In October 2009 the Calgary Kangaroos and Calgary Bears joined forces and competed in the US Nationals Australian Rules Football tournament in Mason, Ohio.  The tournament was a fantastic success for Calgary as we won the division II competition!  

The weekend was not, however, all smooth sailing. It began with Tys arriving at the airport in Calgary only to find his flight had been over booked and he was to be re scheduled for Saturday afternoon, thus, missing the Saturday games.  With Tyson’s cool calm and collected nature I’m sure he took it all in his stride!?   

Some boys made the trip more than simply a weekend and left Calgary on the Wednesday for Columbus.  Here they got pissed and watched a Flames hockey game.  Will apparently was very reserved and did not drink much!? I believe he also kept his clothes on in public!? 

Most of the guys had arrived in Mason by Friday night and had an early night after meeting a few of the other teams and a couple of quiet beers.  Will was very responsible, and again did not drink and again kept his clothes on in public!? 

We played two games on the Saturday. First, we defeated Minnesota by 23 points. This game was a bit of a slog. The first half was low scoring with both sides trying to find there feet.  We were able to get ahead in the second and hold the lead.  We had a couple of hours rest then played Kansas City. We won this convincingly by 47 points. 

Saturday night we went out for dinner and made as many inappropriate comments to waitresses as possible.  The boys kept the night pretty tame and were keen for the big day ahead. 

On the Sunday we had a big game against Chicago to decide who would play in the grand final. It was a good tough game!  Even though Chicago is a team of Americans they have plenty of experience and can play the game. Our depth was tested as many of our Canadians were playing their first year. Players like Ian, Will, Bruce and Jack really stepped up and was important in our win.  Mussy finally scored a goal by sending a floater through right on the siren to give us a 7 point win! 

So we were in the grand final for the second year in a row.  Needless to say we were very keen to come up with a different result this time around – and the boys had been so focused and ready all weekend for this chance! 

We were to play Milwaukee.  After the warm up and photos we were ready! We totally dominated the first 10 minutes with Rowy and Rolfy (including mark of the year!ha) kicking the first 3 goals of the game. Players like Kiddy, Mussy, Macca, Gav controlled the midfield. First year player Ian played his best game yet on the wing! The back line was winning most of the one on one contests with Jack, Andy and Aido. Really I could mention every player because we all won our position.  Half way into the second half we had a good enough lead and let them back into it a little but the result was inevitable! We won by 3 goals! 

The siren went and Calgary had won their first US Nationals! It was an amazing feeling with all the boys going crazy in the middle of the field! That’s when the partying began! 

We had to wait a few hours for presentations so we decided to get mags! By the time the preso’s came around we were pretty loud and obnoxious! We accepted our medals graciously and held the cup up proudly! Congratulations to Mussy for winning the best in tournament award and to Rolfy for winning best in the GF.  We took a few pissed group photos then headed back to our hotel to get more mags! 

The celebrations involved getting pissed as a group on our very public balcony by drinking whatever was passed around. Sculls from the cup were common! We then took a bus ride to the bar while singing “Mussy on the bussy”.  From there it gets a little hazey. 

The next morning involved two guys (who will remain nameless) missing there flights and a couple of car loads heading for Chicago.  Most guys returned to Calgary.  The Chicago boys watched the Flames lose a hockey game from 5 – 0 up! 

Special thanks to Rosie and Rowy for coaching!  Thank you to all the boys who made the effort to come and for taking the tournament seriously – I think we would all agree it was worth it! 

2009 US NATIONALS CHAMPIONS SIDE 

FF  Mini Wik Rowy  Peaches 

HF  Sheardy Rolfy  Bruce 

C  Ian  Muss  Belly 

HB  Will  Dave  Tys 

FB  Jack  Nods  Andy 

RUCK  Kidd  Gav  Macca 

INT.  Toohey Craig  Wade 

            Aido  Halsey  Frank 

            Clay 

Coach  Rosie