Australian Rules football was born as bred in Melbourne, it was therefore natural that Sofia and I catch a game while we were in the neighbourhood.
We found our way to Melbourne Cricket Grounds just outside the city centre and, armed with our meat pies and chips, we sat down to take in a Melbourne Demons game.
We thought we would give ourselves until half time to try to figure out the rules before resorting to the Internet on our phones, we didn't last nearly that long! AFL is a crazy game, very different from rugby (I was hoping some rugby knowledge would help me figure some things out but I was mistaken).
We eventually learned that it is a game of 18 men from each team on an oval shaped field. There are specific rules about how the ball can be handled, players can kick or 'handball' (punch) the ball and if they are running with the ball they have to intermittently touch it to the ground or bounce it. Players that catch a ball from a kick (Mark) are awarded possession of the ball but beyond this possession is always in dispute. The goal of the game is to get the ball through the uprights (of which there are 4) the middle two being the ones that will award the most points. As per usual Australian sport, there is a lot of full on contact.
Aussies love their sport, I have learned through watching all forms of footy just what this really means. The city of Sydney has 9 teams in the NRL and Melbourne has 9 in the AFL, how this is supported I don't fully understand but it is much different than what we are used to. The whole province of Ontario only has two teams in the NHL! There is definitely a different, and very intense, culture surrounding sport in this country.
We thought we would give ourselves until half time to try to figure out the rules before resorting to the Internet on our phones, we didn't last nearly that long! AFL is a crazy game, very different from rugby (I was hoping some rugby knowledge would help me figure some things out but I was mistaken).
We eventually learned that it is a game of 18 men from each team on an oval shaped field. There are specific rules about how the ball can be handled, players can kick or 'handball' (punch) the ball and if they are running with the ball they have to intermittently touch it to the ground or bounce it. Players that catch a ball from a kick (Mark) are awarded possession of the ball but beyond this possession is always in dispute. The goal of the game is to get the ball through the uprights (of which there are 4) the middle two being the ones that will award the most points. As per usual Australian sport, there is a lot of full on contact.
Aussies love their sport, I have learned through watching all forms of footy just what this really means. The city of Sydney has 9 teams in the NRL and Melbourne has 9 in the AFL, how this is supported I don't fully understand but it is much different than what we are used to. The whole province of Ontario only has two teams in the NHL! There is definitely a different, and very intense, culture surrounding sport in this country.
As it is such a huge huge part of Australian life I was really happy that I was able to take another game in!
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