AFL Grand Final 2007 (06h30 kick off) (2007)

** Cafe Oz opens around 06h00/06h10 - match starts 06h30 - pub will be busy, possibly full, so arrive early to be sure to get in! **

One of the most gripping football seasons of recent years will reach its crescendo this Saturday, 29 September, when Geelong FC and Port Adelaide FC battle it out for the mantle of Premiers in the 111th year of the Australian Football League.

And while France remains under the spell of the Rugby World Cup, Australians around the globe will be swept up by AFL Grand Final fever this week in anticipation of the showdown. In Paris, we'll be gathering at Cafe Oz in rue St Denis (metro Chatelet), the largest antipodean bar in Paris, and it'll be rammed full of Aussie expats and those in town for all matter of reasons, including the rugby.

Introducing the gladiators:

Geelong Football Club (The Cats), established 1859 and originating from the city of Geelong, a stone's throw west of Melbourne in the state of Victoria. While the Cats have won 6 premierships since the League was formed in 1897, its last moment in the sun came in 1963. To compound this agonising, 44-year wait for another premiership, the Cats lost 5 grand finals in the years following and will carry a heavy burden of expectation into Saturday's final.

The Cats have been THE team of 2007, sweeping everybody aside during a barnstorming 15 game unbeaten run during the regular season, a run ended, incidentally, in the final match of the regular season by Port Adelaide in Geelong! The Cats have not had everything their own way during the finals series however, registering a narrow win over the Magpies last week to reach this week's big match. Do they have enough in the tank to get over the line on Saturday?

- V -

Port Adelaide Football Club (The Power) hail from the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. Established around 1870, the club has been phenomenally successful in the South Australian league and was admitted to the national Australian Football League in 1997. To the surprise of many, the Power won its first AFL premiership in 2004 in only its 8th season in the national league.

Port Adelaide have been a sleeper this season. Indifferent during the regular season, it knotched up wins when it mattered in the second half of the season while other 'form' teams found ways to lose. To most peoples' surprise, Port Adelaide ended the regular season in 2nd position on the ladder, below the Cats but above everyone else, and it will go into Saturday's grand final with some momentum and comfortable in the knowledge that they have beaten Geelong recently and that the Cats will be weighed down by 44 years of expectation.

So it's the Cats versus the Power. Victoria versus South Australia. And it should be a corker!

Match starts at 06h30 and Cafe Oz will open its doors 20 minutes or so before the match. Cafe Oz is always full for the Grand final so do arrive early to ensure you gain entry because there are a lot of people in town for the rugby. There is no food, no door charge, and the last time we checked, no Coopers beer!

The easiest way to find our meetup group will be to look for me: I'll be wearing a red, white and blue Bulldogs jumper. Maybe Alex will even don his boxing kangaroo flag for the ocassion.

See you Saturday...my mobile is 06.26.85.00.05.

Paul