Sports Tour: South Dragons vs Melbourne Tigers

Where: Hisense Arena (formerly Vodafone Arena), Melbourne.

When: Saturday 14th March 7:30pm

Competition: National Basketball League

Teams: South Dragons vs Melbourne Tigers

Back Story: It is game 5 of the best of 5 grand final series. It is the first all Melbourne NBL grand final series since 1997. It is the Tiger’s 4th straight grand final series (won 2 out of 3 going into this one), and only the Dragon’s 3rd season in the competition. The Dragons are favoured to win the decider on their home court.

Entry Cost: $35 for an adult.

Viewing Comfort: The seating provides a reasonable amount of leg room compared to a lot of sports stadia. The row of seats I sat on rocked forward ominously as more people sat down, but thankfully it got through the night intact.

A disappointing aspect was the acoustics of the building. You would expect a great atmosphere in the deciding game of a grand final series, but it felt reasonably flat to me. I assumed that there just weren’t that many people there, but when the attendance figure was announced, it was a healthy 8,922. The majority seemed to be Dragons fans too, and they had plenty to cheer about.

Hisense Arena seems to spread out from the ground level a long way before the stands shoot up. Presumably this is to accommodate a wide variety of events. Unfortunately it also creates a cavernous space, so instead of noise bouncing around off the stands, it seems to get lost in the big space.

Parking: As there were two sports events and a concert in the area, parking was made available at the MCG for $8. I caught the train in though, to Richmond station, from where it is a short walk to the stadium. There were plenty of Melbourne Storm fans making their way to Olympic Park as well.

Facilities: Typical stadium bathrooms. Adequate, but not quite able to comfortably handle the heavy use they get, especially on warm and humid days like this one. It helps if you can hold your breath for a minute or so.

Food and Drink: Typical stadium food options available, at typical stadium prices. I do tend to avoid eating at stadiums, but they had some cheese and crackers which did the job of getting me through the game without fainting.

The Game: The Tigers started well, but by quarter time the Dragons had taken the lead. The Dragons lead well by half time, in a game that had a feeling of inevitability about it from midway through the second quarter.

An unusual moment happened at the 3qtr time buzzer. A Tiger’s player shot from well behind half way and nailed it. In itself that is noteworthy, but South coach Brian Goorjian obviously thought that the shot had not happened until after the buzzer, because he stormed the court to confront the officials.

I am not sure if he was right or not about the shot being after the buzzer, but i was stunned that such an experienced coach would react like that at that moment. His team was still 18 points in front (a big lead in basketball) with only 12 minutes of the season left to play. Keeping your team as settled as possible, by exuding calm confidence, would surely be advisable. Instead, he carried on like an 8 year old who thinks his older brother is cheating in their backyard game.

Result: South Dragons 102 def Melbourne Tigers 81.

Other: It was great to see so many people there to cheer on the Dragons (despite the fact that I prefer the Tigers). The league will now be transformed, and there is potential for the new version to have a healthy Melbourne rivalry as its cornerstone.

Disclaimer: The above is only representative of the casual observations made by the author on the noted date, and is not the result of rigorous research. Although the information is provided in good faith, unintentional errors are possible.

If there is a sports team/event/arena you would like to see reviewed in the sports tour, let us know in the comments.