Australian Rules Football

[Eidolon]

Hey guys, sorry if there is already a thread pertaining to this sport but I couldn't find one.

After joining and realising there is a not insignificant little group of my fellow Australians on this forum I thought I would start up a thread to discuss what is going down in what to me is the world's best sport (absence of Villa being the key draw back).

It's been a pretty crazy couple of years in the AFL with the demands of managing a sporting league on a continent sized area with different state governments handling COVID to varying levels of success leading to teams playing away from their home grounds in hubs for chunks of the season, infrequent and capped crowds until this season as well as the Grand Final not being held at the MCG as is traditional for 2 years in a row.

Before going any further I'll just pop this here for anyone unfamiliar with the Australian game, its designed for Americans so excuse the grating accent but it does a very good job of explaining the rules, appeal and structure of the league, with a fair few spectacular highlights thrown in as well.
 

It's a great time to get a bit of discussion going as we are just entering the finals series on the season with Melbourne, Port Adelaide (woo!), Geelong, Brisbane, The Western Bulldogs (Footscray to give them their proper name), Sydney, Greater Western Sydney and Essendon competing for the gold of the 2021 season.

So yeah, Australians and followers of the game discuss away, if it looks interesting to you and you have questions fire at will.

[Hornso]

Hoping to see more of this tonight...

 

[Eidolon]

1 hour ago, Hornso said:

Hoping to see more of this tonight...

 

What an awful game that was, the worst I have seen us play on the year and I hope we can give you a bit of payback tonight. Got my ticket ready to go now the SA Gov upped the capacity

Must admit I'm still scratching my head about what we are going to do about Hawkins AND Cameron.

[Hornso]

3 hours ago, Eidolon said:

What an awful game that was, the worst I have seen us play on the year and I hope we can give you a bit of payback tonight. Got my ticket ready to go now the SA Gov upped the capacity

Must admit I'm still scratching my head about what we are going to do about Hawkins AND Cameron.

I’m trying to be positive but playing away in front of a capacity crowd has me concerned. Think it could be an absolute classic.

Enjoy being in attendance! I miss being able to attend the footy let alone the atmosphere finals footy provides

[Mandy Lifeboats]

Could some of you experts educate me please.  

I have watched the game. I understand the basic rules. 

Do teams have varying formations?   Is ii like Rugby Union where the player positions are pretty well defined and matched by both teams?  Do they have things like attacking formations, counter attacking formations etc?  

[Eidolon]

27 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Could some of you experts educate me please.  

I have watched the game. I understand the basic rules. 

Do teams have varying formations?   Is ii like Rugby Union where the player positions are pretty well defined and matched by both teams?  Do they have things like attacking formations, counter attacking formations etc?  

Not really, every team pretty much structures up with the same number of players in ostensibly the same positions. You get subtle variations like how many of the forwards are big tall types or little speedy guys and how many ruckman a team might use but you don't get anything like 4-4-2 vs 4-3-3 or anything.

[Straggler]

I went to a game in 2001 when I was visiting family in Perth. My uncle got me loads of Fremantle Dockers clobber to wear to the game, so I was fully decked out in shirt hat and scarf as I watched them get absolutely smashed out of site by the visiting team (can't remember who). 

So now I still follow them, but not much has changed regarding the success of the team. 

Thanks very much uncle Phil.

[fightoffyour]

I've actually been to an Aussie Rules match when visiting my friends in Adelaide. The strongest memory I have is some pretty funny flag waving routines by the officials - one of them was even doing proper stretches at half time to reduce risk of injury. Was a pretty fun game though!

Uploaded it for you:

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by fightoffyour

[Straggler]

A story that I remember whilst I was there that sort of summed up for me a lot of what Australia was about, centered around Aussie rules. 

One of the players was witness to a bag snatching crime and he was interviewed afterwards by the news as he ran the criminal down and got the bag back. Said player (no name, way too long ago to remember) was basically having a laugh about how easy it was for him to keep up and that he was telling the guy he should just give up as he could run all day. Eventually after about 200 yards the criminal ran out of steam and handed the bag over.

