Makybe Diva’s Melbourne Cup 3-peat…..
The famous America’s Cup victory….
The Swans, breaking a 70 odd year premiership drought in 2005….
St George’s amazing 11 straight premierships….
Cathy’s awe-inspiring Olympics moment…..
Now you can add another ‘special’ spectacle to the annals of Australia’s rich sporting history. The much anticipated match up between the Nor-West Jets’ two AFL 9s teams, the Stuart Tibben-led Dream Team, up against the slapped together ramshackle mob, The Legends, in Round 7 action at Blacktown on Thursday. The build up to this clash was intense since the draw was released, with all eyes scanning the fixture for what has been dubbed BOB, or Battle Of Bensons.
With a few washouts, players MIA for footy trip and just general ‘can’t be stuffedness’ the results for both teams were almost identical, making for an even money game with the bookies, and a few die hard supporters made the trip to watch, and more importantly, sledge anyone within 5 metres of the pill.
The Legends, realising that pride and all season bragging rights were on the line, called in a few pinch hitters, with the Hawkesbury’s oldest teenager Gerard Smits lining up for his first run along with Uncle Berty, and it was indeed the Legends who made great use of the ball from the get-go, piling on 4 goals before the Deets even got a look in. The Dream Team made inroads through savvy ball skills, with Stibbo & Dildo calmly navigating some heavy traffic in the middle, feeding off the footy teet of big man Spider, who was virtually unstoppable in the air. The skill level was high, the abuse was toxic, but the main message of fun was all encompassing, with most players acquiring stitches from laughing…or running. I dunno. The scores were close at half time, with the Dream Team holding a slender 4 point break, and with the sun going down over Rooty Hill, adding a movie like gleam to the BOB Trophy, everyone understood what was at stake in the next 15 minutes.
The forward pairing of Pekay & Disco were proving hard to contain, with 8 goals between them (again, not evenly shared) and the defensive unit of Edo, Spech, Carpet kept Mavros & Tibbo in check, while the middle sharks of Coogee, Blades & Sunny, who risked permanent injury by playing with a fresh tattoo of the great Jack Dyer on his forearm, toyed with their opponents like a cat hater with a cinder block. The ball spent most of its time in the guts, with neither team giving an inch, but a late flurry of goals to the Blacktown end saw the Dream Team triumphant over the Legends, 13.6-76 to 10.4-64. Disco kicked 5, and BOG went to the tireless aerial domination of Spider, resplendent in his moustache.
Worth noting is the fact that 4 sets of brothers were running around tonight, with the Kyle's, Davidson's, Johnston's and Tibben's (one on each team) all gathering plenty of touches, reinforcing the family atmosphere at Nor-West.
With thanks to the AFL for organising the 9s this summer, Andy Smyth for umpiring, Harvey for not umpiring, Stibbo & Dee Gee for setting up the squads, Guns for the apparel, and everyone that played over the last 2 months. This is a new tradition for the Boys From Bensons, so keep an eye out for more details over the coming weeks.
