Footy!

Otherwise known as Australian Rules Football.

Last night we went to the Sydney Swans vs. the  Essendon Bombers (an AFL or Australian Football League team from Melbourne) game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Here you can see the goals posts. (Players get 6 points for kicking the ball in between the two center posts or 1 point for getting it between the outer posts).

The large screen was actually quite helpful when the players were at the other end of the field. You can't tell from my pictures, but the playing field is an oval.















Here you can see what an Aussie Rules football looks like:

It's squatter than an American ball. The players don't wear pads but do wear uniforms that show their enormous muscles. The game is fast-paced and involves lots of sprinting and kicking. (Our friend said players can run up to 10 miles a game!) It's fascinating and can be quite beautiful (and brutal too - two huge men were both running for the ball and collided at full speed in mid-air). The man holding the ball here is Adam Goodes. His playing was so spectacular even us newbies could tell he had amazing skills. He had also, unfortunately, been in the news the previous week because a couple of people had made some racist comments to him. Sometimes its unbelievable what people think.

This is the old men's stadium at the Sydney Cricket Ground. I did not take a picture of the "Ladies Stand". You can see that many of the fans wore the Sydney Swans colors - red and white.

Friends enjoying each other, the game, and snacks. As you can tell from the fashionable plastic garb, it was raining, so I only snapped a few pictures and then stowed my camera in a zip-lock baggie.

BTW, apparently "footy" can also refer to rugby - it's all in the context. And for you sports fans, here's a summary of the game complete with a video clip.