Australian Footy

I've just got back from playing AFL (Australian Football League aka aussie-rules, or footy) for college. It was quite good fun, though we got fairly well thumped. by 40 points. I really enjoyed it however - fun to learn a sport in a competitive arena (these guys took it fairly seriously) & I really enjoyed wearing a styley 'vest-shirt'!!

So, I thought I should eductae you on a central tenet of Australian 'culture' (I use that term lightly!). Footy is the most popular sport in Australia - like our football. As the sport of the masses, it is played by bogans (chavs) who sometimes get themselves in a little trouble, as do many of our footballers.

Thus, the star captain (Ben Cousines - see above, with the ball) of the West Coast Eagles (Perth team - winners of grand final last year eg Man Utd) has a crack addiction that was recently exposed. Now that isn't too good for a role model so he's been in rehab in America, & will soon be playing again. There are also a fair few fights in AFL games - the team we were playing thought this was a good idea too, & got a little fired up. Luckily it didn't boil over too much.


The basic rules are that you can't run more than 15m without bouncing the ball, you can't throw it to your team mates but have to 'handpass' it, & if you kick it more than 20m & your team mate catches it directly, that is a 'mark' & he has a few seconds to compose himself & play on. Catching a 'mark' near the goal kicking area is vital if you are to score goals.

Pitch: a huge 'oval' - a football/rugby pitch easiy fits in with space at the sides and end. So marking is man on man - I played in the half back flank (see diagram) .

Scoring: you just gotta kick it between the posts, as high as you like. Between the middle (taller) posts gets you 6 points (a 'goal') & in between the (shorter) outside posts gets 1 'point'.

Tactics: in defence the idea is to disrupt the flow of the attack, hassle them, & stop them from getting marks, then start an attack. Up front the guys are trying to keep the ball moving & get a mark in goal kicking distance.

Apart from that it is a free for all brawl with bodies, limbs, tackles, boots flying in every direction. There are so few rules governing the breakdown (as far as I can make out! I may have just ignored them) unlike, say rugby, that it really can get messy in there - anything goes.

I haven't been to see a live match yet, though I've seen a few on tv, but plan to before I come back. In other news, last night I went on 'the wonders of the east' tour - arranged by my friend Simon, where he shows friends what he considers to be the best sights of Perth. We had some good banter, & it was cool to hang out. In the car, we realised we were from 5 different continents: Me (Europe), Simon (Australia), Sara (US), Eugene (Singapore), Pat (South Africa). Also been working on essays, 3 deadlines this week. Only surfed once in 3 or 4 weeks, so will hopefully get going again once these assignments are done. Ciao.