Firsts. Our teenage years are full of them - first kisses, first jobs, first day at high school, etc. We often face our firsts with either heightened apprehension or excitement, but regardless of what emotion we feel at the time, our firsts are always memorable.

It is my pleasure to share with you a unique and very special moment of my life - my first live AFL match.

I have always heard of friends and randoms talking about attending AFL matches, and watched parts of AFL games on TV, but I have never actually gone to an actual match. At the ripe age of 19 I guess that I have delayed this first for long enough. I know that many of my friends have gone, and that some are regulars, but personally I have never been interested in the game until the last few months.

Sunday 27th May 2012. Round 9 - Carlton vs. Melbourne. Melbourne Cricket Ground

Before the day I knew that Melbourne was on the bottom of the ladder while Carlton was ranked 7th. My friend told me beforehand that the odds were roughly 1:10 against Melbourne and remarked that it wouldn’t be a very good match to watch. However, when you have never seen a match before there is no such thing as a “bad game to watch” and furthermore, I was curious as to what a football team getting destroyed in AFL looked like on the field.

And so I went to the MCG on a chilly Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend Vicky to sate my curiosity. The very first thing that captured my mind was the sheer size of the MCG. From where I was sitting, everyone looked like ants, even the players on the field. I found that it was a lot harder to follow the ball than on TV, as it looked like a little speck from my position (up in the highest tier seats, about the same distance from both goal posts).

I was surrounded by supporters for both teams, all intent on incessantly barracking their own side to victory whilst viciously protesting against umpire calls which disadvantaged their team. Immediately behind where I was sitting was a batch of noisy Melbourne supporters who started off quite vocal in their disapproval of Carlton players. They would often scream at the umpire to give a free kick or a penalty against Carlton, but alas, they were unheard amongst thousands of spectators doing the same thing.

Behind the Melbourne supporters was an old man who I never saw, but who I heard for the entire time I was sitting there. His croaky, raspy voice would continually encourage Carlton with remarks such as “Keep going Carlton” and “That’s the way.” Unlike the Melbourne supporters who grew quiet towards the end of the 1st quarter, this old man never backed down from his support. I found it interesting how the supporters I encountered would never criticize or applaud specific moves, and instead they would just give general support at random times as in “Come on Melbourne.”

I foolishly forgot to bring a beanie, scarf or any warmer clothes for the day and was tormented by the cold winds for much of the match. I found relief when I bought hot chips at halftime. They were so nice on that freezing day - the warmth permeating my body and shielding it from the harsh gusts that continually assaulted me. Sitting to watch a live game has helped me understand some of the sales that are associated with football. Meat pies and chips are always appreciated because they are fast, cheap, convenient and most importantly warm. Team-branded beanies and scarfs are quite apt as the football season includes the colder seasons.

The first quarter did not go the way I expected it to. I expected Melbourne to be destroyed yet somehow they emerged 2 or 3 goals ahead of Carlton. For the first quarter, Melbourne was in front. Carlton only managed to equalise with a last-minute goal by Eddie Betts at the very end of the first quarter.

With the teams competing neck-to-neck to rack up more goals, this was the most exciting part of the game.  The skill displayed by the players was quite entrancing at times. In particular there was an instance where a Carlton player was in the midst of a bunch of Melbourne players, and he succeeded in skilfully weaving his way around them, keeping himself out of their reach through a series of feints and proceeding to handball the footy swiftly to a free teammate. This manoeuvre epitomised Carlton’s play - a graceful mix of agility and teamwork.

I noticed that whenever players got the ball they would get rid of it as fast as possible before they got tackled by the opposition. A major component of Australian Rules Football is to tackle the opponent so that they do not have the opportunity to mark, or pass the ball. This is why on the football field most players are paired up with an opposing player - to prevent uncontested possession which in turn lets the other team do what they want with the ball. It is tough to mark (i.e. catch) the ball when you have an opposing team player right next to you ready to push or tackle you out of the ball’s reach, and a lot of the marks were from the ball being kicked not directly to the teammate, but on a side closer to them than the tagger so that the teammate runs towards the flying ball and has a headstart over their tagger.

At the start of the 2nd quarter Melbourne had a 1 point advantage over Carlton, but they soon conceded this advantage and their gameplay went downhill from there. By the 4th quarter they were getting absolutely demolished. Carlton just kept kicking goals and Melbourne could barely reciprocate.

One incident in the 4th quarter which exemplifies how Carlton outplayed Melbourne was when the ball was kicked towards the Carlton goals. There was one Carlton and one Melbourne player contesting the mark for the ball, and if the Melbourne player succeeding in marking the ball it would have been an easy goal for them. The Carlton player simply pushed the Melbourne player aside, marked the ball with no-one to contest him, and kicked it away from the goals to a nearby teammate.

The end result was Carlton 107 against Melbourne 49, a 58 point victory. In the final quarter Carlton acquired a fair 45 points while Melbourne acquired a measly 3 points which goes to show how much Melbourne’s play deteriorated over the course of the game. At the end of the day Melbourne could not match Carlton’s superior teamwork.

After the game I went to the Carlton Football Club locker room. The victorious team walked down the ramp into the locker room, cheered by jubilant fans. In the locker room there was a cage separating the spectators, and team players and staff. I initially thought it was going to be quite awkward: I envisioned me being on my own in the midst of Carlton players changing clothes. But as it happened there were many other supporters with locker room passes so my fears did not become reality.

The players were fairly low-key after their victory. There was no celebration in the locker room; all the players did was sit against the wall, stretch, change and head home.

All in all I found it quite enlightening to attend my first live AFL match. I saw and learned a lot. Even if the odds were 1:10, it’s quite thrilling to watch your team win in the first game that you attend. I hope to go to more games in the future and watch Carlton thrash more teams!!!

Jeff Tang is currently completing an internship at the Carlton Football Club. He and four other university students, all from different ethnic backgrounds, are writing a fortnightly blog for the Club's new Facebook page, New Blue. If you'd like to learn more about the program, click here.