{"id":8269,"date":"2025-07-20T11:15:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T11:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/8269\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T11:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T11:15:15","slug":"good-craic-banter-and-beer-oh-and-rugby-draw-british-and-irish-lions-fans-to-melbourne-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/8269\/","title":{"rendered":"Good craic, banter and beer \u2013 oh, and rugby \u2013 draw British and Irish Lions fans to Melbourne game"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many fans, the Lions\u2019 first Australian tour in 12 years is the catalyst to sight-see and reunite with relatives.<\/p>\n

Joining Watkins at the MCG will be his uncle Kevin Adams, cousin Kevin Lloyd and godson Morgan Lloyd, 15, who are visiting from Wales.<\/p>\n

\"Leigh<\/p>\n

Leigh Watkins and his family supported the Lions in Brisbane on Saturday.Credit: Russell Shakespeare<\/p>\n

It will be the first holiday since Christmas for Watkins, who, as a publican, works seven days a week.<\/p>\n

The quartet will reserve extra cheers for the Lions\u2019 only Welsh player, Jac Morgan.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t need much persuasion to gather with fellow spectators and sing the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers).<\/p>\n

\u201cCrowd singing is part of our Welsh heritage,\u201d said Watkins, who pointed to a YouTube clip of a stirring mass rendition of the anthem before a 2013 Wales versus England match in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s MCG match against the Wallabies and this Tuesday\u2019s game against a First Nations and Pasifika team at Marvel Stadium are the Lions\u2019 first matches in Melbourne since 2013. Lions matches during this tour are being aired live on Channel 9 (Nine is the owner of this masthead).<\/p>\n

The Lions team, which was first formed in 1888, includes top players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n

In 2001, its name was changed from the British Lions to the British and Irish Lions. It \u201cdoesn\u2019t roll off the tongue\u201d says Irish-born fan Dave Dillon, but he says the team is usually just called \u201cLions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dillon, from Wellington in New Zealand, will go to the MCG match with three of his brothers \u2014 Barry, from Kildare in Ireland, and Liam and Neil, now of Cape Cod, in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe games are great, but I\u2019m looking forward to going for a pint with my brothers, and hanging out,\u201d Dave said.<\/p>\n

Dillon says there\u2019s nothing like watching the best players, in an electric atmosphere at a big match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe craic and the banter is brilliant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s having a laugh, you\u2019re singing songs, you\u2019re making fun of each other,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cIt\u2019s always good-humoured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Grice, a Lions fan visiting from Lincolnshire, England, is going to the MCG test with her friend Georgia King, a Wallabies supporter from Sydney.<\/p>\n

\"Friendly<\/p>\n

Friendly rivalry: Rebecca Grice, left, supports British and Irish Lions while close friend Georgia King is a Wallabies fan.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been close since being pen pals as 11 years olds, 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Grice, who played rugby union for nine years, and who supports Leicester Tigers, recently converted King, and King\u2019s four-year-old son, to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer enthusiasm is very contagious,\u201d King said. \u201cRebecca knows every player. She can answer every question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grice is a big fan of Lions player Ollie Chessum, who is from Lincolnshire, like her.<\/p>\n

\"Rebecca<\/p>\n

Rebecca Grice, right, with Georgia King, centre and King\u2019s nan, Jill Wilkinson, left, at the Lions versus\u00a0NSW Waratahs\u00a0game at\u00a0Allianz\u00a0Stadium in Sydney on July 5.<\/p>\n

On July 5, Grice, King and King\u2019s nan, Jill Wilkinson, watched the NSW Waratahs rugby union team play the Lions at Sydney\u2019s Allianz Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere was so great. I loved it,\u201d said King.<\/p>\n

Earlier that day, in Sydney\u2019s George Street, Grice spotted Chessum and four other Lions players, and rushed up to take a selfie with them. \u201cIt was very exciting,\u201d Grice says.<\/p>\n

\"British<\/p>\n

British and Irish Lions fan Rebecca Grice, in a selfie taken on July 5 with five Lions players she ran into in George Street, Sydney.\u00a0(Clockwise from left) Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne, Ollie Chessum, Jack Conan, and Tadhg Furlong holding the camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was so nervous and all I could think to say to them was: \u2018Are you having a good day off?\u2019 And they were playing that night! I\u2019m mortified by that!<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day I hope I\u2019ll meet them again and actually have a conversation with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Grice has travelled to Paris, Wales, Ireland and Twickenham in England to watch England play, she will watch her first live Lions match at the MCG.<\/p>\n

King and Grice along with King\u2019s husband and father-in-law will drive to Melbourne from Sydney, and stay with King\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, they will get to the MCG early to \u201csoak in the atmosphere\u201d, Grice said. \u201cI\u2019m so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lions games are held every four years in different countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what makes this so special. It\u2019s an occasion that brings everyone together, to experience something that you might never get to experience again.\u201d<\/p>\n

King says Grice has been raving about the event for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to think that now it\u2019s here,\u201d Grice says.<\/p>\n

All matches of The British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia are live & on demand on Stan <\/a>Sport, with Wallabies Tests in 4K. All Test matches live and free on Channel 9 & 9Now.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many fans, the Lions\u2019 first Australian tour in 12 years is the catalyst to sight-see and reunite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-8269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}