 2nd quarter.
Enter McDonalds. Now if Starbucks went pear shaped, with the Dees down by 37 points midway through the 2nd quarter and the Dees completely butchering the ball, it is fair to say McDonalds wasn’t ‘the “family” restaurant’ they claim to be so another more suitable solution had to be found for the second half.
Enter Pizza Express. Across the road I spotted a pizza restaurant that was quite large and had an outdoor seating area – sufficiently isolated for me to vent without causing too much disruption. So after playing a potential lethal game of Frogger to cross the road (if you have ever been to Jakarta you would know that the only pedestrians that exist are found in cemeteries) I found myself seated in my third venue ready for the second half.
Fair to say the day so far had not gone so well. Feeling obligated (if I am going to utilise their free wi-fi) to at least make a purchase in each establishment I visited, my morning had consistent of 2 caramel frappuccio’s, a tuna panini, a cheeseburger and coke, a margarita pizza and a water – all before noon and all on the first day of Muslim fasting. Not only was I now feeling physically sick in the stomach but the Demons had put up probably up their worst half of the year.
The second half was way much better – a 7 goal 3rd quarter was the type of brand of footy that Roos has being trying to instill into the players all year and at last it clicked. OK we lost but to be honest with what we served up in the first half we didn’t really deserve to come away with the points. This is the 5th game this year we have lost by under 20 points and (with fear of accepting mediocrity) definitely shows some improvement over the previous seasons. The Demons of the past would have lost by more than 10 goals but the boys really need to focus on these lapses of ‘concentration?’ and string together 120 minutes of Paul Roos coached footy.
We did have some admirable performances on Sunday. Howe (on his birthday) was probably our best player, the Big Russian kicked 3 goals (should have kicked more) and had 43 hit outs. Our co-captain Grimes had a welcome return to form and kicked 2 goals for the first time in his career – maybe he was spurred on by his brother kicking his first ever AFL goal the same round – we may never know. Bernie Vince continues his stellar season and honourable mentions to Watts and Viney (who towelled up Libba).
This week we face the Dockers in Darwin after a 6 day break. A daunting task and we certainly cannot have the lapses we had on Sunday as a Ross Lyon coached team will never allow us back into the game. So the boys had better be switched on for the full 120 minutes. I am sure the boys are looking forward to the challenge and the chance to redeem themselves and show the football world that we can match it with the best the league has to offer.
POST SCRIPT – WARNING DIATRIBE AHEAD….
15.2.3 holding the football – Prior opportunity/No Prior opportunity: Where the field Umpire is satisfied that a Player in possession of the
football:
(a) has had a prior opportunity to dispose of the football, the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player if the Player does not
Kick or Handball the football immediately when they are Correctly Tackled; or
(b) has not had a prior opportunity to dispose of the football, the field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against that Player if, upon being
Correctly Tackled, the Player does not Correctly Dispose or attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football after being given a reasonable
opportunity to do so.
Does this rule exist anymore!!??….How many times (and it isn’t just against Melbourne) are we seeing great tackles not
rewarded!?….Even worse players getting penalised for tackling when an opponent intentionally ducks their head!.
Here is an idea!…..if you want to get rid of congestion around the ball – stop introducing ridiculous rule changes and just enforce a rule
that has been in the game since it was first developed. Pay a free = no congestion…..play it ‘soft’ and call a ball up = congestion.
Simple solution!
DIATRIBE OVER…..
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