Thats how I envision a rumble between the Jersey Shore cast and the occupants of a Cleveland bar last night.
Damn you for getting me to turn this on FA. It's like soccer, but the opposite. Not too much in the way of fouls, yellow cards, or any other semblance of "rules."
Edit: Whistles keep blowing, but the players don't seem to respond. Thoughts?
Time limit on hand passes? Why is the field oval?
they do a bunch of weird things.
if you see a guy running down the field, he's forced to bounce the ball every 15 yards or so.
if you kick a ball to another teammate (again, beyond 15 yards) you get the option of taking a set play (which is why everyone seems to stop constantly) or just keep going. It's up to the receiver to decide which to do.
you get 6 points for kickingn through the middle poles, 1 point for running across between any poles or kicking through one of the sides.
Are games normally this high-scoring? (It's 70-69 midway through the fourth quarter.)
The few games I have watched had at least 1 team score over 100 points. Sadly, I fell asleep at the start of the 4th quarter, but from the other comments it appears Geelong won.
All I know is that its Aussie rules football. Don't understand anything else that is going on. Its like a bad mix of soccer and football.
I must say, that is the best tip off from the ref ever!
Are we talking the mid field bounce or the from the sideline over his head and into play?
/nonsense
Seemed like it was from midfield and the ref did a cartwheel before throwing the ball through his ass.
So, near as I can gather, Australia plays this goofy game. Ireland plays a similarly goofy game. Every so often, they get together and cook up some compromises between the two sets of goofy rules so they can contest an International Goofy Football Championship:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rules_football
Fun times.
Yeah, I get that that's what we're watching. I just find something incredibly funny about this compromise rules football stuff. Basically Australia and Ireland invented a rivalry by cooking up a hybrid game of two similar sports that they are the only countries in the world that play.
Maybe the USA and England can compromise and we can play a hybrid of soccer and American football. All the rules of soccer are the same, except we get to have Brandon Graham in full pads run around tackling people. In fairness to the brits they can suit up that soccer hooligan from Eurotrip just to keep things interesting.
Not a bad idea, especially since Vinny Jones (hooligan from Eurotrip) is an honest-to-God retired professional soccer player. I'd still take Brandon Graham though.
I'm not entirely sure what's going on, yet I find this oddly compelling.
Fun fact: this is a major spectator sport not only in Australia, but also . . . Nauru. (And somehow the U.S. and Canada are listed as "nations where Australian Rules football was most played in 2009." according to this wikipedia map.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football_around_the_world
Very much an old fashioned specking.
GOOOOOOOALLLL!
Or whatever you call it.
Anyone else notice the weird tops to the Powerade bottles?
Yes, that was bugging me as well. Makes them seem oddly dainty or something.
Must have something to do with the way water flows differently in the Southern Hemisphere.
Now the clock is ticking upward. I swear it was ticking downward earlier in the game.
I'm lost.
It was. That was particularly why I came back to post.
Oh. my. god. They have team songs at the end.
And it's another great day to be a Geelong Cat fan!
seems like a god skill for a Michigan QB to have this year.
Wow... just read the entire thread, and I am so upset that I missed this. I'm jealous of you all.
And they have bull riding when I wake up! The bull riding sideline reporter is cute. Not EA sexy, but the accent helps.
It's Australian Rules Football. It's the same league that produced a punter for the Jets (I forget his name). It's actually a lot more exciting than Rugby, at least in my opinion, and when I was in Australia it's all we played. Unfortunately I was playing with a few members of the Pitt football team, including a Tight End (try tackling him) and a punter (could make a kick from anywhere).
Basically the way it works is you run around trying to kick it through the posts. The middle posts are worth six, the outer posts are worth one. The goofy guys that stand behind the posts give a little pistol shooting motion with their fingers when you score. The only ways you can pass are via a punch of the ball or via a kick. If you pass it via a punch you're fair game and anyone can tackle you, but if you catch it cleanly off of a kick pass (without it hitting the ground) you get a free kick and can back away from that position and step up and kick it without being attacked (much like a free kick in soccer). Now, just because you do catch it off of a kick doesn't mean that you have to take the free kick, for example if you're on a break you can keep running like it was a regular pass. If you do run at any time after getting the ball you're allowed five steps without dribbling (its more of a time thing not a steps thing0 before you have to take a dribble which is extremely hard standing still, and even harder while running full speed. After every one point score, the team that was scored on takes the ball in from their end, however for every six pointer there is a "face off" from the middle of the field which is the ref bouncing the ball nice and high into the air.
It's actually a shit ton of fun to watch if you're there and slightly drunk, and to play if you're down to wake up sore the next morning.
I've been watching the whole season on ESPN3. a great combination of rugby, soccer, and ultimate frisbee really. I really wish people played this here in the US, it looks like a lot of fun. the Geelong Cats are the best team out there right now, but don't sleep on St. Kilda, they have a great fight song.
Most of the Aussies I know think this sport is embarrassing and point out that the best athletes from Autralia suited for this type of sport are more likely to end up playing Rugby League or Rugby Union than this sport.