#51 – Scream your heart out at a footy match at the MCG

#51 – Scream your heart out at a footy match at the MCG … and go with somebody who can explain what’s going on – August 16, 2013

Australia is a country with a strong sports culture, which makes sense if you consider the good weather and thereby excellent conditions for sports outside. Early on we were introduced to the culture through the Australian Open in January, the Formula One in March and the excitement that built up throughout those events. However, if you follow the news, those events represent only a glitch in the sports year. The major share of news coverage goes to what the Aussies call footy (which is the abbreviation of Australian Rules Football, Aussie rules or even shorter footy) – even in summer and early autumn, when the season wasn’t even on. Footy is Australia’s contribution to the “kick the ball in the goal” ecosystem of sports, which from an outsiders perspective looks like the love child of soccer, rugby and American football.

At this point, I’ve lost the respect of every Aussie who started reading and no Australian continues to read this post. Comparing footy to American Football is for any Aussie at least as offensive as faking a British accent in front of a Brit and expecting him to find it amusing. Now that we’ve lost the southern hemisphere, let’s continue with the post.

From an outside perspective, the game looks quite exotic. Both, the field and the ball are oval in shape, the jerseys are quite revealing and cover only the bare minimum (still much more than female beach volleyballers wear). The ball must not bee thrown under any circumstances, but is always kicked or whacked with the hand. The entire game is highly physical in every respect. Players don’t hold back and tackle like there’s no tomorrow … without having any protection (see last sentence), and they run like I’ve never seen it in any other sport before. An average mid-fielder runs about 15km on average per match, with some peaking at the 20km mark (an estimated 70% of that in sprint). That’s pretty impressive on its own, but even more if you compare it to the likes of soccer (10-12km), basketball (7-8km), American Football (2km) and baseball (it would surprise me if they crack the 1km mark).

Up until yesterday, we’ve never seen footy, not even on TV. We picked a Friday night match between Hawthorn and Collingwood at the MCG. Kate and Alex were so kind to take us to the match and were patient enough (especially with me) to explain all the basics of the game. While Kate provided us with the further in-depth understanding of the finer details of the game, that only a true Aussie can ever master, Alex gave u the European 80-20 perspective of what’s important and what can be ignored for the greater goal of easing into this new game.

We chose a good game, since both teams have massive supporter groups. So the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the MCG (or since Australia even abbreviates abbreviations: the G) was pleasantly filled with a crowd of 71,533. It was built in 1854 and was the centrepiece of both the Olympics in 1954 and the Commonwealth Games in 2006. The latter is the reason why everything still looks shiny and new. It can host up to 100,000 people and is one of the world’s most famous cricket venues.

I was quite impressed how well the logistics were of guiding the crowds to and from their seats . Actually I was even more impressed how disciplined and well behaved the crowd was compared to my experience with German football stadiums, where thousands of fans shout very explicitly how they want to do engage in the act of love with the other support group’s wives and mothers. The match was more like a family event where parents can take their children to watch a game of footy and not have to explain the human anatomy on their way home.

That lack of misdemeanour of the crowd provided a challenge for my resolution to scream my heart out. Nevertheless, Kate came to the rescue and advised me when and where I can shout without sticking out negatively. Apparently, you can shout “BALL” when somebody lies on the ground and blocks the ball. I made use of that opportunity enthusiastically whenever I saw a chance. Unfortunately not always appropriately and the boy in front of us begged to differ a couple of times, gave me the stink eye and even had to correct me at times. And there I was again: a German not being able to behave himself. I slowly get, where our reputation comes from.

It was a great night, with Hawthorn beating Collingwood, the Melbourne weather mostly behaving and lots of new impressions gained. However, I hope that some day, they can decide to move the season more towards spring and summer, when it’s warmer.