Skip to main content

First AFL game

A few weeks ago I went to my first AFL game. Sydney Swans vs Essendon at the ANZ Stadium. I went with my cousin who did an excellent job of explaining everything to me as the game progressed. There's quite a bit to take in. Like there's constant substitutions, on going throughout the game. They don't stop the play. There's certain rules about catches and kicks. The coaches and other training staff for each team sit in a gantry box, like the commentators and look down on the match and are in constant communication with a guy on the sidelines, who relays orders to the other players. There's extra players, who are not assigned to one particular team, and are running onto the field giving additional orders. There's maybe 5 of them. There's maybe 8 referees on the playing field - one for each half, four linesmen and 2 by the posts. Goals can be scored in a few different ways and yield different amounts of points.
I had watched a bit of AFL on TV before and what surprised me from seeing it live was that the playing field seemed much smaller, but the players were constantly running about.



I saw this tackle on TV in an AFL and it made me want to see more AFL games to see players KO'd like that. It seems such a barbaric sport compared to the gentleman's game of football (...soccer....).



NRL violence this time. Eels vs Bulldogs; Eels in blue, Bulldogs in white.








Pic unrelated. Just a guy that lives a tree.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Language is a funny thing

After spending a few days in West Chester at some friends of mine awesome wedding, there were a few little problems. Entirely to do with the nuances of the English/American dialects. You'd think that as an English speaking nation, it would be pretty straightforward to order a drink in the USA. Like a "gin and bitter lemon". Not much can really go that wrong. Apart from when you ask someone to get you a "gin and bitter lemon" and they return with a what tasted like a triple gin and turned out to be a gin and a "bit of" lemon. Their wedding was absolutely amazing. I feel quite privileged to have been invited and have been able to take part in such a special occasion. And also meet some excellent people, and also have an amazing holiday with my friends. There's loads more photos on Facebook, but here's one of us on the morning of the wedding. I make it sound like the drink "gin and bitter lemon" doesn't exist in the USA. The...
2 comments
Read more

A long way to get somewhere

A few days ago I was thinking about this journey that I am doing; Moscow via Lisbon via Maldova and then through China, and I now sort of wish that I had chosen to go to Russia from Portugal by land. It would have been pretty cool to do a journey like that just with the use of train. I could then be one of those people that can say that they have travelled most of the globe just by land. I could possibly get my own TV show and book series. Michael Palin did. He was already famous, so he had a head start, but he's just an example. Phileas Fog is another person, albeit a fictional character. He went "around the world in 80 days". He's even got his own line of crisps now. Yeah. Circumnavigating the world does definitely have benefits. It would be something quite special to tell people about. That I have gone from the farthest westerly point to the farthest easterly point of one land mass just using ground-based public transport. Living on the outskirts of London and...
3 comments
Read more

The Dangers of Washing Up

Washing dirty dishes is a pretty tedious task, it causes arguments between couples, family disharmony about whose turn it is (to my younger sister who had an S in her name: if your name has an S in it then you only do washing up with an S in the days), friction among friends sharing a flat and one of them using 5 pans to cook bacon and egg, the point is escaping me....pretty much everyone would like to not do it. Pretty much everyone needs an excuse. This is a good excuse. A big, hairy, fuck-off spider in the corner of your kitchen. You can even see what looks like a black and white little face that looks like Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen.  "Oh my....fuck me dead...what the fffffuuu..." was my reaction. Pretty colourful lanaguage looking back on it, but I was arse-clenchingly surprised. I'm not even that scared of spiders. But for those not used to seeing massive spiders (me included) this is probably one of the biggest, hairest, fuck-off spiders I have ...
3 comments
Read more