Melbourne fiesta to end in Holy Orders

THEY are calling it the biggest weekend in Melbourne’s sporting history. It began yesterday with the deciding match in the two-test International Rules series between Ireland’s amateur Gaelic footballers and Australia’s professional ‘footie’ giants, continues today when the same two nations collide in the Rugby World Cup and culminates on Tuesday with the most celebrated event in the Aussie sporting calendar, the Melbourne Cup.

An estimated 200,000 fans have descended on the sprawling Victoria state capital, which has a population of 3.2 million, and the many Irish bars in the city predictably have never known anything like it.

“I have never seen Melbourne so busy,” confirmed taxi driver Leonid Tikorov. “There are Irish everywhere. I have been driving a taxi for 26 years and there’s been nothing as busy as this before.

“Every hotel and hostel for miles is full, the traffic is crazy and the bars are bursting.”

“Melbourne has gone green,” said the female announcer on Fox Sports News, as images of revelling Paddies in Dicey Riley’s pub played across the screen, “and whether or not they enjoy success against Australia this weekend, the Irish are determined to have a good time.”

Unfortunately, Ireland did not get off to a good start, as John O’Keeffe’s brave International Rules side, although victors in the second test at the magnificent MCG, lost the series on aggregate to their hosts.

More than 60,000 turned out on a wet and windy night to enjoy a rollicking contest and with TV ratings soaring, the International Rules series, previously viewed rather sceptically in Oz, finally appears to have arrived.

With Gaelic football under attack following another dour All-Ireland championship, the GAA will be under pressure to adopt some of the features of this hybrid sport, which make it such a compelling spectacle.

Meanwhile, the Irish rugby team will hope to exact some revenge for that series loss at the Telstra Dome today when the two unbeaten sides in Pool A meet to determine who will avoid France in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan scored a notable psychological victory over his counterpart Eddie Jones by hinting early in the week that he was focusing on the quarter-final rather than the Australia match.

Two days later he selected his strongest side of the tournament, with Ronan O’Gara’s inclusion ahead of David Humphreys the most significant change from the team that scraped past Argentina in Adelaide last weekend.

Whether it will be enough to topple the mighty Wallabies is open to debate, with some bookies rating the home team as 21 points superior to their guests.

However, many pundits feel this could be a tight tussle and the Irish, as ever, will be motivated by the lusty support of the green hordes.

There is Irish interest in the Melbourne Cup also with a great deal of media interest this week surrounding Ireland’s cup-hopeful Holy Orders.

This is Australia’s most high-profile and richest horse-racing event and one that brings the nation to a standstill, with restaurants and bars booked out months in advance for special Melbourne Cup lunches.

Holy Orders has been in the news because the horse had shown distinct signs of homesickness and had been refusing to gallop since arriving Down Under.

Various tactics have been employed to soothe the beast’s rattled nerves, including the use of a local ‘horse-whisperer’.

Another intriguing dimension to a fascinating few days of sport Down Under.