Australian Football

If you've ever been to Melbourne Australia, you'd probably be surprised how into football they are. Like us Europeans, they're obsessed with football, everyone has a team that they barrack for and the games are a constant source of discussion material over lunch at the office. However, going to a game of football, or footy as it's casually referenced here, might leave you confused. The sport being referenced when talking about football is actually mostly played by the players carrying the ball in their hands, performing hand passes and occasionally kicking the ball. Strange, huh? It get's even weirder as you travel to other parts of the country where referencing football means rugby.

Australian rules football takes some time to get used to. The basics are that there are two teams, each consisting of 18 players, trying to kick the ball between two goal posts. Each goal awards the team 6 points and whoever has the most points at the end wins the game. There are also an additional two posts outside of the goal and if the ball is kicked in between them then that counts as a behind, awarding the team 1 point. The game is played on a very large oval field and the players sometimes cover as much as 20km in one game. There are four quarters to a game each 30 minutes long.

What I absolutely came to love about this sports is it's intensity. The players are incredibly fit, able to cover huge amounts of ground whilst carrying large amounts of muscle needed to protect themselves from brutal tackles. There is never any whinging or simulation in the game, the players normally take the tackles on the chin and get on with the game. There is less stopping and starting than european football, the games flow quickly and there's always something happening on the field.

I think European football could take a leaf out of the Australian football's book.