An Englishman's introduction to Aussie Rules Football.

As some of you may know, me and my girlfriend Clare have been down under for the past three months enjoying the Australian lifestyle. Since leaving the UK on the 3rd January, we have been fortunate enough to have seen a number of incredible sights and already have enough memories and photos to fill a gazillion albums! However, me and Clare are huge sports buffs, so our obsession for all things sporty has led us to attending several sporting events, something the Australians seem to do on a grand scale! So far we have been lucky enough to watch Sydney FC vs Adelaide United in the A League where Alessandro Del Piero still looked a class above despite being close to retirement.Then we headed to Melbourne, where the petrol head side of us led us to impulse buying a set of tickets to the F1 Melbourne Grand Prix (another blog on this to come). On top of all that, we decided we would check out a sport we knew next to nothing about which was the Australian Football League or 'the AFL'.

When we were in Melbourne, we walked down to the Ethihad Stadium (almost a near carbon copy of the one in East Manchester!) and saw that there were tickets to a NAB Cup game (pre season tournament) between Brisbane Lions and Collingwood. We quickly snapped up tickets and after a few minutes of wondering what the hell we had come to watch, we quickly grasped the rules and fell in love with the game! We loved it so much we went and bought tickets to the final of the NAB Cup for the following Friday night in which Brisbane had progressed to face another Melbourne team; Carlton. Thanks to our first game, we are now big supporters of the teams and own replica jerseys with Clare supporting Collingwood and myself supporting the Brisbane Lions.

You are probably still wondering what exactly AFL is all about.Well, Aussie Rules is a quick paced game and this is why it is a nation's favourite. The sport was created when cricketers were required to keep up with their fitness during the winter months and has evolved astronomically ever since. It is now the forth most attended sports league in the entire world, which speaks volumes on its popularity amongst Australians. As previously stated, we found it hard to follow at first due to the large number of players each team has, however fundamentally the game is quite simple and good to follow. There are 18 teams in the league spread across five states in Australia, although 10 teams are based in Melbourne and around Victoria as this is where the sport was born. Each game is split into four twenty minute quarters. It is a game where the marks and catches matter as they will lead to an almost inevitable chance of scoring a goal, much like being awarded a penalty in football. The pitch is oval shaped with four posts at each end. If a player shoots for goal and the ball flies though the gaps between the posts either side of the middle posts they will receive one point. However, if they shoot the ball between the middles posts this is a goal and is worth 6 points. If a team  wins a game they are awarded four points. After the end of the regulation season, the top eight teams in the league qualify for the play offs and the final two square off in the glitz and glamour of the AFL Grand Final,which is always at the home of AFL, The Melbourne Cricket Ground or 'MCG'. Sydney Swans are the current winners of the Grand Final after seeing off Hawthorn last season.

I'll admit it does sound very confusing but once you see it in the flesh it makes total sense and the different points on offer make the game interesting and goals are not hard to come by, which makes almost every game entertaining as opposed to the chance of seeing a bore draw in football. I would describe it as almost a good middle ground between Football and Rugby. The game flows more than rugby and is played with a much quicker pace to it. Football wise, obviously there is a big emphasis on kicking goals where the similar aspects can be seen. So it combines the kicking and fast paced elements of football whilst utilising the the hard tackling and no nonsense side of rugby.

So why is it so popular amongst Australians? They certainly love the goals galore aspect of the game and the way momentum can shift so easily between teams. I witnessed this myself last night in a match between Carlton and Richmond, where both teams were dominant and went on long scoring runs throughout the game which left the tie closely balanced towards the end. I was on the edge of my seat and I don't support either of these sides, so I cant imagine what the excitement and tension must of been like in the MCG and this was only the first game of the season, I can not comprehend how good the atmosphere must be at the Grand Final game. Games are also reasonably priced which allows whole families to attend games.

AFL fans seem the ideal bunch as they have heaps of passion, much like football fans, but do not seem to exceed the threshold that leads to violence. Therefore, the atmosphere is great and you will often see families of both sets of supporters sat in the same areas of the stadium without any trouble and the passion and noise is not affected, I am yet to see any evidence of a prawn sandwich brigade ruining the atmosphere at a game. Also, there are so many players sporting wacky hairstyles. There are several players who think the 'business at the front, party at the back' mullet haircut is still in fashion and there are a few out of control beards. With enough mullets to start an 80's tribute band and some fast paced football on show, what could be better!?

I urge anybody who has never seen AFL to give it a watch. I went to my first game very sceptical and without the foggiest idea of what to expect, and I came out of the stadium hooked and wanting more. If you love football, rubgy or even both, I'm sure you enjoy the fast paced, momentum swinging ride that is the AFL!