"Karin's Komments" on Australia's Game of "Footy"

Australian Rules Football, affectionately known as “Footy”, is the national craze around Australia. Everyone from young to old has a favourite team for whom they root. (Only it is not polite to “root” for something out here, as it implies something sexual.) The correct terminology is to “barrack” for a team. People are passionate for their team, donning scarves, hats, jerseys and socks in their team colours, flocking each weekend to their home matches. Most of the people actually purchase memberships for their team, and can enter the stadiums through a special entrance. The members must wear a collared shirt and closed shoes, if they wish admittance. Most Australians seem to know every player and every statistic imaginable about every team member. Some player on some team is always committing a misdemeanour of some kind, and it causes the staffroom to be abuzz with commentary about it! It is also the talk of the train in the morning and headlines the front page of the newspaper at night!

Now it doesn’t really matter for which team you barrack, but it does matter that you have a team for whom you barrack. Everyone at school tried to win me over to their team at some point when I first encountered them, extolling the virtues and merits of why I should choose their chosen team. They would quietly take me aside, and I in turn would usually tell each one that I was barracking for their team and then they would go away happy! Now in my heart, I barrack for no one team in particular, but it became increasingly clear that choices needed to be made. So Rick decided to throw his hat to the Essendon team because they are nicknamed the “Bombers” and I chose the North Melbourne team, because they are the home team of the area in which we live. Since we have made our choice, everyone has left us alone - probably because the two teams we picked are at the bottom end of the rankings!

There are sixteen teams in all who play one another each weekend from April onwards. The most surprising thing for me was that most everyone in Melbourne is in some kind of tipping pool, betting on the outcome of the weekly games. Even some of my Grade 2 students are avid betters! So, when I was asked to join our school’s footy tipping, I thought it would be great fun for the $22 cost! I had no idea about anything, so one of the teachers offered to send me a Grade 6 student to assist me. Sometimes 2 or 3 students come to see me on a Friday morning, but one young “bloke” comes regularly with the newspaper’s sports section in hand. He discusses the odds with me, pointing out what the broadcasters are predicting and telling me whether or not I should consider an alternative choice; he might inform me of an injured player and how his absence might influence the outcome of the game. In all seriousness, he looks at where the team is in the standings, where the game is being played and how many games they have won recently against weak or strong teams, and then we decide on how to tip. Results are accumulated, and to date, I am among the highest scorers in our school league. One week I even scored 8/8! It is a hoot! Not bad for someone not knowing anything about the game!

The Holy Grail in Melbourne is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Now membership in the MCG is a very serious and prestigious matter out here. Parents enrol their children at birth, so that they can become full members at MCG by the age of eighteen and it is a great honour when the son or daughter finally becomes inducted into the membership! So, any games played at the MCG are considered very special indeed. When Rick was away (I know….I was supposed to have been working on report cards), I was invited to go to a game at the MCG with some friends, Ron and Maureen Sanderson, that we had met in Tasmania. Thus my first introduction to the footy game in the MCG was on May 15 - Melbourne versus West Coast Eagles! We had a great time on a beautiful day. Australia is famous for its meat pies, and a footy game is not complete without eating one of them, so that’s what we did!

Then on June 5, Rick and I were again invited to the MCG to attend a game with other ITF exchange teachers.

This game was Melbourne against Carleton. It started off as a cool overcast day, but then developed into a miserable rainy and wet afternoon, and we needed rain gear so as not to get soaked. I bought a Carleton team raincoat, but most all the other ITFers bought Melbourne ones. Although I looked as the odd one out, Carleton team emerged as the strong winner of the game and I had ultimately chosen the correct team raincoat! We still had lots of fun, both at the game and at dinner thereafter, catching up with everyone and seeing how their exchanges were working out.

Yes, Australians love their Footy! But if the truth be told, Australians are mad about all sports, whether it be car racing, horse racing, cricket, tennis, football or soccer (as is now the case for the next month with the Australian Socceroos team at the World Cup in Africa). At least three channels carry every soccer match that is being played! Some Australians have even taken two-weeks of holidays, just so they can watch the soccer games. They sleep all day and watch TV at night! Crazy, eh?