Is Aussie Rules that hard to understand as a Pom?
St Kilda 143 (22.11) def. West Coast 42 (5.12) As a sports-mad Englishman residing in Melbourne, it is somewhat surprising that it has taken me more than a year of living in Australia to finally get round to attending one of its national sports. Australian Rules Football; also known as AFL, Aussie (No) Rules or in these parts just "footy". Footy is big in Victoria, its birthplace, and is not restricted to just the back pages of newspapers or sports bulletins. The fate of Collingwood's ruck man's knee injury is arguably of greater importance than what the Premier has to say. The sport is micro-analysed by experts and casual fans alike, from endless radio shows to ordinary working people at the supermarket. In that respect, it is strikingly similar to football (UK). The fervour reserved for these clubs, primarily born out of Melbourne’s suburbs, and played in front of crowds sometimes more than 90,000 people, is laudable. But here's the kicker. Really, I don...