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This ain't Rugby, mon frere....and yes, before any rugby fans chime in, Rugby in both codes is horrifiic and diabolical. (Leauge and Union) And stupid, just to stir the pot, due to offside rules, and for the most part, meatheads with no ball skills playing it. This, is Australian Rules Football, derived from Gaelic (Irish) football, in the early days of the Australian colony. A unique, artistic, athletic and beautiful sport, found no-where else in the world. Everyone on the team is expected to be able to kick accurately, handpass well, and tackle like crazy. Heck, even catch the damn ball. It is true, Rugby converts tackle better on average than AFL players-but it's also true, they cannot kick a ball or take a mark worth shit. I'm a bit surprised I had to basically bump my own thread, I mean all these links are bloody awesome, and nobody replies? Blast you Rennick-had I the ability to enbed stuff before, this would have been the penultimate showcase of AFL I had hoped it would be. aaaaargh......
Could be, we Amerikan wankers, can't tell wtf they are doing??? Lots of running, jumping, kicking.. mostly white dudes - looks like a brawl at a Munich biergarden! Shorts, no pads or helmets? Somebody could get hurt!!!
Rofl, that's why I tried to explain some of the rules. Badly, it appears Same as any football code-run around like a madman and try to score more points than the opposition, and not get hammered while doing so. There are just no offside rules offensive/defensive lines as such, so it looks a bit random to the casual observer. Another dash of history, it was supposedly invented to keep Cricketers fit during the winter months-that would be like inventing ice hockey to keep 19th century baseballers fit. They must have drank a LOT back in the day. They don't even wear groin protection (cups) either, impedes running too much. This is evidenced, by a famous photo I won't post, of someones "member" slipping out of their shorts leg during a spectacular (for the wrong reasons) mark attempt.
Oh, I should probably address why Mr Gibbous asserted it may look like an Oktoberfest gone wrong, with sport. It's because they are mostly caucasians, there was a "White Australia "policy in place until the 60's or so. Meaning? Well, Italians, Greeks, eastern Europeans are well into Australian Football, as they have been here longer, 3rd, 4th or more generations. Names like Jezalenko, Dipierdimenico, Koutifides, Daicos,all greats of the game, all from immigrant stock, just like the Anglo names that crop up so frequently. But, there is more......the Islander and Maori/NewZealand population, not insignificant in terms of football talent play Rugby, traditionally, not Australian Rules, so , they play Rugby. The only group completely or critically unrepresented is the Asian community, predominantly Vietnamese or Chinese. But, they play soccer if anything, so again, a cultural thing.
It was rougher in the old days. Some of those hits wouldnt have even been a free kick. <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-BOzQwj4fSE?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-BOzQwj4fSE?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
This is Rugby Union. Any NFL fans, see a resemblance in this game to, their own? Throw the ball backwards.....to kick it, eventually , forwards. <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqW0vT63mzk?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pqW0vT63mzk?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
Victorian replying here- Brought up with a footy. Games not the same now. Country footy still rugged. I'm a rugby man now. It's violent chess- " the Game they play in Heaven" . Footy is football (soccer) now. Yeah, the US, taking rugby and creating NFL. Backward step in my opinion. In fairness, only time rugby played at Olympics result was USA gold
Evidently, I suck at posting clips. But how could you go from Aussie Rules, to Union? Or, god forbid......League, the dumbest, meatheadest sport ever. The "game they play in heaven" is union, so they say. I always liked watching the international tests, as long as the Aussies won, of course. Despite the brutal violence, the "raking", and the fact the "scrum" itself caused so many spinal injuries, still beats the shit out of rugby league. Don't mind watching it-would never play it. And I played Aussie rules as a junior, that was bad enough.