Swans are Aggressive and Territorial

It's been over a year since I've moved to Oz and I'm finally watching my first footy match. Game? Not sure what to call it.


Footy, the colloquial name for Australian rules football is like NFL to Aussies. Their governing body is called AFL or Australian Football League. Each team has 22 players fielding 18 players a side, which can be an Aussie rules ground or a cricket oval. Apparently, it was created for cricketers to keep fit during the winter.


The aim of the game is to score as many points by the end of four thirty minute quarters by kicking it through 3 sets of posts. The outside posts are worth one point while the centre post is worth 6 points. Players can move the ball any way with their body by either running, kicking or hand-balling it between players. If you run with the ball you must bounce it against the ground like dribbling a basketball because you're not allowed to hold the ball. When a player catches the ball from someone else's kick, that player is allowed a free kick. This free kick is called a mark, which is probably the most desired form of play a player wants to get because no one can touch you. It's quite difficult though because players are tightly marked and are often tackled to prevent a mark from happening.

The Sydney Cricket Ground - SCG

I didn't know any of this before the game and sort of taught myself while I watched my first footy game at the Sydney Cricket Ground aka SCG. This is the same place that held the first test match in which Australia played England. Big rivalry still goes on today.

Sydney Swans v Western Bulldogs

It's was a cool winter day, Sydney style which means all you need is a light jacket. Thankfully the sun had made an appearance between curtains of rain and grey clouds.

The Proper Way to Call Shot Gun

We got tickets from Dave's boss who had season member tickets meaning we got to sit in a 'special' area where you can't come in dressed like a bogan. When we walked in, we were given a sticker which allowed us to save any of the members' seats we wanted till the 2pm start. With Dave leading the way, we arrived a good hour before the game. First we sat ourselves right up to the field with only the cricket picket fence separating us. I'm still not sure if I should call it a pitch, field or ground. Looking at the grey sky, we decided to sit in the covered stands. I placed our sticker on our chairs and walked around the members' area. On each level there were meat pies and pints being sold. Very Australian. I still can't get into meat pies. I'm still a big believer that pie should have fruit filing. Dave on the other hand, loves them.

The Meat Pie - My Worst Enemy in Australia

We ventured into another grand stand of the members area and found an even better view. Dave dashed to get our stickers from where we had left them and came back to where I was sitting. He had gotten some flack from the guard because we had Swans members tickets. This section was the members section. So what area was this? Oh well. We took our seats and watched the Sydney Swans take on the Western Bulldogs enter the stadium - if I can call it that.


Watching the pregame rituals of breaking through the banner and warming up brought back so many memories of watching the Lufkin Panthers a la Friday Night Lights. My high school football team would run out of a huge inflatable helmet with smoke machines blasting. Out of the smoke they would barge through their banner to be welcomed and cheered by a row of cheerleaders and drill team dance members. The entire stadium would be standing grinning with pride as the band played the familiar entrance pump up beat. This moment got the heart pumping with excitement because you knew you were going to see a real show.

Pregame huddle

Looking around the SCG, I saw a half-empty stadium with everyone sitting and watching the teams run up to their banner, pause for a photo and walk under their banner - a very un-climatic start to one of Australia's favourite sports. I kept my enthusiasm as up as I could because after all this was my first experience at a footy game and the game hadn't even started.


The 32 players took their positions and the centre ref took the ball, something that looked smaller than a rugby ball, and threw it down so hard on the ground that it bounced a good 10 feet into the air. The players scrambled as you would in basketball where the lucky guy who jumped the highest in into the air tapped the ball towards their teammate, who stood outside of the central square. The game would then be played like hot potato with players getting rid of the ball as fast as they could trying to get closer and closer to their uprights - the posts.

Tackling and Falling All Without Pads

I'm sure an Australian female coming to America to watch gridiron action would probably have felt the same way I did about the match. There were a lot of hot guys ages 18 to 31 in very fit shape, wearing very short shorts - true eye candy. Beyond this, there was a lot of tackling, hitting, bumping and falling. Undoubtedly, the view was quite similar to an American football game, just without pads. My eyes wandered elsewhere.

Umpire preparing for the throw in and a lift off!

My favourite part of the game was the referees or umpires - taken from cricket. First of all, there were seven of them encircling the cricket oval. They all had whistles, but found a way in which to never out whistle each other. They too wore very short shorts and run the field just as much as the players. There were always umpires standing at the uprights with the sole purpose of signalling one point or 6 points.  If someone scored one point, the umpire would use his right hand and position it like he was pointing. He would crook his arm and wave the hand up and then forcibly down till the arm was bent 90 degrees and was pointing directly at the field. It looked like he was giving you a good 'yellin at'. If a player scored 6 points, kicking the ball through the centre posts, the umpire would do the same motion, but with both hands. The serious nature of these moves cracked me up because it was like they were robot traffic controllers.


My second favourite part about the umpires was their distinct throw in style. They would face the crowd so their back was against the players. Like a bride throwing a bouquet, they would take the ball and hold up up longways. They would bend down and using one hand at the ball's base, they would place the ball as low as possible. From this nearly squatting position with one hand in between their legs balancing the ball and the other hand keeping balance, they would catapult the ball behind their head as if there were single ladies at a wedding behind them. There would be so much force used, the umpire would be in mid-air looking like they would fall backwards.

Syd 'Swannie' Skilton

Swans are Actually Aggressive and Territorial

The game started at 2pm and ended at nearly 430pm - one quarter too long for me. The Swans won 114-75. It was a good experience to take in Australia's game. Next time I'll have to go with more knowledgeable people or just pregame a little harder so I can keep up. I still like American football better.

Game Highlights