Friday, June 19, 2009

Football, Football, Football, Football and Football

It's late fall here in Australia and in the Norton household, fall means football. The problem is here in Australia "Football" can refer to 5 different sports: Football (the real football), Soccer, Australian Rules Football, Rugby Union, and Rugby League (yes there are two types of rugby in Australia with different rules). Very confusing, why can't they just adopt the proper naming conventions we have developed in the U.S.?
In the absence of real football down here we have adopted Australian Rules Football. The best way to describe the game is that it is like "Smear the Queer" or "Kill the Carrier" with teams. Which is to say; it is a free flowing, physical game with very few rules. It's awesome. Melbourne is crazy about the game, 10 of the 16 professional teams are from Melbourne. One of the first things that everyone asks when you meet someone for the first time is "which team do you barrack for?" (you don't say "root for" here, it has a very different meaning). So we had to choose a team. We chose the St. Kilda Saints as our team, which has turned out to be a good choice, they are 12-0 so far this season. John and Colin have been to several games and last week to celebrate the Queen's birthday (they still do that down here) the whole family went to the Melbourne vs. Collingwood game with friends.

3 comments:

Tami said...

Of course you guys would find football to celebrate wherever you are! So much fun!

Melanie said...

Do they have a kids league? I'm sure Colin is itching to play the game...

beckyc said...

I notice that Jared is still rooting for the Wisconsin Badgers. So cute.
Go Aussies!