Aussie Rules

One of the best aspects of Australian culture is their love of sport. Game days are huge in Melbourne and everyone gets involved by flocking to the MCG to watch whatever it is that's being played. It reminds me of the atmosphere during college football game season, minus the tailgating. Australian football (AFL, or 'footy') is a winter sport, and the season starts in March and ends in August. In July, my Melbourne family was nice enough to take me to a game and teach me about this wonderful sport!

All the teams that play are from different parts of Australia, but Melbourne itself has tons of teams which compete against each other. Each team represents a different area of Melbourne, like St. Kilda, Carlton, Geelong, Hawthorne, etc. The game I went to was between Hawthorne and Brisbane. Everyone dons their team's colors and these great striped Harry Potter scarves. Hawthorne's team colors are yellow and brown; something I didn't know when I was picking out my outfit that day...

When we arrived, one of the Hawthorne players happened to be walking by and I got a picture with him!

Winter in Melbourne is chilly! Good thing my Melbourne family had an extra scarf for me to wear. The weather here is so unpredictable. At first it looked like it was going to be nice and sunny, but then it started to drizzle. Luckily, I had a hood on my jacket! But the rain doesn't deter the fans or the players at all. The game goes on, and the fans don't ever mind getting a bit wet.

The rules of the game, as explained by my Melbourne family, are pretty simple: anything goes except shots to the head. Sounds like my kind of sport. The objective is to get the ball through the goals. If they get it in between the middle posts, it's worth 10 points. If the ball goes in between either of the two outer posts, it's worth 1 point.

The players have great uniforms: sleeveless tops and short shorts. Ladies should bring binoculars.

Hawthorne won the game that day, making my Melbourne family especially excited. Each team has their own fight song that everyone sings at the end, provided that they win, of course. I find this to be particularly impressive, as I don't even know all the words to my own alma mater's fight song.

Going to the footy was absolutely delightful, and I'm looking forward to next season. Overall, it's a fun game that's easy to follow and has a great atmosphere. Going to a game is definitely one of the most enjoyable things to do in Melbourne during the winter.

At the Cricket!

In late January, I went with some friends from Couch Surfing to my first ever cricket match! A friend of a friend happens to be a member of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and we were able to go with him to the members area. It was so interesting; despite everyone saying how boring cricket is, I thought it was really cool and fun! My friend explained the rules to me so I could follow the game.
The match we saw was the Melbourne Stars vs. Adelaide. It was a Twenty20 match, so I think the rules differ slightly than test cricket. Now, I'm certainly no expert and only saw that one game which was months ago, so I may be completely wrong, but this is how I remember it:
They have a pitcher (they call him a bowler) and someone batting (kind of like baseball). The bowler tosses the ball, and the batter hits it. After the ball is hit, the batter has to run as many times as he can between two posts and the teams are scored by how many runs they get in between the time when the ball is hit and when it is caught. And that's the game! I'm probably missing tons of important details, but that's what I understood, and I was able to follow pretty well for a first timer (I think)!

Play ball!

Me and Tom, my cricket teacher!

Cricket is fun with friends!

My first meat pie! Australians love them and eat them at all the sporting events!

Group shot!

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

I'm pretty sure Melbourne won this game

Group shot in the members lounge!

Ladies love cricket!

We had so much fun watching the game from the members area, but then we got bored and wandered down into Bay 13, which is notorious for being fun and rowdy! The fans will throw beach balls, evade security, make waves, chant cricket things, and have a good time!

Beach ball! You're actually not supposed to throw them around. It was fun seeing them try to keep it away from security!

There's another one!

The view from Bay 13

Bay 13!

The members area we were in before

There was a cricket at the cricket!

I love how when Australians refer to sporting events, they always say that they are going to "the" cricket; "the" footy, etc. It's one of the many endearing quirks I've found about them since coming here!