I would like to congratulate the members of the local Osborne Football Club for the manner they conducted themselves at their training camp at Jounama Creek over this weekend.
My wife and I are grey nomads and have been travelling this country and camping in lovely quiet places like Jounama Creek for the past eight years. So we know what can happen when testosterone and alcohol mix with some young campers and the havoc they can cause. So much to our horror, we were quickly hemmed in by a very large bunch of footballers and their entourage on Friday evening. There goes our quiet weekend we thought, we were so hemmed in we couldn't even hitch up and move.
The first inkling that things may not be as bad as we thought, was when two senior members approached us and apologised for hemming us in and promised they would be a well behaved bunch and fairly quiet, as this was their first training session. This was a first for us --people apologising before the havoc.
Much to our delight, they were so quiet the first night, I thought maybe they had packed up and quietly slipped away. I checked outside our van, but they were still there. No yahooing or shouting or drunken laughter and yelling and I am sure they have the full compliment of testosterone.
After all the bad publicity all football codes have experienced last season, if these gentlemen who get on with enjoying their sport and time together without annoying others are the future of this sporting nation, we have no problems. What also impressed me was the friendly and gentlemanly treatment we received. Their maturity and sense of responsibility for their group was astounding. Many came up to us and said hoped they had not been too noisy.
Too noisy? You wouldn't know they were there. Congratulations and well done to all concerned. Not a scrap of rubbish was left behind and you wouldn't know they had been here.
Paul and Marlies Elbourne, Grey Nomads travelling Australia.
Last Modified on 04/03/2014 21:07