If there is one sport that has the perfect skill set for running down criminals it has to be Aussie rules it's basically a quick moving brawl held over a massive area. I loved the story because the player was so unruffled by the whole thing and having a laugh about it.

 

[sharkyvilla]

I saw a few games when backpacking round Australia in 2006, one at the Gabba and two at the MCG and really enjoyed it.  Just a great simple game and really good friendly atmosphere.

[PussEKatt]

Dont watch/follow it myself.Aston Villa and Perth Glory for me.

[Eidolon]

Port Adelaide 86 - 43 Geelong, first Qualifying Final. Great performance by The Power

Edited August 27, 2021 by Eidolon

[Eidolon]

1 hour ago, Straggler said:

A story that I remember whilst I was there that sort of summed up for me a lot of what Australia was about, centered around Aussie rules. 

One of the players was witness to a bag snatching crime and he was interviewed afterwards by the news as he ran the criminal down and got the bag back. Said player (no name, way too long ago to remember) was basically having a laugh about how easy it was for him to keep up and that he was telling the guy he should just give up as he could run all day. Eventually after about 200 yards the criminal ran out of steam and handed the bag over.

If there is one sport that has the perfect skill set for running down criminals it has to be Aussie rules it's basically a quick moving brawl held over a massive area. I loved the story because the player was so unruffled by the whole thing and having a laugh about it.

 

Robin Nahas I remember that story like it was yesterday, funnily enough he was especially famous as a bit of a running machine as a player so pretty bad luck for that particular bag snatcher 

[dAVe80]

Can't profess to knowing anything about the sport, but my mate is a big Melbourne fan, so "Go Ds!"

 

 

[fightoffyour]

19 minutes ago, Eidolon said:

Port Adelaide 86 - 43 Geelong, first Qualifying Final. Great performance by The Power

That sounds like the opponents I saw, but they won that game in April 2019.

5 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

Can't profess to knowing anything about the sport, but my mate is a big Melbourne fan, so "Go Ds!"

There's not even a 'D' in 'Melbourne'. 

Edited August 27, 2021 by fightoffyour

[dAVe80]

4 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

There's not even a 'D' in 'Melbourne'. 

Is their nickname the Devils, and play in red? That kind of puts me off to be honest, cus it make me think of Man United.

Edited August 27, 2021 by dAVe80

[fightoffyour]

2 minutes ago, dAVe80 said:

Is their nickname the Devils, and play in red? That kind of puts me off to be honest, cus it make me think of Man United.

Not the Drongos? Missed a trick there.

[bannedfromHandV]

2 hours ago, Straggler said:

A story that I remember whilst I was there that sort of summed up for me a lot of what Australia was about, centered around Aussie rules. 

One of the players was witness to a bag snatching crime and he was interviewed afterwards by the news as he ran the criminal down and got the bag back. Said player (no name, way too long ago to remember) was basically having a laugh about how easy it was for him to keep up and that he was telling the guy he should just give up as he could run all day. Eventually after about 200 yards the criminal ran out of steam and handed the bag over.

If there is one sport that has the perfect skill set for running down criminals it has to be Aussie rules it's basically a quick moving brawl held over a massive area. I loved the story because the player was so unruffled by the whole thing and having a laugh about it.

 

Surely rule number one of bag snatching should be an ability to run more than 200 yards….

[Xela]

Is it more popular than Rugby Union and League?

I used to watch the highlights when they were on Channel 4, in the 90's I think?

[LondonLax]

16 minutes ago, Xela said:

Is it more popular than Rugby Union and League?

I used to watch the highlights when they were on Channel 4, in the 90's I think?

Australia is separated into the southern states which follow Aussie Rules and the north eastern states that follow rugby.

You’d be hard pressed to find someone from Melbourne who could explain the rules of Rugby to you and also have a tough time finding someone in Sydney who could explain Aussie Rules.

In the Rugby states it’s split between the working class areas who follow Rugby League and the posh suburbs that follow Rugby Union. Union is actually a pretty niche sport in Australia, just the posh suburbs from two states who follow it. It’s surprising the Wallabies have ever won anything really.