I’ve been in oz for 25 years, I even had a season ticket for the Fremantle dockers, And that was the season they made the grand final. But no, I can’t do it. It just annoys the fuck out of me. It’s a skill less game. Kick and hope. You get rewarded for missing the goal, ‘bless, you tried, have a point.’ True enough they do get stuck in, bit I could see they same kind of thing down a pub after closing time in the city on Saturday night.
The fair and level playing field of a home and away concept of the fixtures doesn’t exist. There’re 2 teams in the West, yet the likes of Collingwood only have to travel there once. How the fuck is that balanced? Teams in Melbourne, bar Geelong, don’t have a home ground, and teams outside of Victoria sometimes play their home games thousands of miles away from their grounds. The governing body thinks its shit doesn’t stink, refusing to move the game from the MCG if the Australians were going to be successful with the World Cup bid.
It’s played by rock apes, although rugby league over here really showcases the gene pool of idiocy, and the one and only monotonous chant that the supporters ‘sing’ (if you could call it that) just grinds my fucking bones. The lack of imagination astounds me, then I remember they’re Australian.
So I’m with @Eirik Bakke on this. Charlton being owned by a Australian consortium doesn’t fill me with joy, they’ll want to change our history as ‘historical significance in sport doesn’t apply over here. Sport is just a game here.
i did the same with freo never stayed for a full game once
I’ve been in oz for 25 years, I even had a season ticket for the Fremantle dockers, And that was the season they made the grand final. But no, I can’t do it. It just annoys the fuck out of me. It’s a skill less game. Kick and hope. You get rewarded for missing the goal, ‘bless, you tried, have a point.’ True enough they do get stuck in, bit I could see they same kind of thing down a pub after closing time in the city on Saturday night.
The fair and level playing field of a home and away concept of the fixtures doesn’t exist. There’re 2 teams in the West, yet the likes of Collingwood only have to travel there once. How the fuck is that balanced? Teams in Melbourne, bar Geelong, don’t have a home ground, and teams outside of Victoria sometimes play their home games thousands of miles away from their grounds. The governing body thinks its shit doesn’t stink, refusing to move the game from the MCG if the Australians were going to be successful with the World Cup bid.
It’s played by rock apes, although rugby league over here really showcases the gene pool of idiocy, and the one and only monotonous chant that the supporters ‘sing’ (if you could call it that) just grinds my fucking bones. The lack of imagination astounds me, then I remember they’re Australian.
So I’m with @Eirik Bakke on this. Charlton being owned by a Australian consortium doesn’t fill me with joy, they’ll want to change our history as ‘historical significance in sport doesn’t apply over here. Sport is just a game here.
I think you’re being a bit unfair..................
To Rock apes!
It still doesn’t sit right with me, having this Australian consortium by my club. They might have the best intentions but as mentioned previously in this thread, the franchise way of doing things down here in sport, does my head in!
I like others who have made the move down here, don’t follow any Aussie sporting team. I’ll turn the channel over if AFL or NRL is on, like @ozaddick says, it grinds your fucking bones after a while!
Hopefully I’m barking up the wrong tree, but I just don’t trust our convict friends.
I actually love the Aussie rugby league, fast and brutal; very entertaining. For the life of me, I can't get into Ozrules, though....plus it's mainly Melbourne based and my family connections are with Sydney, which is a city that I have a great deal of affection for.
I do remember being quite perplexed when I was staying in a hotel in Cairns and it was full of rugby fans from NSW and Victoria who had flown thousands of miles for a match between the both of them in tropical North Queensland. Strange....
However, the Aussies are sport mad and they like to win. We could do with a bit of the latter mentality in SE7!
I quite like it, have seen a fair bit when in Australia and watched Essendon v Collingwood at an Anzac Day game in 1998.
I always try to see a couple of games when I am visiting relatives in Melbourne or working at the Canberra War Memorial (I know they dont have a team but the Swans are only an hours flight away).
Football is by far and away my favourite sport followed by Cricket and NFL, I quite like England and inter-services Rugby Union but dont have a club side as such and never really got into Rugby League. I guess I am just happy that I can watch any sport without saying its shit, like watching paint dry, a poor mans *** or *** for softies blah blah.
Assistant coach at the time of the supplements scandal, Mark "Bomber" Thomspson, is in further trouble - earlier this month he was charged with drug trafficking and possession after his home was raided by police earlier this year.
