Of the 18 teams in the Australian Rules Football League (AFL), 10 are in Victoria. Anyone from Victoria will mean AFL if they say "footy". In Queensland, there are two AFL teams, but there are also both Rugby Union and Rugby League teams. Rugby League is massive in Queensland and usually, but not always, someone from Queensland saying "footy" will mean Rugby League. It also depends on the time of year because in June there is the first game of the 3 game State of Origin tournament, played between Queensland born players and New South Wales born players. During this tournament, everyone calls it footy.
Watching the Lions play the Crows (Brisbane vs Adelaide)
The Lions came close to winning this one!
We really like going to the Brisbane Lions games in the AFL and the Reds games in the Rugby Untion League. We may not always know what is going on, but it always a nice way to spend some time sitting outdoors and enjoying the weather.
A lovely sunset at the Reds match, played at Suncorp Stadium only 5 minutes from our house
The Warratahs (Sydney) warming up
The other complication with footy is that anyone from Europe or South America, and there is a large European influence here, will call soccer "footy". Sometimes it is easier just to nod knowingly, rather than keep asking "What do you mean by footy?"
The one sport that is never, ever called footy or football, is North American football, which here is referred to as "grid iron football' or just "grid iron". Australians really seem to love watching grid iron, and it is hard to get a seat in a pub when they show NFL games. They love the size of the players and the hard hits (which is why Aussies also seem to love hockey...referred to as "ice hockey" here, never just hockey) but they just can't get their heads around having offence and defence as different teams. When we try to explain it, we get the same blank look back as when Aussies start talking about footy. Sometimes it is easier just to cheer for the ball!
No comments:
Post a Comment