[Other Sport] Aussie Rules Football

[Superphil]

You Victoria-centric moron. What ill-informed rubbish! It's not mainly followed by Victorian "folk". The sport is massive in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory and it has a foothold in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. The biggest rivalry in the AFL is in fact between the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide.

Teams are moved from "historical locations" (meaning Melbourne) because administrators are attempting to grow the sport. Fans swap allegiances in all sports. Seriously, you must be on drugs!

Indeed, I think fans of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers would also suggest the sports popularity over west. Pretty much anywhere you go in WA you will see Ovals in every neighbourhood.

 

[Rookie]

Watch a bit but absolutely no idea what is going on

 

[South Oz Seagull]

Indeed, I think fans of the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers would also suggest the sports popularity over west. Pretty much anywhere you go in WA you will see Ovals in every neighbourhood.

...and the Eagles and Dockers rivalry is a big one too. Having said this, you will know better than I how intense the rivalry is? The Crows and Port have a deep and ferocious hatred for each other.

 

[el punal]

Am I right in thinking that Collingwood are the most disliked club in Aussie Rules - think Leeds in our footballing domain - I seem to remember some controversy surrounding them in the past?

 

[The Maharajah of Sydney]

If you're bothered by mullets, don't go to a Rugby League game in Australia. Going to a League match in Australia is like a trip to the zoo.

What most non-Australians wouldn't understand is the so-called Barassi Line, that divides the country on the basis of who plays Aussie Rules and people who favour Rugby League.

View attachment 159587
The "Barassi Line"divides the regions where Australian rules football (southwest) and rugby league (northeast) are the most popular football codes. Ron Barassi was a great Aussie Rules footballer and coach.

Have heard of the ‘Barassi Line’ but have never seen that diagram of the map divide before.
Reckon that’s pretty much spot on.

 

[Hampden Park]

remember being in Geelong in 1979, up there cazaly was the song being sung and played on the radio. collingwood vs ? in the final. too pissed to remember the outcome. was on HMS Achilles at the time.

 

[Simster]

My team is Brisbane Lions, but only because my original team Fitzroy got MK Dons'd from Melbourne to Brisbane as part of the expansion.

I got into it at university - we watched TransWorldSport on C4 one morning and they were featuring Fitzroy as a team in financial trouble, so we wrote to the club explaining we were a house of 5 all keen on the club. We forgot all about it until a month later a substantial sized parcel dropped through the letterbox. Inside, car stickers, members packs, a poster of Paul Roos, all sorts. Looking through the accounts, you could see why they were in trouble: they had about 25 boot room staff as well as a big roster and were surviving on mediocre gates - one or two were as low as 8,500. Anyway I bought a massive scarf as did another friend, two more friends bought a guernsey each and we all became members. I've followed them ever since, although my enthusiasm dipped a bit after the move to Brisbane. Mind you, they were hugely successful in the early 2000s when they won it three times.

Amusingly, I later ended up working with a woman who was an avid former-Fitzroy and now Lions fan, and couldn't believe I had even heard of them.

 

[SeagullinExile]

Aerial ping pong, played my men in hot pants and singlets.

 

[Simster]

Aerial ping pong, played my men in hot pants and singlets.

Arguably the second best football code as a spectator sport IMO.

 

[South Oz Seagull]

Aerial ping pong, played my men in hot pants and singlets.

The insults that Rugby League supporters throw at Aussie Rules supporters and vice versa are hilarious. Aussie Rules people say that League or "Thugby League" is a "bum sniffing" sport and I can't actually spell out what League supporters say about Aussie Rules that's over and above the "aerial ping pong" label because I'll offend people.

 

[South Oz Seagull]

The irony in all of this is they use their hands to play the game, for a lot of the time in all Australian Rules "Football" and Rugby League games. In their early days, both codes stole the term "football" because they couldn't think of anything better at the time.

 

[jamie-oh]

Im a Fremantle Dockers fan - the mighty Freo! I came through the Trans-world sport route as well, sunday mornings as a kid spent watching this insane sport from australia with tiny shorts and extravagant taches in the late eighties, and when i went over for a year in 1999 i got right into the sport - popped along to a game which happened to be Freo losing at home to Port Adelaide (those shitmunchers, i've had it in for them ever since) but i've stayed loyal, cos they're my boys. Perennial underachievers, always disappointing, one trip to a grand final in 2013 (where we lost, obviously) and not an awful lot else.
Following from the UK used to be a matter of checking scores on afl.com.au on a sunday, and now i can watch four games a week on BT sport - although Freo are the only team not shown live in the first four rounds dammit!. . . i love hearing how people pick their teams, and the most circuitous and random route is definitely the best - excellent work with the seagulls and the proximity to Brighton with St Kilda, though they are also a spectacularly unsuccessful team, with only one flag ever. Imagine the joy of finally overcoming the hoodoo and winning one!

 

[wardy wonder land]

Back in my youth i used to play for sussex swans in the london AFL League, we played at crawley rugby club, it was such a fast, physical game, playing a lot of london teams became so demanding that in the end other priorities took over…. but the time i did play it i absolutely loved it…..

think they are now based in brighton as a team,and now playing in blue and white…. back in the day we was red….

