Australian University Games: Gold Coast 2003
We don’t just raise the bar, we drink you under it!
Late in 2003, the twenty-six team members made a journey up to the sunny Gold Coast for a week of fun in the sun and a little bit of polo. The week kicked off with a night out on the town soaking in the many schoolie boys and girls, hitting the Rose & Crown hard until the wee hours, and finally ending the evening with a late night kebab from legendary Theo’s and a nice 1k stroll home. While the competition didn’t start until Monday, MU Polo set the standard for other universities on the Sunday night when all freshers were punished with compulsory “No Underwear” for the entire evening. Let’s just say nobody would argue with the logo “F$%K Football” ever again. Matches were competed at a fierce level, with the men’s team excelling in a ‘weak’ pool, and making it to the semi finals without dropping a match. The women’s team had a much more difficult assignment, and struggled to grasp the finer complexities of the game against some well drilled opposition.
Each night there was a different social event; with the biggest night occurring on Wednesday where the team kicked off its evening with a lovely dinner at the infamous Bavarian House and its 1 litre beers. We all then proceeded to the Rose & Crown for a traffic light party where 95% of the team stayed back till closing. We then proceeded to visit Theo’s, walk down the beach and go for a swim as the sun was peeking it’s little head over the horizon. Needless to say, having 20 young men and women stumble into a 5 star hotel at 6am half naked and wet was an interesting sight for the hotel reception staff. Thursday was semi final day in the competition, and unfortunately, the boys couldn’t come away with a win and were sentenced to play off for third against the reigning powerhouse Sydney Uni. It was decided by all to have a “quiet night” in the hotel, however, after trying to drink all the remaining alcohol everyone had, and firing up the dreaded “threeman”, 1am quickly arrived with three quarters of the team sitting in a circle naked…. Once again, a legendary story of MUPolo at its best (or worst?).
Friday was again, a bad day for MUPolo. Our attempts to get an early night hampered the boys efforts in the playoff for third, and they eventually lost in a closely fought battle against Sydney. However, all was not lost, and the final night Wilson/West presentation, followed by the Black-Tie ball, was a tradition not to be missed. The winner this year, Ms Fiona “Shooter” McLaren, won this illustrious prize for her first year, and just edged out Gronow (maybe Fiona’s room in future should fill out the forms for the final night). Needless to say, she wore the prized Shirt-of-Shame with pride at the ball and has entered MUPolo folklore. Tradition was also followed with the obligatory Fresher oath, and the many Freshers that were on this tour finally became fully fledged uni games participants. We look forward to another awesome uni games tour later this year in Perth.
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