'I found the perfect school holiday activity for kids of any age, and it doesn't involve a screen.'

Thanks to our brand partner, A-Leagues

Picture this. There we were, deep in the thick of school holidays and my activity-inspiration train had started to run out of steam.

Christmas was over, the holy trinity of zoo, art gallery and museum had been exhausted, and tragically we hadn't booked a beach trip. We needed something special to look forward to as a family, as much for the sake of my kids' brains as my own. I needed an activity that didn't involve screens or domestic mess (slime, my eternal nemesis, had been banished the holidays before), and I wanted us to do something a little different, to enjoy the tourist experience in our very cool city.

Anyone who knows me and my little crew of four knows that half of us are football mad. (With a Swede in the family, we use "football" for soccer, and anyone questioning the terminology will receive an impassioned earful about why this "football" is the superior code.)

My daughter plays The Beautiful Game three times a week. She utterly worships the Matildas and cracks dawn most mornings Liverpool plays, to dutifully watch the games with her dad. She's really getting quite good, and my husband and I have starry-eyed whisper-conversations about the prospect of scholarships and future careers after her most successful matches.

My 7 year-old son is less of a football-head, but given his personal passions for yelling, spectacle and snacks, I knew that the school holiday activity I had decided on would be met with a very warm reception. We were going to an A-Leagues game.

I'd heard from friends that A-League games were hugely fun, but in spite of our passion for the sport we had shamefully never been to one. The Isuzu UTE A-League men's has been a fixture for 21 years, with the Ninja A-League — the Women's competition — established only a few years later in 2008. Both leagues have massive followings all over Australia and New Zealand, and we were ready to jump feet first into fandom. I got us tickets to Melbourne Victory vs Wellington Phoenix, and we started marking down the calendar. It was ON.

Tickets in hand, we journeyed into AAMI Park on Olympic Boulevard on a hot, clear summer's evening. Of course, the merch stand was our first stop: ANY excuse to do a matchy-matchy family outfit obviously, but we also needed to decide which team we would barrack for. Now decked out in our team colours, we found our seats and breathed in the happy chaos around us.

Image: Supplied.

We were seated on the side of the stadium where the teams ran onto the field, right near where Melbourne Victory's coaches were seated, and it was really cool to catch glimpses behind the velvet curtain. Having said that, the excellent placement of our seats didn't have much impact on the egalitarian atmosphere: it was really lovely to see kids run down to the pitch unencumbered in order to high five the alternate players as they walked past the barrier to warm up. It felt like a really communal vibe wherein the crowd was as much a part of the action as the players, and very much appreciated by them. 

Image: Supplied.

Half-time brought a need for dinner, but we were not left wanting, grabbing chicken burgers, tabbouleh, fattoush salad and, of course, hot chips. It was all fresh and delicious. To say I was floored might seem unfair, but let's take a moment to reflect on the changing face of stadium food: when I was a kid, the prospect of getting something at a stadium beyond a meat pie was unheard of, and now here I am eating fattoush salad with crunchy chicken tenders, washed down with a crisp, hoppy, craft beer. This is truly an age of wonders.

The game itself was full of action: Melbourne Victory did end up winning 5-1, which is certainly a high-scoring soccer game, but my favourite part of any football match is the unbridled excitement of the crowd as the possibility of a goal comes into focus. The punters we were sitting with were fully invested in the thrill of the performance, yelling and jumping and throwing their scarves in the air at every opportunity, but the crew sitting on the side of the stadium directly behind the goal was even more vocal.

They screamed, they cheered, they sang — they made us all beam from ear to ear. I'm not a sports fan as such, but I do get misty-eyed when I get to witness how passionate others are about their chosen code. It's sweet and wholesome and completely pure, and the fans of the A-League gave me my fill of my strange brand of voyeurism.

As the match wrapped up and we gathered our bags, water bottles and my son's binoculars (he brought them to watch the game but mainly spent his time happily pointing at seagulls and screechily mislabeling them as "albatrosses"), all four of us were buoyed by the experience.

Image: Supplied.

We'd done something different as tourists in our very own city, witnessed some truly first-class football and had a lovely family evening out — completely screen-free. The sprinklers were doing their work on the public training ground next door to the stadium as we walked through the balmy air towards our car, and my husband and I exchanged looks, knowing we would be unable to stop the sweaty kids as they sprinted towards the sprinklers' mist.

But why would you want to? It was an evening on which core memories were made.

Find tickets to an A-Leagues game this school holidays.

Guided by a vision to unite, entertain and grow the football audience in Australia and New Zealand, the A-Leagues showcase the most inclusive, welcoming and truly national sport.
That alone is worth celebrating. Our Leagues. Your Leagues. A-Leagues.