Bra Boys

I found the Bra Boys documentary to be very interesting; I never would have though that a surfing gang would be so rough. In fact, I never thought there were surfing gangs at all. Its even scarier that their location, Maroubra, is right next to Coogee, where I have been many times. I have never seen a surf competition or been involved with surfing in the United States, so I cannot compare, but it really struck me when they said that the Australian surfing world is envied outside of Australia, but looked down upon in Australia. I found this to be very accurate. Surfers from Australia were very cool-seeming when I was young, and many aspired to be professional surfers like them. Surfers in general were definitely role models to young kids.

I also found the relationship between surfers and police to be very interesting and corrupt. While the Bra Boys did often get themselves into trouble by starting fights or protecting their territory, the police are supposed to be indifferent to who you are, and treat everyone fairly. I found it unneccessary that the police made these surfers their target while there were other bad characters in town, evidenced by the surfer's parents who were robbing banks and doing drugs. The Bra Boys were no angels in this relationship either, becuase they did target the police sometimes as well, but the relationship goes back much further than the Bra Boys. I really got a kick out of the ridiculous laws that the government came up with to try and deter the surfers from surfing.

I thought this was the best movie/documentary shown to the class yet, and I really enjoyed it.

Lawn Bowl

We went on a lawn bowling field trip this Sunday and it was so much fun! I loved that we played barefoot, it made the atmosphere much more relaxed. I didn't realize, however, that this game was so country club. It seemed that the game was for upper class people and I was surprised at how nice the bowling club was. Even the people there were all dressed in while polo shirts and white shorts. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place in my gym shorts and college hoodie sweatshirt. Country clubs in the U.S. are very fancy and exclusive like this club was, but the sports played at country clubs in the U.S. are most likely golf and tennis. It was interesting to see that a game like bachi, which is a very informal beach game, was being treated as an upper class sport.

I found the game itself to be very difficult! I love bachi, but this was a whole different mindset. Because the balls were weighted to one side I could never gauge where my ball was going to end up. Usually it was on the lawn next to us. I still enjoyed the game very much, and enjoyed it even more when my team won the horses arse trohpy!

Rugby and Tent Boxing Lecture

The lecture last week was both inspiring and curious. I loved the Rugby documentary because it showed the hard work and dedication the team put in to succeed, and it also clearly showed the integration of those with aboriginal descent in sport. The documentary seemed to capture an underdog story.

I found the lecture about tent boxing to be very strange but interesting. Violence makes me queasy so I was not a fan of the general idea of children fighting in front of a large crowd for entertainment purposes, but the culture is so different than that of the United States that I couldn't help but find it interesting. Traveling around with a circus to fight random civilions would never be a popular aspiration in the United States, but it seemed very common in Australia for some time. I found it particularly troubling how the circus leaders would take advantage of the children boxers by not treating them fairly, and abruptly shipping them home when they were done with them. I am glad that the tent boxing movement is over because it just seems too violent for children and young adults.