V Is For Vector

A Tale Of Jetlag, A Suitcase And A Very Long Day

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Richmond station here in Melbourne is a major suburban junction that also serves as the jumping-off point for thousands of sports-mad Melburnians. Instead of driving in to the city and trying to find a parking spot, the majority prefer to take a train and then walk across to the mighty stadium we know as the MCG, or Melbourne Cricket Ground.

My first encounter with Richmond station here in Melbourne was an interesting one. It was in February 1985, when I still lived in Calcutta, India. Let me start at the very beginning ...

I was in the Indian commercial capital Bombay (on the west coast) on a long writing assignment, when the phone rang early one morning. It was a colleague of mine, saying I was to drop everything and return to Calcutta. Was there a problem, I asked. No, he said, but I would have to fly to Australia at short notice. Make that very short notice.

It was a Thursday. I had to be in Melbourne by Saturday morning to cover the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket. We're a phlegmatic bunch, us sportswriters. Nothing's too much of a drama.


So I caught an afternoon flight and flew across the country to Calcutta (on the east coast) which was my hometown at the time. I went home, packed a suitcase, picked up my passport, dropped in to the office for a briefing and caught a flight with a colleague to New Delhi (in the north). We had to go to the Australian High Commission there and get high-priority media visas. That done, we went to the airport to board a KLM flight, but was told that it was full.

Instead, my boss told us both to get on a flight to Bombay, where my own journey had begun 24 hours earlier, and attempt to get a Qantas flight. This worked perfectly and, having flown right round India, we then boarded a Boeing 747 to Singapore. After a couple of hours in transit there, we caught another Qantas flight to Sydney and then to Melbourne.

Jetlag? We didn't even have time for jetlag. Sleep had not played much part in my life for 48 hours.

But here we were, each with a heavy suitcase, outside a crowded stadium on the opening day of a full-strength international tournament. Someone suggested that we simply walk across the road and ask the rail staff at Richmond station if we could leave our suitcases there. Deep in the bowels of the station we found a couple of uniformed employees who waved away our apologies and said there was no problem at all. Yes, of course we could leave our suitcases there.


Several hours later, the opening match of the tournament was over - unlike baseball or Aussie Rules football, a limited-overs cricket match was a whole-day affair. Because it was a day-night match, beginning in daylight and finishing under the wonderful state-of-the-art light towers of the MCG, it was close to 11pm when we had finished writing our reports of the game.

We then caught a cab to the city to file our reports and while my colleague tidied up his last few paragraphs, I decided to make myself useful and go to Richmond station to collect our suitcases. I caught a cab and told him where I wanted to go. The driver just looked at me. "You DO realise there are four different Richmond stations," he said with a grin."

Ya live and learn. There was East Richmond, West Richmond, North Richmond and Richmond, he said. Where did I want to go first? We started with East Richmond, where of course I drew a blank. Next he drove up to Richmond, but he approached from a different street, where nothing looked familiar. Undeterred, I found my way (don't ask me how) to the area where the suitcases had been dropped off many hours earlier.

Because there had been a change of personnel, I started to explain to the staff that I had dropped off two suitcases after a long flight. "Yeah, mate," said one of them, "We know all about it. There aren't many journos who fly halfway round the world and drop their gear off here."

It was a less complicated, more trusting world back then, wasn't it?


For the home of ABC Wednesday, go to Mrs Nesbitt's Place.

Joy Hind

Indian Bowling Has Plenty Of Appeal

For the myriad cricket fans out there, here are some random observations from the first day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. Do let me know if you agree - irrespective of the fact that when I was in my twenties, I was fortunate enough to be an international cricket writer.

* This India-Australia series is the most important battle of the year.

* Bravo, India, for taking five top-order wickets for just 106 runs (Jaques, Hayde, Ponting, Hussey and Clarke) to reduce the home side from 135-1 to 241-5.

* Any Test side would be fairly comfortable at 276-5, but when Australia loses its top order for less than 300, it is big news.

This Is Aussie Rules Football

Black And White (And Cred All Over)

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

There can be nothing like the pain of a loss in the Australian Football League. Well, yes, there is, actually - it's even worse when your team gets beaten in a complete upset that even has the bookmakers shaking their heads at the size of the total payout. Yesterday we headed to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch the Collingwood Football Club (black and white club colours) take on the Richmond Football Club (black and yellow club colours). This is Round 19 of the national Aussie Rules competition and Richmond, having won only a solitary game all year, came out firing and thumped Collingwood. This shot (above) was taken on the concourse near Gate 6 of the MCG.


We got to our seats very early and I took this shot (above) to give you an idea of the size of the historic sporting arena. We call football ``footy'' and night footy has a completely different feel to afternoon football fixtures. My fellow blogger Dan, who recently posted a glowing review of my novel Vegemite Vindaloo, might be interested in this shot. You see, the novel begins (and ends) with the depiction of a night Grand Final here at the MCG.


Here's a sight (above) that you don't see too often at the footy. The woman on the left is a Collingwood loyalist, while her father (right) is a Richmond fan. When we first came to live in Melbourne 20 years ago, most families has single-club loyalties, with children barracking for clubs because their parents barracked for them. But now that the competition has gone national, it is more common to see members of one family who follow different teams.

This shot shows the black-and-yellow colours of the Richmond cheer squad, celebrating an all-too-familiar sight - a Richmond goal. But we won't go into too much detail on that subject! But you might be interested in the configuration of the goalposts. A goal (a kick through the centre posts) earns six points, while a behind (a kick between a centre post and a shorter side post) earns one point. Hope you enjoyed your brief introduction to Aussie Rules.

It's Beginning To Dawn On America, Too

Cricket Appreciation Knows No Boundaries

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

The light on a hot, dry, cloudless Melbourne morning is peerless - as you can see in this photograph. I was standing at Princes Bridge before the sun came up this morning. Australia were still playing Scotland in the World Cup in the West Indies, and I wanted to photograph something symbolic. What better than the silhouette of the MCG, the spiritual home of Australian cricket, against a brilliant dawn and a single wheeling gull. And for my American readers (yes, you too, Bart!) let me tell you that even you have a special connection to this stunning stadium. In World War II, it was home to US troops - and there is a special brass commemorative plaque deep in the stadium that reminds us of America's unusual connection to one of the greatest cricket stadiums in the world.