MELBOURNE, Australia — It’s Sunday, Sept. 20, nine days after the 49ers beat the Rams in the season opener, and I’m getting ready to board my flight back to Los Angeles. The truth is, I don’t want to leave.
Two weeks ago, I knew next to nothing about Australian music, culture or sports. Now I’m trying to figure out how to rearrange my travel plans and afford tickets to The Songs of John Farnham tribute concert at Rod Laver Arena tonight and the AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground next week.
I’m ashamed to admit I had never heard of Farnham or watched an Australian Football League match before coming here. Now I’m obsessed with both, along with Daryl Braithwaite’s “The Horses,” meat pies and Carlton Dry. I don’t care if I’m a walking cliché or if I embarrassed my wife today by singing Peter Allen’s “I Still Call Australia Home” while eating a Four’N Twenty meat pie at the airport.
The experiences I’ve had and the YouTube rabbit holes I’ve gone down on this trip have been life-changing. Imagine being 46 years old and discovering an entire collection of singers, songs, sports, foods and drinks that immediately rank among your favorites.
My original plan was to follow the Rams on their journey to Australia and visit New Zealand the following week. The team had planted its flag in both countries through the NFL’s Global Markets Program, and I wanted to see this part of the world for myself.
During training camp, it became clear that my plans would differ drastically from the Rams’. Unlike the 49ers, who planned to arrive in Melbourne a week before the season opener and engage with the community, the Rams planned to land about 24 hours before kickoff and fly home immediately afterward.
To me, the football side of the organization was treating a historic trip like an inconvenient layover to start the season. In doing so, it undermined the work the business side had spent the previous two years doing to build a following in Australia and New Zealand.
The bridge between the Rams and this region was badly damaged by their travel strategy and opening-day blowout loss to the 49ers. McVay poured fuel on the fire during his Thursday press conference when he said, “We’re not playing in Australia ever again, I hope.”
McVay praised the atmosphere and said his comments would get “taken out of context.” But a day earlier, while discussing the opener with J.B. Long, he said, “The good thing is we don’t have another game in Australia.” However McVay and the Rams want to frame those comments, I believe irreversible damage has been done.
Australia is a proud country, and those words landed as a slight. No offseason goodwill visits by a mascot, cheerleaders or a retired player are going to make that feeling disappear overnight.
I’m not mad at McVay. I feel bad for him and the Rams, who spent less than 40 hours in Australia. They missed an opportunity to bond as a team and embrace a region I’ve grown to love over the past two weeks.
I know it sounds hyperbolic to say this place will be a big part of my life for as long as I live. But I knew I had met my future wife after our first date. I believe in love at first sight, and after two weeks in Australia and New Zealand, I’ve felt it again.
My wife, Ashlea, was always going to join me on this trip. We originally planned to spend a week in Melbourne with the Rams and another week in New Zealand after the game. When the Rams announced their abbreviated travel schedule, we decided to visit Sydney before heading to Melbourne, then travel to Wellington and Auckland before returning to Melbourne for a bit.
I didn’t know much about the Melbourne Cricket Ground before setting foot inside it last week. I knew it held more than 100,000 people, and the sight of a football field so far from the first row of seats gave me old-school Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum vibes. The atmosphere was on par with a playoff game. As my Australian friends asked me questions about the NFL, I asked just as many about everything happening around the game.
One of the loudest ovations came when the Jonas Brothers at halftime sang John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice.” I had never heard the song before and asked my friends why a crowd of more than 100,000 was losing its mind.
“It’s basically our national anthem,” my friend said. “But no one can sing it like John Farnham. You need to hear it when you get back to your room.”
I played it once and was hooked. Then I played it an unhealthy number of times on repeat as the song marked its 40th anniversary last week. That led me down a YouTube rabbit hole, where I discovered Farnham had been the lead singer of Little River Band and found what I consider the greatest rendition of “Reminiscing” ever.
Sadly, Farnham has faced serious health challenges following his battle with oral cancer. His family said he now “requires continuous oxygen support and uses a wheelchair for mobility.” If you’ve never seen him perform, go down the same YouTube rabbit hole I did. He is quite simply one of the greatest live performers I’ve ever watched. I’ve never seen anyone engage an audience quite like him.
When I told my friend I couldn’t stay for the Farnham tribute concert, which will benefit Head & Neck Cancer Australia, or the AFL Grand Final, he told me to come back for next year’s Grand Final. He also sent me a clip of Peter Allen performing before the 1980 Grand Final between Richmond and Collingwood. Watching it, I got emotional.
It’s hard to explain falling in love with a country after spending less than two weeks there. But I’ve already made plans to return for next year’s Grand Final and explore more of Australia. I want to come back every year for as long as I can.
There’s a longstanding connection between Los Angeles and Australia. My wife, who works in tourism and travel, explained to me that Australia was Los Angeles’ largest overseas tourism market in 2010 and 2011, and several Los Angeles teams have since brought their games here in an effort to grow their fanbase.
The Galaxy played an exhibition against Melbourne Victory in 2011. The Dodgers opened the 2014 season against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The Kings faced the Arizona Coyotes in two preseason games in Melbourne in 2023. And, of course, the Rams had their forgettable season opener here this month.
None of them have returned since those visits and we already know how McVay feels. There’s a difference between showing up for a game and building a lasting relationship. McVay says he hopes the Rams never have to play here again. I’m already planning my return.
I’ll be back next year, the year after that and for as long as I can. Two weeks ago, Australia was a place I had never visited. Now it’s a place I’ll always call my home away from home.