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The first morning of Gay Games competition was a sweltering 35 degrees, but that didn’t stop German team Charme On Tour winning one of the first heats of the field hockey competition. A 6-0 victory over Team Wellington’s Eastern Hutt Vets was a happy surprise for Charme coach Wibke Weisel, who last week was chilling out in autumnal Germany. The team consisted of players from all over Germany, as well as four Australian and two Swiss players.
“It was great, but we didn’t expect it to be like that,” explained Weisel, in the oasis of the air-conditioned viewing room at the International Hockey Stadium at Olympic Park. “The team was created just for the Games, we came together here, and we saw each other maybe four times before.”
Down on the field, the men’s Team Holland and the Sydney Bentstix were embroiled in a tight contest that resulted in a 0-all draw. Bentstix stalwart Shane Malcolm, drenched in sweat after the game, told me that the result was reasonably satisfying, given Holland’s international reputation of excellence in field hockey. Dykes and poofs wandered past, united in shin guards and baggy shirts, as a lesbian volunteer called into the dressing rooms for the boys to hurry up. “It’s the girls’ turn!” she admonished. |
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Karen Eastwood and Merinda Andrew from the Funky Divas |
National divisions were harder to distinguish by the third heat, with Sydney team Girls Own Adventures (the Goannas) playing against the Funky Divas, another conglomerate of locals and international visitors. The cheer squads were out in force for both teams, with “Let’s Goannas, let’s go!” alternating with cries of what might have been lust. “Go the spunky one!” screamed the woman watching beside me.
Suzie Wright, the manager of the Goannas, told me that the team were mostly members of the Girls Own Adventures company, a group that runs “soft adventure tours” and golf holidays for women.
Penny Byrne, captain of the Funky Divas, gathered her menagerie from around the globe, including Scots Karen Eastwood and Susan Young. With pastel pink complexions burnt with scarlet, the Scottish visitors guzzled Gatorade at half-time with a primal desperation. Still, they jumped at the chance of a photo, their seriousness vanishing into manic grins.
By game’s end, the Goannas had beaten the Funky Divas, 3-0. Byrne told me that four of the Divas attended the Welcome Party the night before, and played on less than three hours’ sleep each. “We’ll see how we go tomorrow,” she laughed. |
Article was printed from Sydney Star Observer. Text by Tim Benzie and picture by Jamie Dunbar. |
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Gay Games 2002
