They play football in Australia too, but not like Eagles fans know it

SYDNEY, Australia — Soon after I arrived in Australia’s biggest and most beguiling city, a friend in town as a fan reached out to ask what I was doing Saturday afternoon.

I didn’t have much planned before the England-Colombia women’s World Cup game at night, and he had tickets to the Sydney Swans vs. Gold Coast Suns contest earlier in the day.

I had watched Australian rules football on TV a few times in the past, and again in Melbourne recently before coming here to Sydney. I can’t say I fully understand the sport, but a few days ago a kind follower on Twitter pointed me to a short YouTube video explaining the basic rules. So I was happy to check out a game in person.

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Tickets were reasonably priced by American standards, though the U.S. dollar’s favorable exchange rate with the Australian dollar definitely helped. My seat nine rows off the sideline cost $55 AUD, which was around $38 U.S.

It’s also worth noting that while Sydney is Australia’s largest city, Melbourne is the AFL’s real home. The Sydney area has two teams, each with its own home, while the Melbourne area has 10. Nine of them play home games at one of the city’s two biggest stadiums: the approximately 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium downtown and the legendary, nearly 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground just east of the city center.

If you watched any of the women’s World Cup games in Melbourne, or if you’ve ever watched the Australian Open tennis tournament, you’ll have seen the MCG in the background of the sweeping aerial shots you always see on TV. It’s the most famous stadium in this part of the world, and it’s a towering sight on the skyline.

And if you’re in Melbourne on a Saturday or Sunday during the AFL season, you’ll see a great show of rival colors crossing paths on streets, trams, restaurants, and bars. I witnessed it while was there, and it was a fun sight.

For this game, though, the destination was another of Australia’s most famous stadiums: the 48,000-seat Sydney Cricket Ground.

My seat in the Don Bradman Stand, named for one of Australia’s most famous cricket players (who famously toured Philadelphia to play in 1932), gave me a perfect view of the historic Members’ Pavilion and Ladies’ Pavilion. Those structures have stood since the late 1800s. These days, they’re surrounded by concrete, glass, and steel, with plenty of modern amenities on the concourses.

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AFL teams have official songs, akin to American college football but played as recordings instead of by live marching bands.

Some of the songs are original, and some borrow tunes from old classics. The Adelaide Crows use the Marine Corps’ hymn; Melbourne FC uses “You’re a Grand Old Flag;” the Brisbane Lions riff on “La Marseillaise,” France’s national anthem.

The Swans use the Notre Dame Victory March.

They have for a long time, too, since 1961. The team and the university did a copyright deal back then, and Notre Dame is happy to have the relationship.

I was ready for this at the stadium only because a few days earlier in Melbourne, I walked into a store selling AFL gear and heard a soundtrack of all the league’s team songs on the speakers.

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As for how the game is played, it’s not at all like American football. It’s closer to rugby, but it’s also not exactly that either. The game is played on big ovals, like cricket is, and there’s no end destination to run the ball to. The only points come from kicking it between the posts you’re attacking toward.

There are 18 players on the field per team, and the action is constant, with the ball almost always in motion. You can’t throw it forward down the field, you can only kick it, volley it underhanded with a fist, lateral it, or try to run it. But you can’t just run it, you have to dribble the ball every 15 meters (just under 16.5 yards). And since the ball is oval-shaped, that’s definitely a skill.

If there’s one big similarity to the NFL, it’s that the clock stops after every score and the TV broadcast goes to a commercial break. That felt very familiar when I saw it here.

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One of the most famous aspects of Aussie rules footy, as you’ll hear it called down here, is that the players wear no helmets or padding — just tank-top jerseys, shorts, socks, and cleats. There’s loads of ferociously masculine physical contact, from tacking runners to legally jumping over players’ backs while contesting punts landing from the air.

You’ll also notice that the game starts not with a kickoff, but with the lead official walking to the center of the field and slamming the ball on the field, then letting the teams contest it off the bounce.

There’s a women’s AFL too, with a history of resource and perception inequities like we’ve seen in many other sports. Some of the problems have been improved on, but there’s notably an inequity between how the women’s and men’s games are played. The women’s game has 16 players per team to the men’s 18 and a smaller ball.

They pay some attention to the NFL down here. On the day I arrived in Melbourne, the local paper there, the Age, had a big feature on Eagles punter Arryn Siposs — who played Australian Rules Football for the St. Kilda Saints in Melbourne before coming to the United States three years ago. (He spent 2020 with the Detroit Lions before signing with the Eagles the following season.)

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And of course, like everyone back home they know that Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata is an Australian-born former rugby player.

But there’s no doubt about what the number one sport is around here. Or at least was until Australia’s women’s soccer team captured the nation’s hearts in a way never before seen with its historic run to the semifinals on home soil.

For a long time, Australian Rules Football has ruled the roost around here. It was nice to take it in as an outside observer for a day.

» READ MORE: Jordan Mailata’s journey from rugby to the Eagles surprised everyone. Especially his family.