No Place For Champions: The Difficulties to Watch the Champions League Final in Melbourne

Just a few days from now, Liverpool will meet Real Madrid for the Champions League Final. The game will be on the 27th of May, 4:45 am on a cold Sunday morning.

Arguably the biggest game in the football season every year, people are buzzing around the world to watch it but it is a little bit different in Melbourne, where watching it in the first place is proving to be a challenge for football fans down under.

Kevin, a Liverpool fan states that he is struggling to decide where to watch the game, as there are only limited places that screen it.

His only options are Imperial, Bunjil, Crafty Squire and Crown.

“There are limited amount of places as to where you can watch

If you do find a place, it could be rather challenging because the place could be quite rowdy” states Kevin.

Indeed, the Imperial has set out rules stating that they will be closing their doors at 2 am, almost 3 hours before the game for safety. The Bartender also recalled a frightening moment, as one of the TV’s were broken during a game because a guest threw a pint of beer to the TV.

When asked, iconic places such as Federation Square will not be screening due to maintenance to their big screen.

 

The Imperial, the most iconic place to watch Liverpool games

Placed in front of the Bar, this Liverpool jersey represents Liverpool’s most recent memorable success, the 2013/14 season

Scenes of the Bar in the Imperial

The Crafty Squire, one of the bars who is showing the Champions league Final games

Crown’s Parking enterance

Once picking the spot, expenditures in these places could be a hefty fee just to watch a football game.

Kevin’s disapproval of things as simple as parking fees are one of the things that frustrates him from going to these venues.

“Parking could relatively be quite expensive

If you go to Crown, it could be quite challenging”

Prices of Crown’s parking could reach $50 flat rate in the weekends.

Watching the games at home also gives a problem, in which most of the games on free TV are only the first games of the weekend and does not show all of it, where Fetch TV, Foxtel and BeIN are pricy options.

“That would require me to pay a monthly subscription” states Kevin, who’s displeasure could be seen in full here.

Soccer (or properly called football) in undoubtedly the biggest sport in the world. With the A-league growing in a rapid state and the Socceroos going to Russia for the World Cup, surely the problem of coverage of soccer should be solved in order for fans to be able to enjoy international competitions and matches.

An Unusually helpful Stalker

Following a typical Friday afternoon playing basketball and a gym session, a Monash student suddenly realised that his bracelet has gone missing.

Other students would try to find it first or would ask around his personal friends.
But not here, not in Monash.

Dhiren Chadha, a current Monash student instantly posted his lost belongings in the infamous “Monash Stalkerspace”, a Facebook group that is exclusively for Monash students and their alumni’s that was made in 2010 and has nearly 65,000 members

Described by Herald Sun as “people trying to reconnect with someone they found attractive on campus as well as study tips, jokes, rumours and promotions.”, this Facebook group successfully had someone see his bracelet and the bracelet was found within hours.

Asked about how he felt about the group, Dhiren stated

“I am really glad that someone found it (the bracelet) for me”

“This group represents what Monash is all about and shows the student culture here. I mean, the group itself is made up of the Monash students, so you can see the huge diversity/backgrounds and religions of the students that use it”

Monash Stalkerspace’s community has proven countless times that their members are kind and ethical to help each other out.

A Monash student losing their belongings in campus or anywhere is not a rare occurrence and unfortunately happens more often than not.

These examples, although far fetched from Monash’s vision and strategy, it does reflect on how Monash wants their students to be, which is “capable, thoughtful, ethical citizens of the world”.

the group is also known to help other students with student issues, university work, course advice and also recommendations on who and how to contact for certain procedures.

While the group has a good name with students, it does have a history of being prejudice at times.

In 2015, a member of Monash Stalkerspace was forced to apologize to a man whom she labelled a creep and posting it on the website, Herald Sun reports.

Monash students was also in full voice on the group, bringing forward an issue of a “Sexist” campaign that sold cupcakes at different prices for males and females.

However, not all students share the same positive outlook on the group. Robert, a Monash Alumni who used to be part of the group stated

“Well as a paranoid person I will have to prepare for all eventualities just in case there is more to this than just retrieving an item I have lost. It might be some way for someone to lure you in into a trap.”

“These worst are case scenarios of course but of course this is probably the best way to inform lost and found items.”

Even with Monash Stalkerspace’s moments of being prejudice, it is still a popular group among Monash students because of its quirky content.

Revolver Upstairs: A Unique Experience or a Disturbance to the Neighbourhood?

Located in Chapel Street in Prahran, Revolver Upstairs has been entertaining guests since 1997.

The view from outside of Revolver, which consists of the Café during the day, Colonel tan’s and the night club

The venue has Colonel Tan’s, a Thai restaurant. It also has a collection of art in its disposal, displaying artwork from artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey (Obey).

The most famous attraction of them all is their Nightclub. They describe their night club as “Revolver Upstairs is one of Australia’s most respected nightclubs”

This is the entrance to the night club

Mark* who has visited the place described it as “They are fun but always depends on who you’re with, and making Rev friends is a pretty common occurance” showing that Revolver’s words are justified and is also supported by the reviews of the venue online.

From online reviews, it seems that Revolver upstairs has received mostly positive feedback

There are safety concerns from the residential area such as noise, verbal abuse and frightened individuals in the area.

Klara*, who lives in the area said “it does cause disturbance. Coming home late I’d always have to use roads to avoid the area and instead go from the back. music played can actually be heard and is still playing at around 5 a.m. It is very disruptive and distracting”

Her statement, saying that she can hear music until 5 a.m means that it is in direct violation towards the City of Stonnington policy, which states that amplified noises on weekends is not allowed before 9 a.m and after 11 p.m.

Behind Revolver is Macquarie St, a street that is filled with apartments

Krosby*, a former residence in the area said “Sound pollution also comes from obnoxious drunk and drug infused individuals that roam the residential area at night”

He moved out of the area to find a more “tranquil” environment to live while also not worrying about “individuals who is a harm to society”

Revolver is not more than a 2 minute walk from Macquarie St which is only 200 meters away as shown in the video here.

This is not the first time Revolver has had this issue. QT reported that a female walking down the road was threatened on being raped.

Revolver has also had issues on drug usage in the past, having 3 reported casualties by ABC news just over a year ago but revolver stated that they will prioritise health and safety.

*Mark, Klara and Krosby are aliases to protect those who wish to stay anonymous