This year's theme: England V Australia

Before I get into the meaty bit of this post, I need to give you some background into mine and my partner's ethnicity and interests. He's Australian and I'm British with a more specific tinge of English. We're both quite into our sports, mainly cricket and rugby. I'm sure, from just that small amount of information, you can hazard a guess as to what's coming next...

As a kid the main sports I was brought up on were cricket and rugby, with a little bit of tennis thrown in there for good measure. I remember watching The Ashes on Channel 4 and listening in on Test Match Special with my Dad; cheering on the tennis stars with my Mom; tuning in to all of the 6 Nations, Autumn Internationals and Rugby World Cups with my family to support British contenders and England teams. We can surmise that I was brought up with a healthy competitive streak and in at least two of those sports, two of the greatest rivalries happen between England and Australia.

Unless you're totally and utterly not into sports and never glance at the back pages, you'll be aware that there's a lot of England vs Australia going on now and in the next few months. Currently, in the cricket, England have just beaten Australia in The Ashes (an unexpected result!). In September, England and Australia are in the same group stage of the Rugby World Cup, along with Wales, making it easily the hardest group and is going to leave one of these three great rugby nations very upset indeed. Also in September Great Britain will play Australia in the semi finals of the Davis Cup tennis tournament. A stage that the GB team haven't reached in 34 years, so it's all to play for.

And in the midst of it all, a very competitive British girl is going to marry a very equally competitive Australian man. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

In the five and a half years we've been together we've both seen each other scream, cheer, laugh and sit in grumpy silence as we've watched the highs and lows of our cricket and rugby teams, tennis and snooker players. Sport is probably the only thing that can bring us to the brink of an argument. Funny then that the fixture calender has brought around so many clashes between England and Australia right before we get hitched. Fate is a twisted bitch sometimes.

While we try to maintain a good level of banter and communicate in a civilised manner during a game - five day test matches being our limit - there is always still a more serious, unspoken desire of, 'I really hope we fuck them up and win.'

Who knows where all this anger comes from? I think it's inherently bred into Australian's to want to 'screw the Pommey bastards' and vice versa. We're not at all jealous of the fact Australian's get at least 11 months of good weather and sunshine so they can actually get outdoors and play sports to become good at them, even though cricket is a gosh darn ENGLISH GAME, but there's a certain arrogance around Australian's when it comes to sport and beating the English in particular. Like they think we're an easy target. Guess it just makes it even more satisfying when we take them down *coughASHEScough*.

Geez, what a rant. I'm going to get myself into trouble if I'm not careful. To balance the odds though, here's an actual conversation that regularly happens between me and my other half whenever England are playing anything:

HIM: God I hope England lose.
ME: Why?
HIM: Because it's England. You should lose.
ME: But we're playing [INSERT ANY OTHER NATIONALITY EVER], you're not [INSERT THAT NATIONALITY] - and we both agree that they play dirty and you never cheer for them any other time ever - but you're about to marry an English girl, so why not give us a bit of a nod?
HIM: I can't. I just can't. It feels wrong.
ME: That's not a reason.
HIM: It is.
ME: It's not...
HIM: It is.

And so the sporting argument goes on. It's totally irrational, yet at the same time this unique rivalry would not exist without one firing up the other. To be honest, if it wasn't there, I don't think either side would get as much enjoyment out of it and I don't think we'd get the most out of each other if the passion wasn't there.  

It struck me as too ironic that in the year - hell, even more specifically in the months - surrounding our wedding there are so many clashes between England and Australia. So yes, maybe with passions so high, getting married in the middle of it all could lead to someone getting kicked out of the marital bed early. But at the same time, one without the other just wouldn't work. no matter how heated, stressed or tense it became, getting stuck in wouldn't be as fun and this years "theme" is proof of how strong a bond can be, however strained at times. So maybe it'll all be alright in the end and we need to remember it is only a game...