Aussie Rules Football

Evan, thanks for the suggestion. We booked a game at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds for the less footy-knowledged). This stadium holds 100,012 people. The dozen at the end is only important if you’re kind of near the back of the ticket line wondering if there’ll be any seats left by the time you get to the window. Certainly they would let you buy one of those!

Players making an entrance.

On this day the stadium only had about 60,000 in attendance. That’s still more than any CFL game! I spent the evening before Googling the rules so I wouldn’t look really stupid at the game. Turns out there aren’t a lot of rules:

· You can touch the ball with any part of your body

· There are no offsides

· Each team throws 18 players onto the field (making it really hard for any of the ref’s to call TMM)

· You can punch an opposing player in the face without fear of penalty. They probably had it coming anyway

· You can only kick, bounce or punch the ball – no throwing.

· If you wear more protective equipment than a jock, you’ll probably get beat up after in the schoolyard by your little sister’s friend

· There are 20 minutes of play time per quarter but the clock everyone sees is run time. The only person who knows the actual play time remaining is the referee, which makes him a pretty big deal out there. 80 minutes of action with the ball in play! That’s almost like the NFL. Oh, wait, actual in-play action in an NFL game averages 8 minutes. Most of those players are deathly afraid of their little sisters’ friends.

· There’s a few other rules regarding scoring and possession of the ball but you get the drift…

Shot of the oval field after the game. This field is approximately 160m x 141m.

This is a great sport to watch. I am definitely a fan. Bought a hat. And for the record I watched the whole game without wearing a jock.