Aussie's Luv Their "Footy"
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2007
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Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Subiaco, Australia
Sunday, March 23, 2008
This week the Footy season began in Australia with round one of Australian Football League (AFL) games! The AFL has 16 teams with two teams in Western Australia, the West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers! In this area, both teams appear to be bitter rivals and fans support and cheer for one or the other but not both! As Fremantle opened their season in Melbourne this weekend, the Eagles opened their season here in WA at the 40,000 seat Subiaco Oval! Irronically, both teams play their home games here!
As the Eagles have 40,000 or so members (season ticket holders) and at least another 20,000 plus on the waitlist, getting a couple tickets to an Eagles home game is nothing less than a miracle! Well, it may not have been an act of God, but the kindness of a good friend and Eagles Team Member, who wasn't able to make the game, offered Elsie and I his two passes to the game! Wow! What a gift!
Before I get into the game itself, I should probably explain a thing or two about Footy since it's purely an Australian game! Footy has also been referred to as Aussie Rules! Although some Aussies would say it doesn't "Rule" anything because Rugby is where it's at! Although, with the Rugby Union and Rugby League, there's even decension in the Rugby circles about who really "Rules" Australian Football! Back to Footy!! As a Canadian, Footy doesn't resemble anything like our North American Football. In fact, Aussies refer to the North American Football as Grid Iron! On the other hand, Football as the rest of the world knows it is still referred to as Football in Australia even though their National Team is called the Socceroos! In North America, Grid Iron is known as Football and Football is known as soccer! Are you confused yet? In an attempt to distinguish Footy from Football as the World knows it (excluding North America) and Football as North America knows it (excluding the rest of the World), some lone bloke in the Australian Outback came up with the term Aussie Rules! So, that's how Footy became known as Aussie Rules! However, please don't ask me how it became known as Footy!
On this evening, the West Coast Eagles were playing the Brisbane Lions! Although the Eagles made the playoffs last year and actually won the Premiership (League Championship) in 2006, they've gone through some team turmoil since those championship days and are going through a rebuilding period! Had they not lost MVP players like Ben Cousins (drug abuse) and Chris Judd (girlfriend wanted to live in Melbourne), the Eagles had the makings of the meanest, badest and best team in the AFL for some time! The word Dynasty was written all over their team! The Brisbane Lions on the other hand, were a good "middle of the pack" team. Not great and not bad! They should offer the younger Eagle team good competition!
The game was broadcast on Australian national television! The Eagles fans were emphoric at the games start, with thousands singing the team's theme song as it played over the sound system! The Eagles started the game strong, scoring goals with ease before Brisbane registered their first! At one point, the Eagles had a 37 pt lead! I'm thinkin', this is going to be a blow out! However, Brisbane roared back to take the lead late in the third quarter, to the dismay of 40,000 Eagles fans! The game had all kinds of excitement including the typical old granny sitting in the row behind us yelling "kick the ball, kick the ball you dumn ass" ! Naturally, when the Eagles began losing, her screaming became a little louder and more frequent! But this would be the Eagles night, as players Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr and Adam Hunter lifted the home team to a 14.8 (92) to 11.10 (76) win! At the end of the game, the home fans remained standing at their seats to sing the home teams victory song! Elsie and I, not knowing the Eagles victory song, found our post-game instincts kick in! That being, get the heck out of the stadium and to the train station as quickly as possible! I think it was a North American response!
Overall, our first Footy Game had us on the edge of our seats and fully connected with the fans! It was great fun and great excitement!
Go Eagles Go! Rick & Elsie!
