Somewhat shaky

Having cleared out the Bling It On tshirts I'm desperate for the netball action to finally start for me. NZ had been playing South Africa in their quarter final whilst I was offloading the tshirts and I didn't get to see much of it, but NZ's winning margin wasn't as large as expected so it seemed the girls from SA had put up a decent fight. Meanwhile England had absolutely smashed Northern Ireland in their quarter final, which was worrying seeing as Australia had played NI in a pool match and hadn't won as convincingly.

It's hard to know what to read into the pool matches and even quarter-finals. Teams swap their lineups, different players fire and others have a bad day. Australia are playing Malawi in their quarter final, and Malawi are unconventional and unpredictable.

I had watched Malawi play NZ in a pool match at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and it was hilarious. They had used 80 something passes to score their first goal because NZ had been using a zone-style defence and Malawi basically just played keepings-off. The GK and GD must have passed it between them about 25 times before they edged their way down court to score. The looks on the faces of the kiwi players was priceless, they were completely bamboozled and had no idea how to counteract what was happening, until finally someone called a fake injury timeout and they re-gathered and came back on court with a one-on-one style defence. That was a small win for Malawi, to have made the then World Champions change their defensive style.

It's hard to find a decent seat. The seats up until the day of the medal matches are only allocated by section, and you have to battle for your own seat within that section. This results in people pinching seats wherever they like, and my seating bay is jam-packed for the aussie game. Vin and Mel finally arrive and we find a seat anywhere we can. Soon after we spot what appears to be a spare row of seats in the front row, second level up from the floor. Only drawback is that it is in a section full of kiwi fans. We stand out like dog's balls in our gold tshirts, and they make it clear they are cheering for Malawi. Great.

The rabid aussie supporter section is going off in the lead-up to the game, so I go over and hand out the remaining 20 Sharelle McMahon face masks to the front row. They are loving them. Mel produces contraband vodka disguised in a water bottle and we mix ourselves some refreshments, unveil the large Bling It On sign, and clear out the lungs a little. Beers at the stadium are $10, so the duty free vodka is paying dividends.

The game ensues, with Australia making more changes than a Gaga concert. Malawi does well, they scrap the aussies the whole way, unsettle their timing and make it a struggle to score. They also have a great young GS, Kumwenda, who combines beautifully with their GA to score with ease, particularly in the second half. They're embarrassing our defence and forcing turnover after turnover in our attack end. We only win the second half by 3 goals, final scoreline 58-44 to the aussies.

The aussie crowd is pretty flat throughout, as there aren't too many clear, convincing passages of play to cheer. The umpiring is also capital A for appalling. A couple of my fellow forum freaks gather and we dissect the game in great detail, to the amusement of non-freaks Vin and Mel. We're worried about the amount of turnovers, lack of flow, and that a starting 7 for the finals hasn't yet emerged. However, we're slightly comforted by the fact that NZ also had a flat game. Everyone is now talking up England as a real chance after their polished performance tonight.

I feel better after a bit of discussion, and just before the Jamaica v Trinidad and Tobago quarter final starts, none other than Vilimaina Davu walks past our seats to talk to someone close by. Back in 2003-2006 Davu was public enemy number one to Australian netball. She's a Fijian New Zealander. Take your pick. She did - switching from representing Fiji, to NZ, back to Fiji again at various world championships over a decade or so. She was big, bold, brash, and didn't mind dishing out cheap shots and sneaky tactics, all the while with a huge grin. She was also unbelieveably strong, and with great skills considering.

A brilliant plan enters my head. Egged on by Mel and Vin, and after a couple of minutes building up courage (Vili is a big girl) I approach her and ask her if she'd mind posing for some photos. She agrees, and as we're walking over to pose, I ask if she'd mind posing for two photos - one normal one, and one with me putting her in a headlock...

She pauses for a second.. I worry for my safety.. she claps her hands together and errupts in laughter, and agrees! We pose for the first normal photo, then she obligingly bends down and allows me to wrap my skinny arms around her rather large head, headlock-style, and for good measure I lift my other hand up in a fist towards her head. The huge kiwi contingent that were sitting behind us simultaneously crack up, we get the money shot, I tell Vili what a good sport she is and we give each other a bear hug before she heads off, chuckling loudly. That has made my day, possibly even my year!

We watch a bit of the Jamaica game before heading for the hotel. I suddenly realise I haven't eaten since breakfast, have been running on adrenalin. Back to the hotel for some nibblies and duty-free pomegranate margarita mix. Sans husbands and kids, we are living it up! After that performance from the aussies I'm worried about the prospect of tomorrow's semi-final against Jamaica though...