Today I went to my first AFL Game - aka Australian Football League or more commonly known as Aussie Rules Footy. Before I get into that, let me just say that the rest of my trip to South East Asia and then to Sydney was fantastic. I have thousands of photos to sort through and school is picking up so rather than wait and halt all Blog posts, SE Asia will have to wait till I have a little more time on my hands.
So, today I went to my first footy match. It was a sell-out games between the Adelaide Crows and the Port Adelaide Power.
VS 
I really should have looked up these logos before I went because I kinda made a rookie mistake. I accidentally wore turquoise and black (and purple) when really I wanted to cheer for Adelaide. And I actually thought to myself, "no team would have turquoise as their color. I should be good and neutral." Thankfully the weather was cold to I wrapped up in my sweater and jacket and no one could see the turquoise color I was wearing underneath.
My friends Matteo, Mattius, and Chatu joined me and none of us had ever watched a footy match or knew any of the rules. But off we went on our free footy express shuttle to the AAMI Stadium. The stands were a buzzing with fans and the 50,000 people took their seats for what turned out to be a very exciting game.
We had gotten there early which gave us enough time to turn to the family behind us and ask them to explain the game to us. Its a really fast paced game that is fantastic to watch. The fans were great and the weather was crisp and fresh. It was going to be a great afternoon.
Here are the basics (as I understand it):
Each team has 18 players on the field. Most of them stay and play the whole game.
The pitch is an oval and has 4 poles at each end.
A center goal is worth 6 points if the ball is kicked through the center
The team gets 1 point if it goes through either side goal, again it has to be kicked.
players cannot run more than 15 steps without bouncing the ball, and need to pass the ball or kick the ball - they can not throw the ball. Rather there is this funny punting thing where the hit the ball with one fist to pass it to each other. If a player is getting tackled they need to get rid of the ball or else they could be called for 'holding' which means the other team gets the ball. This all makes the game very fast and exciting but a little funny to watch. As the players tackle each other and go down to the ground, they are trying to get a hold of the ball but just long enough to pass it to another member of their team. This gives the play a very different energy than American football where the want to catch the ball and hold on for dear life, effectively stopping the play.
There are 4 quarters, each with 25 mins of play time (usually around 30-33 mins of running time)
There of course are a few more rules than that, but those are the basics.
So the game begun and Port Adelaide got off to a roaring start, scoring 3 goals right off the bat. With little understanding of the game I was worried Adelaide was gonna get crushed. And let's face it, if a team is getting crushed its not all that fun to watch. This was not the case. Adelaide came back quickly and for the rest of the game, the two teams stayed within a maximum of 20 points difference (that's only really 3 goals). Back and Forth it went and we got excited and nervous and what not. Here they call the crowd the 19th man and so we did our best to support our team.
The final score read like this
Adelaide 16 10 110
Port Adelaide 14 7 91
The first number is the number of 6 point goals they got. The second is the number of 1 point goals they got and the third number is the overall score.
With the exception of the very beginning of the game and a brief period at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, Adelaide kept a slight lead. And in the second half of that final fourth quarter, Adelaide secured their victory over Port Adelaide thanks to VIP of the game, Taylor Walker.
It was a really fun afternoon and I'd love to have a chance to go to another game while I'm here.
If you want to know more about the AFL, you can check it out here.
So, today I went to my first footy match. It was a sell-out games between the Adelaide Crows and the Port Adelaide Power.
VS I really should have looked up these logos before I went because I kinda made a rookie mistake. I accidentally wore turquoise and black (and purple) when really I wanted to cheer for Adelaide. And I actually thought to myself, "no team would have turquoise as their color. I should be good and neutral." Thankfully the weather was cold to I wrapped up in my sweater and jacket and no one could see the turquoise color I was wearing underneath.
My friends Matteo, Mattius, and Chatu joined me and none of us had ever watched a footy match or knew any of the rules. But off we went on our free footy express shuttle to the AAMI Stadium. The stands were a buzzing with fans and the 50,000 people took their seats for what turned out to be a very exciting game.
We had gotten there early which gave us enough time to turn to the family behind us and ask them to explain the game to us. Its a really fast paced game that is fantastic to watch. The fans were great and the weather was crisp and fresh. It was going to be a great afternoon.
Here are the basics (as I understand it):
Each team has 18 players on the field. Most of them stay and play the whole game.
The pitch is an oval and has 4 poles at each end.
A center goal is worth 6 points if the ball is kicked through the center
The team gets 1 point if it goes through either side goal, again it has to be kicked.
players cannot run more than 15 steps without bouncing the ball, and need to pass the ball or kick the ball - they can not throw the ball. Rather there is this funny punting thing where the hit the ball with one fist to pass it to each other. If a player is getting tackled they need to get rid of the ball or else they could be called for 'holding' which means the other team gets the ball. This all makes the game very fast and exciting but a little funny to watch. As the players tackle each other and go down to the ground, they are trying to get a hold of the ball but just long enough to pass it to another member of their team. This gives the play a very different energy than American football where the want to catch the ball and hold on for dear life, effectively stopping the play.
There are 4 quarters, each with 25 mins of play time (usually around 30-33 mins of running time)
There of course are a few more rules than that, but those are the basics.
So the game begun and Port Adelaide got off to a roaring start, scoring 3 goals right off the bat. With little understanding of the game I was worried Adelaide was gonna get crushed. And let's face it, if a team is getting crushed its not all that fun to watch. This was not the case. Adelaide came back quickly and for the rest of the game, the two teams stayed within a maximum of 20 points difference (that's only really 3 goals). Back and Forth it went and we got excited and nervous and what not. Here they call the crowd the 19th man and so we did our best to support our team.
The final score read like this
Adelaide 16 10 110
Port Adelaide 14 7 91
The first number is the number of 6 point goals they got. The second is the number of 1 point goals they got and the third number is the overall score.
With the exception of the very beginning of the game and a brief period at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, Adelaide kept a slight lead. And in the second half of that final fourth quarter, Adelaide secured their victory over Port Adelaide thanks to VIP of the game, Taylor Walker.
It was a really fun afternoon and I'd love to have a chance to go to another game while I'm here.
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| Chatu and I take the FX22 - Footy Express |
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| Kids playing in front of the stadium |
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| Adelaide Crows! |
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| Warming up - the stands were full during the game |
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| The sun began to set and lit up the sky - no photoshop! |
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| Our team won! Yay! |
If you want to know more about the AFL, you can check it out here.
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