Aussie Rules

Having grown up visiting Elland Road with dad and Jonathan I’m well-versed in UK football culture, and have sung along to my fair share of anti-ManU songs, and taken part in many Mexican waves to stave off the northern English winter while standing still in a concrete football ground. Aussie Rules Football is unchartered territory for me, however, so I was most excited this weekend to get tickets to my first ever match – to see Sydney Swans Vs Fremantle Dockers. The Swans play at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and I had long-term SFF volunteer Roddy Kennard as my guide to Aussie Rules. She’s been a Swans member for years, and has seats with a lovely group of fans who enjoyed explaining all the rules to me and made me feel very welcome. Decked in the Swans colours red and white, I wanted a truly authentic Aussie Rules experience, complete with meat pie and cold beer. Firstly I must explain – it’s far more civilised than British football – there wasn’t much singing, certainly no swearing, and fighting was non-existent. Also, the pitch is oval, and has four poles at either end, two high ones in the middle, and two lower ones either side. The object of the game is to kick the ball between the poles – 6 points if you get it between the middle two (a ‘goal’) and 1 point either side (a ‘behind’). The game seems to borrow a little bit from lots of other games. Football (the goal concept), Rugby (the ball is oval), Basketball (you can’t run with the ball without bouncing it at least once every 10 metres), etc.




For the first two quarters I thought it was a very silly game. When they bounce the ball it goes all over the place (it’s oval, what do you expect?!) and they kept dropping it! Then Nick explained that every time they are tackled they have to drop the ball (I had thought they were all terribly butterfingered)… So by the last two quarters I began to really enjoy it (plus the Swans were winning) and I cheered them on in all the right places. I have to say they were fantastic to watch though – all extremely fit, with lovely little singlets (vests) and short shorts, making the whole game very pleasant on the eye. It’s probably not a game I would watch on telly, but lots of fun in the flesh. Oh, and the Sydney Swans won 89-61, which was great.

Cheering on the Swans


This weekend I also visited the Sydney Opera House to see Sydney Symphony perform Mahler’s 6th Symphony. It was very moving and triumphant, but I was slightly perturbed by the cowbells and the ‘wooden mallet on the table’ sections.

I also went to a Patrick Wolf gig with the Frenchies – he’s a wonderfully flamboyant West Country lad with a charming pseudo-naivety. We didn’t see him dance though, that will be in September.

Am very much enjoying my newly rediscovered social life, but still struggling with the Aussies’ lack of understanding of central heating or insulation. As Patrick Wolf said, winter in Australia is an English summer by day, and Russian winter by night!

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