Ah yes, it's that time again. Grand Final time. There are a few events down here in Australia that everyone knows by name, and knows them well. There is the Melbourne Cup, the biggest horse race event in Australia, where the entire country stands still. There is, of course, Australia Day. And then there is Grand Final day.
Despite what you may have heard, not all of Australia is in love with Aussie Rules Football. In truth, the sport's main draw is in Victoria and only recently has it drawn much interest from the rest of Australia, who favour Rugby League, or Rugby Union if you're a fancy boy who went to private school. Cricket and soccer are largely ignored, as they should be. But the AFL Grand Final is always held in the Victorian capital, Melbourne, at the famous, 100,000 person capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground, or MCG for short.
This year the game featured two strong Victorian teams, maybe not a big surprise, but Brisbane was host to a bit of a dynasty a few years ago and won 3 premierships in a row, so nuts to you, Melbourne! But the glorious Brisbane Lions took a few too many pages from the Edmonton Oilers this year and had an abysmal, injury filled season...sound familiar?
Grand Final Day starts off at around 8am, with fans from all over the country in attendance. For the AFL, each team sells 'memberships' at the start of the season, and these memberships grant you certain priviledges, one of which is preference for Grand Final Tickets. As Andrea and I were not members, we could not attend. Frowny Face. But the day is full of festivities and fans dressing up and parading their teams flags around the stadium, singing songs and enjoying some friendly rivalries with the opposition's fans. One attendee was asked to describe what the Grand Final is like, to which he replied, "Ah I reckon its a lot like Mardi Gras, just a lot more bogan.
For those needing translation, this is a bogan.
What's great about AFL is that it's probably the second fastest game on the planet next to ice hockey. There are no penalties, high scoring games, fights, hitting, tackles, and stoppages only when the ball is out of play or the ball's progress is stopped by a tackle. Players typically run 18km a game, most of which is spent sprinting, jumping, kicking, hitting, and punching. I've never seen a game where players hit and punch each other as a matter of course just for the heck of it. No penalty, no stoppage, just play on. Although it's a violent game, it's much more about finesse than rugby, which is very stop and start. As there are no natural breaks, runners come onto the field to relay instructions and provide water to the players. Obviously height is important to an AFL player, so most players are nearly 2m tall, which is probably about 1m taller than your typical no-neck rugby brute.
The game was great and very fast in the beginning, with Collingwood taking off to a typical early lead, which they held for nearly the entire game. Slowly but surely, St. Kilda clawed their way back to get within a few points near the end of the game, and then they finally took the lead with a goal. The last minutes proved to be like trench warfare, and after the final second ticked off the clock, both teams scores were tied, an occurrence seen only 3 times in football history, and never since the AFL's inception in the 1970s.
Many fans, and players, consider this rule to be a joke, and it is a bit of a throwback to the old league, but nonetheless we will have the AFL Grand Final Part 2 this weekend, again at the MCG, with beers and sausage rolls with Uncle Errik, as we did last weekend. The question is...what if they tie again?
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