First off - you can call it "footy", "Australian Rules Football", "AFL", "Aussie Rules" but officially (if you go by the team's Web sites) it's the "Australian Football League".
How would I describe it - well, it's played on a large oval grass covered field and it's most popular in the state of Victoria. Note: Before it was called "AFL" it was known as the Victorian Football League as all the teams were in Victoria - but when West Australia got 2 teams, Brisbane, New South Wales and Adelaide each added a team they changed it to "Australian Football League".
Amazingly there are 8 teams in Melbourne alone - the competing teams are just blocks apart there are so many in such a small, condensed area.
Footy's played with a football-like shaped ball yet the players can punch the ball (think of serving a volleyball) but not throw the ball (like you'd see in football). Players can also kick the ball and run with the ball for 10 meters but they have to bounce it along the way (but keep in mind that the football-shaped ball makes for rather erratic bouncing).
There are four poles at the end of each field with the two center poles the tallest. If the ball goes through the two tall poles that earns the team 6 points and if it goes between the outside poles it's 1 point. On the score board it'll say 5.5 which means 5 x 6 + 5 for a total score of 35.
Here's a Flip Video which gives a visual brief on the rules of footy.
There are also a LOT of players on the field. There are 18 players on each side. Plus umpires and (wait for it) runners!
It's the most amazing thing! Take a look at this Flip Video - they're the guys in the bright yellow shirts and shorts. And their job is to take messages from the coach to the players. And the truly amazing thing is that right in the middle of the game, they run out onto the field - swerving and dodging around the other players - and chase after the player they're supposed to deliver the message to... and they might even run after another player and deliver a message to him before running back to the side line. And these runners are agnostic - meaning they are not assigned to a particular team so they could be delivering a message for either team.
Does anyone else think this is odd? Why don't they just hold up a sign or signal and have the players come over to the side line to pick up their message? Or use an earpiece or microphone to the captain? Isn't it disruptive to have non-players in bright yellow outfits darting in and out amongst the players? Or what if a runner all of a sudden gives in to the urge and kicks the ball as it sails by him?
The other thing I noticed was that while the ball might be in play at the other end of the field, the defenders at the opposite end are pushing, shoving and getting aggressive with one another. I thought a fight was going to break out but my colleagues tell me that they're encouraged to get aggressive. When I took a closer look at this Flip Video you'll see that they deliberately tripped this player. And for all this aggression, there are no personal fouls handed out.
During the half time, we were served fresh baked hot scones, jam and creme. I thought this was traditional - evidently this was only because we were in a corporate box. Evidently, it's more traditional to eat meat pies at a footy game. I'll have to give that a go at my next game.
In the end Carlton won 15.15 (105) to 11.10 (76).
And here's the coup de grace! Our hosts got us passes into the winning Carlton team's locker room! Here I am meeting two footy players! The locker room was filled with sweaty, half dressed players - many of them had bags of ice taped to their shoulder, calves which just goes to show how rough this game is.
And when I look at this photo I feel like such a midget next to these super tall, super fit (and very young) footy players!
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