Part 1
http://news.theage.com.au/national/qld-tops-sports-fans-poll-20081009-4xh7.html
Part 2
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/102599/default.aspx
http://www.footy.com.au/dags/FAQ1v1-5.html
Part 3
The first link is an article in The Age titled, “QLD Tops Sports Fans Poll.” It talks about how Queenslanders were polled as being the top sports fans in Australia. The article talks about how dedicated Australians are to their sports and the huge percentages that both watch and play them. Two of the top watched sports in Australia are Cricket and the Australian Rules Football or referred to as the AFL, both of which are not professionally played in the US. The AFL is hot in the news right now since they are currently in week 3 of the finals. I found an article from the AFL’s official homepage that talks about the first preliminary final matchup between Collingwood v. Geelong. Much of the sports news coverage pertains to the upcoming matches at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds and grand final taking place on Sept. 25, of which I will miss by just a couple weeks. As an avid sports fan, it was very interesting to research the differences in sports between Australia and the US, but also to see similarities. It seems that the passion fans and players have is similar between Australia and the US, and how each area represents a different team even though the main sports that are watched and played are different. After watching a sport like cricket being played recreationally in the US and having no idea of what was going on, I am excited to learn more about the different sports from people who know the game well and where the sport has been a part of Australian culture for a very long time.
Hi Kyla,
ReplyDeleteI think Emily is trying to organise a trip to a cricket match - when you are here Australia will be playing Sri Lanka in a one-day cricket match at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). There are various forms of Cricket, at the top of the tree are Test Matches, which run over 5 days - Australia will be playing England this summer in a 5 test series - unfortunately that doesn't begin until after you leave. A one-day match is an abbreviated form of the game, and is possibly a little easier to grasp for you poor unfortunates who don't live in a civilised (i.e. cricket playing) country (joke!).
As for AFL, Melbourne is indeed gripped by "finals fever" - Melbourne and Victoria are the home of AFL, in fact the game was invented in Melbourne (or in Emily's home town of Ballarat, in some versions of the story).
One thing that might be lost in translation is that while there are AFL teams based in most capital cities of OZ (barring Hobart, Darwin and Canberra), there is a division in Australia between "Football (AFL) States" and "Rugby States". Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia play AFL almost exclusively, whereas Queensland and New South Wales play Rugby League, and Rugby Union (Rugby has some vague similarities to Grid Iron).
The non-major code for the state in question (ie Rugby in Victoria), really has the status of a niche sport - it's really quite unusual for what in many respects is quite a homogenous country.
I look forward to meeting you and talking football, cricket and all sports in between.
Cheers,
Roger (Emily's brother)
The Footy Show: http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/afl/footyshow
ReplyDeleteThe Footy Show is a television program on Nine Network that airs twice a week. It covers the latest AFL news and highlights, as well as viewer comments. There is another version of the show that covers rugby. On the website you can see clips from the show as well as pictures from the latest AFL games.
The Herald Sun: St. Kilda and Collingwood prepare for grand final rematch
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/fans-flock-to-hte-mcg/story-e6frf9jf-1225929198990
For only the third time in history the AFL grand final match ended in a 68-68 draw. The St. Kilda Saints (the valiant underdogs) found themselves well behind at halftime to the favorite Collingwood Magpies. Yet a miraculous 24 point comeback by the Saints has resulted in the match to be replayed next Saturday. I was able to watch this game live on ESPN 2 and it was very obvious that Australian football fans are as dedicated and committed to their teams as any sports fans in the world. Over 100,000 people were on hand to watch the match in Melbourne. I was excited to see the game result in a tie because that means I will be (and probably a lot of us will be) in Melbourne when they replay the match on Saturday.