By the way, Andrew Muir only joined the board of the Essendon Football Club in 2015, so was in no way connected to the shitstorm overseen by head coach James Hird.
Edit: sorry, hadn't clicked on @SidewaysInOz's link earlier so didn't know Bomber Thompson's travails had already been raised!
It’s got to say something about it when the sport has been round for decades yet it’s still played only over here. And only in a few states really because Queensland and NSW will always be league states.
It’s got to say something about it when the sport has been round for decades yet it’s still played only over here. And only in a few states really because Queensland and NSW will always be league states.
Which is a shame, as it's a fantastic sport. I love AFL!
It’s got to say something about it when the sport has been round for decades yet it’s still played only over here. And only in a few states really because Queensland and NSW will always be league states.
I think that owes more to historical migration patterns, the country's isolation, and relatively small population size than the quality of the sport.
In the 19th century European settlers took football with them around the world and the British introduced cricket and rugby to the Empire, hence the long-standing global influence of those sports; there hasn't been a large-scale migration of Aussies to the rest of the world to spread the word of footy (despite it seeming like London being full of Aussies and Kiwis! Channel 4 first broadcast VFL highlights in the early '80s to serve the expat community.)
Aussie Rules was initially devised as something to keep the Aussie cricketers fit during the winter months which is why it's played on a large oval instead of a rectangular pitch, which is another factor in it not being played around the world to any great degree.
In an attempt to increase popularity and access to the game the AFL have devised a new version of the sport, AFLX, which is played on a normal football or rugby-sized rectanglular pitch, with a shorter playong time and fewer players; a T20 version of footy, if you will. This was first played at the start of pre-season this year and didn't look too bad for a first attempt. No doubt it'll be refined in the coming years. I think I read somewhere that the AFL are playing on the historical links to cricket to try and spread the game into India. If that move is successful that'll get the participatio numbers up!
Comments
I think you’re being a bit unfair..................
To Rock apes!
It still doesn’t sit right with me, having this Australian consortium by my club. They might have the best intentions but as mentioned previously in this thread, the franchise way of doing things down here in sport, does my head in!
I like others who have made the move down here, don’t follow any Aussie sporting team.
I’ll turn the channel over if AFL or NRL is on, like @ozaddick says, it grinds your fucking bones after a while!
Hopefully I’m barking up the wrong tree, but I just don’t trust our convict friends.
(Don’t help being married to one!)
I do remember being quite perplexed when I was staying in a hotel in Cairns and it was full of rugby fans from NSW and Victoria who had flown thousands of miles for a match between the both of them in tropical North Queensland. Strange....
However, the Aussies are sport mad and they like to win. We could do with a bit of the latter mentality in SE7!
I always try to see a couple of games when I am visiting relatives in Melbourne or working at the Canberra War Memorial (I know they dont have a team but the Swans are only an hours flight away).
Football is by far and away my favourite sport followed by Cricket and NFL, I quite like England and inter-services Rugby Union but dont have a club side as such and never really got into Rugby League. I guess I am just happy that I can watch any sport without saying its shit, like watching paint dry, a poor mans *** or *** for softies blah blah.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essendon_Football_Club_supplements_saga
When they got busted in 2013, their slogan was 'Whatever it takes'.
By the way, Andrew Muir only joined the board of the Essendon Football Club in 2015, so was in no way connected to the shitstorm overseen by head coach James Hird.
Edit: sorry, hadn't clicked on @SidewaysInOz's link earlier so didn't know Bomber Thompson's travails had already been raised!
In the 19th century European settlers took football with them around the world and the British introduced cricket and rugby to the Empire, hence the long-standing global influence of those sports; there hasn't been a large-scale migration of Aussies to the rest of the world to spread the word of footy (despite it seeming like London being full of Aussies and Kiwis! Channel 4 first broadcast VFL highlights in the early '80s to serve the expat community.)
Aussie Rules was initially devised as something to keep the Aussie cricketers fit during the winter months which is why it's played on a large oval instead of a rectangular pitch, which is another factor in it not being played around the world to any great degree.
In an attempt to increase popularity and access to the game the AFL have devised a new version of the sport, AFLX, which is played on a normal football or rugby-sized rectanglular pitch, with a shorter playong time and fewer players; a T20 version of footy, if you will. This was first played at the start of pre-season this year and didn't look too bad for a first attempt. No doubt it'll be refined in the coming years. I think I read somewhere that the AFL are playing on the historical links to cricket to try and spread the game into India. If that move is successful that'll get the participatio numbers up!