Australian Rules Football.....

Okay, if you read my post about netball and thought that was strange then get ready for another jaunt into bizarre sports. Australian Rules Football. A few weeks ago we had the chance to see two Australian teams, the Sydney Swans and the St. Kilda Saints battle it out at our very own Westpac Stadium here in Wellington. Naturally curious we bought tickets and met up with our friend, Phil, to take in the game. Arriving at Westpac we first noticed that the field is completely different from what you would see in rugby (similar to American football). This AFL setup was basically a HUGE oval flanked by goal posts with no cross beams. Instead of two goal posts there were four so if a player kicked the ball through the middle two (the tallest of the group) you would gain more points than if you kicked it through on one of the sides.

 

The differences didn't end there. So in rugby you have thirty players on the field at one time (15 per team) but in AFL each team has 18! Yeah, it looked like total chaos out there at all times during the game. So the goal, as you can imagine is to kick the ball  through the uprights at the ends of the field. When a player kicks the ball through, the goal officials wave either one or two white flags in a bizarre, choreographed motion to signal where the ball passed the uprights (middle or sides and points are awarded accordingly). That way everyone, regardless of where you are seated, can see what has happened at the other end of the field.

Players move the ball by passing, running or kicking it. What happens when the ball goes out of bounds? One of the officials stands on the sideline where the ball exited the field and, I kid you not, he turns around with his back to the field and players and proceeds to chuck the ball backwards into the scramble of players.

To start the game or second half, in the middle of the field the players line up to get at the ball and one of the officials bounces the ball as hard as he can straight up in the air. When this happens  he gets out of the way and the players fight get at the ball.

 

In the end it was interesting to see such a different game from anything we know. I'm planning on spending some time in Melbourne next year to visit a lab and complete some of the molecular analysis for my project. After seeing this game it makes me wonder if people will invite me to AFL when I'm there. :) We'll see.