Trying to fully experience Aussie culture in its fullest form, we went to our first "football" game with our friends the Kemps, Portwoods (expats from Canada with TOTAL), and Walkers (Rio Tinto expats from Utah). We also met up with the Baileys.
So, here's the deal with Australian Rules Football ("Aussie Rules" or "AFL")...2 teams, 1 going in each direction, you advance the ball by picking it up and running with it, in which case it is fair game for the other team to brutally tackle you. If you are running with the ball, you have to give the ball a bounce every 15 meters which can be a bit awkward since it's football shaped. You can also pass the ball forwards or backwards to one of your teammates, but you can't actually throw the ball, you have to "handball" it, which means you hold it with one hand and bump it with the other (almost like an underhanded volleyball serve). While all of this is going on, it is pretty much open season on whomever has the ball and it gets pretty rough. The other (and more common) way to advance the ball is to punt it it to one of your teammates. As long as the ball travels more than 15 meters and your teammate catches it, the other team can't tackle you and you "mark" the ball where it was caught. This slows the game down a bit and takes some of the craziness out of it. If you catch a punt, basically you can choose to run with it or stop. Once you run, the free-for-all action starts up again and the other team comes after you. If you stop and mark the ball, nobody can take it from you. After a ball is punted the players go all out to catch it, sometimes they even jump up on another player's shoulders and spring off to get some extra height off their jump. To score, you have to kick the ball between the goalposts (like American football except the uprights go all the way into the ground). If you kick a goal, it is 6 points. If you are close and slightly miss to either the right or left, there is a 2nd goalpost on each side and you score 1 point for slightly missing. There are some other rules, but that is it in a nutshell.
Sawyer with Paige Kemp. Paige is in 4th grade but is in Sawyer's class at school (both 3rd and 4th graders). We also live just around the corner from the Kemps. They have been amazing friends to us.
Eliza holding a "zonked out" Nash.
Ryder with Sienna Portwood.
Our new favorite team...the West Coast Eagles. He scored a goal on this one, which is a pretty long goal. The reason the other team has backed off is because he caught a punt there and "marked" the ball.
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