Australian football is one of the most popular sports in Australia. And it’s also a very weird sport.

I can’t tell much about the rules except that it seems there are no rules at all. The ball is not round, but oval as it is in American football. But that’s the only resemblance.

Two teams play against eachother and try to pass the ball into the goal. The goal are two long posts. However the ball is passed by hand. But it’s not like handball, they have the ball in one hand and with the other hand they hit the ball from below, as you would do it at a volleyball service. When or if a other team member catches the ball, other players are not allowed to touch the ball anymore. So most of the time they pass the ball by hand, but when they kick a goal, they kick with their foot. Strange, isn’t it?

The players have no protection gear, they look like normal soccer players. The only protection they have is a teeth protection, such as boxers have. And they well need it, because it’s allowed to jump on other players, to tear on their shirts and to nearly knock eachother out. Therefore a lot of injuries occur and as far as I know a player even died on the football field.

None the less or maybe because of that, football is extremly popular among the Aussies. And that’s throughout the whole population and in every age group. Because we live close to a football oval, we can watch the visitors of the football games. Every weekend within the season, there is a migration to the oval. Men, women, kids, grannies and granddads with their grandchildren, teens, boyfriends with their girlfriends, all equipped with at least one scarf of their team. Most of the visitors are equipped not only with scarfs, but also with chair cushion, hats and flags in their team colors. We’ve even seen a granny with a self-knitted team scarf!

When a game takes place, they come by train, chartered busses and cars. Next to the oval is a small park which is used as a car park. Imagine this in Austria! Because there is an event at the Viennese town hall, the close-by park, the “Burggarten”, is used as a car park! I can vividly remember that I had to leave the grass, because I was sitting down on it! In Vienna they have this strange idea that they have to protect the grass from the bad bad park visitors. There are walk ways in the park and you are not supposed to leave them. For whatever reason!

I’ve really tried to watch a football game on tv, but I just don’t get it. The rules, if there are any, are hard to understand and I’m not so fond of watching other people punching eachother. But on the other hand, I was not brought up since I was a baby to love this sport.

I just can tell that football is a national sport in Australia and whole families spend their weekends together watching the games in the stadium or in front of the telly. The soccer players in Austria can only dream of such a fan support!