Footy!

Ok Australia is a pretty calm place, people are laid back, and very go with the flow, but then they play/watch footy all that goes away. It is the most intense sport in the world! It’s 80 minutes of constant running around, running into each other, and throwing/kicking an odd shaped ball (kinda like a rugby ball). It’s amazing! There are tons of clubs (teams) and the season goes from March until the end of September and games are constantly on TV, you could easily watch it all weekend. The scoring system is a little strange, you either get 6 points if you get the ball through the middle posts and 1 if it goes through the posts on the sides. You can run with the ball, but you have to bounce it ever few steps, you can throw it or kick it, but if you kick the ball and someone catches it before it hits the ground then no one can tackle them. Also all the ovals (fields) are a different size, which is crazy, but pretty cool, and they are oval shaped. This is my basic understanding of how the game works, so hopefully I am right, and if not someone correct me. You can also check Wikipedia for more clarification.

It is very popular in my house, although we are divided in our support. Half (2) of us support the East Coast Eagles and the other half the Fremantle Dockers (my team), which are both Perth teams. So when we watched the derby the other week, where the two teams played each other, there was much gloating when the Dockers won. There continues to be lots of gloating as the Dockers keep doing better than the Eagles, go team!

(the second half of this was written later)
Footy is now over and culminated in the ever exciting Grand Final, which is like the Super Bowl, but the commercials are not as good. Last Sat was the Grand Final and it was the Collingwood Magpies vs. the St. Kilda Saints (I think, not so sure about everyones mascots). And it was intense. The first quarter St. Kilda was down and through to the second it looked like they were out, but they must have gotten some crazy pep talk during half time because they came back pretty strong. In the final quarter they catch up and tie with Collingwood and in the last 10, and definitely the last 5 it's pins and needles to see who is going to win as it's either a goal away or tied. And it ends in a tie! for the first time since 1977 and the rules on this are ridiculous. There is no overtime, no shoot out, rather they have to play again. The whole game the next week. Which is ridiculous and all the players are most unhappy. Which is understandable, they put everything in it only to be told to do it again. Lame, but kinda exciting as a spectator. Anyways, the rematch was this weekend and it was most depressing as Collingwood blew St. Kilda out of the water. But yay footy!