The irony in all of this is they use their hands to play the game, for a lot of the time in all Australian Rules "Football" and Rugby League games. In their early days, both codes stole the term "football" because they couldn't think of anything better at the time.

I also played for the Sussex Swans -1991-2008 (few intenational caps as well) i think a better game to play than to watch

the funny thing was, as a footballer - it was easier to convert than a rugby player - we had some great rugby players play for the swans when we where at crawley rugby club - but they had to re-train thier hands - and had little "up-field" vision

as a midfielder - i had to learn to use my hands - but the footy dark arts (shirt pulling, shoulder barge, hip barge etc) were all fair-game in AFL

 

[South Oz Seagull]

Im a Fremantle Dockers fan - the mighty Freo! I came through the Trans-world sport route as well, sunday mornings as a kid spent watching this insane sport from australia with tiny shorts and extravagant taches in the late eighties, and when i went over for a year in 1999 i got right into the sport - popped along to a game which happened to be Freo losing at home to Port Adelaide (those shitmunchers, i've had it in for them ever since) but i've stayed loyal, cos they're my boys. Perennial underachievers, always disappointing, one trip to a grand final in 2013 (where we lost, obviously) and not an awful lot else.
Following from the UK used to be a matter of checking scores on afl.com.au on a sunday, and now i can watch four games a week on BT sport - although Freo are the only team not shown live in the first four rounds dammit!. . . i love hearing how people pick their teams, and the most circuitous and random route is definitely the best - excellent work with the seagulls and the proximity to Brighton with St Kilda, though they are also a spectacularly unsuccessful team, with only one flag ever. Imagine the joy of finally overcoming the hoodoo and winning one!

Freo are probably everyone's second favourite team (sortof like the Seagulls in the Premier League). We all want them to win a grand final

 

[Eeyore]

Im a Fremantle Dockers fan - the mighty Freo! I came through the Trans-world sport route as well, sunday mornings as a kid spent watching this insane sport from australia with tiny shorts and extravagant taches in the late eighties, and when i went over for a year in 1999 i got right into the sport - popped along to a game which happened to be Freo losing at home to Port Adelaide (those shitmunchers, i've had it in for them ever since) but i've stayed loyal, cos they're my boys. Perennial underachievers, always disappointing, one trip to a grand final in 2013 (where we lost, obviously) and not an awful lot else.
Following from the UK used to be a matter of checking scores on afl.com.au on a sunday, and now i can watch four games a week on BT sport - although Freo are the only team not shown live in the first four rounds dammit!. . . i love hearing how people pick their teams, and the most circuitous and random route is definitely the best - excellent work with the seagulls and the proximity to Brighton with St Kilda, though they are also a spectacularly unsuccessful team, with only one flag ever. Imagine the joy of finally overcoming the hoodoo and winning one!

Yes, I ruled out some teams straight away because they were too good.

I am the original un-glory hunter. It's much more fun having a team for whom little is expected.

I was almost put off to find they were top at the moment. But then I realised it is a bit like Albion being top after 4 matches. It's unlikely to last.

That said, I have a history of charming teams. When I started following Rugby Union I chose Quins. They were my nearest team and beautifully average. They then won a European trophy the following year and the Premiership the next (their first title). But they're back to average old Quins after another shock win a couple of years ago. Lovely. The occasional big trophy and then years of nothing is fine by me.

Quins are the Tottenham of RU. Without the expectation and the VAR fortune.

 

[jamie-oh]

Its been a great few years for teams overcoming big hoodoos- Richmond, melbourne and the doggies have all got their respective monkeys off their backs, which i find quite inspiring as a Freo fan. I agree that we are probably quite a lot of people's second team: cos we're interstate, not really threatening, and arent the West Coast Eagles, who are a massive bunch of twats
I really hope Ross the Boss does well at St Kilda, its interesting to see how such an authoritarian fella can try and adapt his methods and change with the times a bit. Though as St Kilda are the only team holding us off longest wait for a trophy, i dont necessarily want them to win it all, apologies!

 

[wellquickwoody]

You Victoria-centric moron. What ill-informed rubbish! It's not mainly followed by Victorian "folk". The sport is massive in Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory and it has a foothold in Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. The biggest rivalry in the AFL is in fact between the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide.

Teams are moved from "historical locations" (meaning Melbourne) because administrators are attempting to grow the sport. Fans swap allegiances in all sports. Seriously, you must be on drugs!

Really? Thank you for your total over reaction. As for fans swapping allegiances, they are known as ‘plastics’, should I refer to you as such?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I lived in Australia for a year and fell in love with the sport. Living on the Gold Coast my nearest team was the Brisbane Lions and I saw them a few times at the Gabba, so they're my team.

My ex-fiancee was a big St Kilda fan. I believe they've only ever won the Grand Final once - in 1966 by 1 point - so I look out for their scores and I really hope it's their year. Eric Bana is another celebrity fan of theirs, one of my favourite actors.

 

[Nigella's Cream Pie]

If in soccer you were similarly rewarded for just missing the goal, we would be right up there!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Is it just my imagination or were all those daft gung-ho club anthems with the deeply naff lyrics written by the same bloke?