Sport Australian football

Do the Aussies Rule?

Written by James Potter

Many of our Asian readers have probably never seen a game of Australian Rules football. For the uninitiated, it is similar to American football, hurling and sumo wrestling in that it is boasts an enormous following in one country yet isn’t played internationally at any level of importance.

The game was first devised to keep cricket players fit in the off-season but more than 150 years since the formation of the sport’s first official Associations it rivals cricket as Australia’s national sport. Its heartland is in Melbourne where the game is as fanatically supported as any sport on the planet.

Australian Rules is a relatively simple sport in theory with no offside and the object of the game being to kick the ball between two posts. There are 18 men on each team and nature of the sport requires the athletes be extremely fit and robust.

It is also a high scoring game which makes it great to both watch and bet on. You will find the best team on the day almost always wins which cannot be said for some other sports such as football (soccer).

If you want to take a look you should be able to find games on cable television – particularly on the Australia Channel – which is featured on most Asian cable networks. Australian Rules takes a little time to get used to but if you are a lover of sports you will fall in love with this fast moving game once you work out what is going on!