Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi
This Saturday night I was exposed to my first Australian sporting experience! I got to go to an Australian football game, which is typically nicknamed "footy". The game was between the Gold Coast Suns and the Melbourne Geelong Cats. The game took place at the Metricon Stadium, which is located in Gold Coast, Queensland. It didn't take too long to get to the stadium from Surfers Paradise. All I had to do was take the tram to the last stop, Broadbeach South and then take a bus to the stadium. Transportation was free with the ticket to the game. Australian football isn't rugby and it's very different from American football. If I were to describe the sport I would say it's a combination of handball, American football, soccer, and rugby. The team would score a goal every time they kicked the ball in between two posts like when you score a field goal in football. This is the official description of Australian Football I found online. Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, but also called Aussie rules, football or footy (and in some regions marketed as AFL after the Australian Football League), is a contact sport played between two teams of eighteen players on an oval-shaped field, often a modified cricket ground. The main way to score points is by kicking the oval-shaped ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the higher score by the end of the match wins unless a draw is declared. During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled: for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. Australian football has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia, while the AFL, the sport's only fully professional competition, is the nation's wealthiest sporting body.A lot of the players for the Gold Coast suns were fairly young with the youngest player being 18-19. The game was very fun to watch and I found it entertaining. The people who attended had a lot of spirit for the team they were rooting for which made it lively and exciting. The Gold Coast Suns won against the Geelong Cats with a score of 18 to 15. At the end of the game everyone charging onto the field, which was a fun ending to my first Australian football game!
