Australia Rules Footy

I finally went to my first footy game! Footy is a sport completely native to Australia. The rules were first officially recorded during the year of 1859 but the game itself had started a few years before then. Although the game was first recorded quite some time ago, it took a little while to become popular. However using the word "popular" now to describe it would be a huge understatement. Australians are obsessed with it. Being that there are only a total of seventeen teams throughout the entire country (much, much less than the American baseball or football leagues) everyone gets pretty competitive over their team of choice. When I first arrived in Australia and started to learn about this sport I decided that I wanted to pick one team and support them throughout the time that I was here (and maybe even after if I really liked it!) I talked with a few different people about who they liked (everyone had very strong opinions) and decided on the Essendon Bombers! It sounded like they had a fairly good reputation and their colors were black and red which I really like (haha.)

We left pretty early in the afternoon Saturday and hopped on the train headed towards the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG.) This is the largest stadium in Melbourne holding enough seats for 90,000 people (40,000 more people than the new Yankee Stadium can hold!) Needless to say it was freaking huge. Even more exciting than that was how full the stadium was the day that we decided to go to! Around 70,000 people filled the stadium- an extraordinary amount for just a regular season again. The stadium was so full because the two teams playing, the Carlton Blues and Essendon Bombers, are both Melbourne teams and they both have similar records. 

I wish that I could explain the rules of the game but I think I would just end up leaving most people very confused (especially because I still do not know all of the rules myself.) The game is a cross between soccer, rugby and even a little bit of basketball. There are 4 posts at the end of each field. If you get the ball through the middle two posts, you have scored a “goal” which is worth 6 points. Kicking the ball through either one of the end posts gives you one point for what is called a “behind.” As for the rest of the game the details are a little blurry. Although I personally really enjoyed watching the game itself seemed a lot messier and more confusing than any American or European sport. Whoever has the ball runs with it in their hand but has to bounce it every 15 meters. When they want to pass the ball they can either “hand pass” it (punch the ball with one hand while holding it in the other one) or kick it in the air. Unlike soccer the ball is never kicked along the ground. There is also a lot of tackling involved. A proper tackle must take place between the player’s knees and shoulders. It’s similar to soccer with the kicking, American football with the goal posts, rugby with the tackling and basketball with the bouncing- quite the sport.

The outcome of the game we went to was actually incredibly exciting. The bombers had been up for the entire game. Eventually however, Carlton began to inch their way back and before we all even realized they had tied it up. The stadium filled with screams and cheers from both sets of fans for the next fifteen minutes while the bomber and blues battled back and forth. The bombers were ahead, the blues scored, the bombers came back and scored, the blues scored again! It was constant. Everyone was at the edge of their seats as the game ended in a tie. All the Americans looked around in excitement for overtime and were confused by the disappointed looks on all of the Australians faces. Apparently there is no such thing as over time in Australian footy. The two teams simply had to accept a tie.