Oz X - Aussie Rules

Aussie Rules is big in Australia. It is a cross between, football, rugby, basketball, and street fighting. I like it. The season has just started. I have managed to see the Sydney Swans play twice. It is quite a spectacle. The first game I saw was at the Telstra Stadium with a crowd of 67,000 to watch the Swans vs the West Coast Eagles. It was a great game with a storming finish, the Swans lost by a solidarity point. The same result as last year's Grand Final. The players run around in wife beaters tops (vests) and are covered in tattoos. A large proportion are drug addicted (according to the papers and drug tests) and have a tendency to violence (according to the law). They run on to the pitch to their respective team songs. The Swans have something out of the 1950s, quite chirpy. The Eagles have a mid-80s rock song. They then run through giant banners. The game is exciting to watch but long enough for you to drift off for a while and not lose your place. They play on a cricket oval so it can be tricky to follow without the calls of the crowd on the opposite of the ground. There is one call of "Ball" which is yelled out alot and I haven't grasped what it means. The crowd are vocal to both sets of players and the referees. The women in the crowd tend to be particularly vocal. Today I was watching the Swans vs the Brisbane Lions. A woman behind me was giving particularly loud instructions to the players at which point her son joined in and she was shocked at his language, I can't think where he gets it from. The Swans ended up dominating the 3rd quarter and winning easily. My favourite player is Barry Hall. This has a great deal to do with his TV adverts, Barry Hall Hall. It means he is a player I recognise. He get into fights and kick goals so is an all-round AFL player.