I don't know if you guys saw the scenes at the cricket match (Australia vs New Zealand) in Melbourne about a week ago? Well, some of the crowd got out of hand and threw bottles and stuff onto the field and there were even some "pitch invasions". The TV coverage showed the cops taking charge and expelling about 500 people and making 36 arrests.

As a result they have decided to increase police presence and make sure there is no hooliganism at matches any more. To wit, no objects are to be thrown and the Mexican wave has now been banned!

Only in Australia, mate. Imagine banning the Mexican wave!? What are they going to do? Chuck out the entire audience if the wave does a circuit of the stadium? Yea right!

Now, by no means at all do I condone any form of hooliganism at matches. I think it is deplorable, however, nowhere in the world can little rules and regulations be taken to the extreme such as in Australia. This morning on TV they showed scenes from the next match played at Melbourne. During the lunch break some kids blew up a beach ball (you know those plastic things about 40 cm in diameter?) and sort of bounced it around person to person in the crowd. Well, this bruiser of a cop confiscated the ball and punctured it with a pen before getting rid of it! In the next scene a different cop confiscated a plastic bugle!

Well I nearly poeped myself. How pathetic can you get? Ag shame, fooitog. It is a sad day when you can't even pass a beach ball around the crowd without getting into shit. It's a beach ball, for crying out loud! This is taking this "zero tolerance" thing a little too far methinks.

Part of the enjoyment of spending a day at the cricket, is the atmosphere in the crowd and what goes on in the stands. If crowd behaviour is going to become so regulated that the atmosphere all but disappears, then what's the point of going to watch a match live? Then I may as well stay at home and watch from the comfort of my lounge couch. At least the beers are cheap and cold and I don't have to ask permission to go to the toilet!

Ag nee man, Australia, grow up.