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I love all sport and this is not a ridicule of other codes. I’m a member of my local NRL team, have travelled to rugby union World Cups, Ashes series, countless F1 Grands Prix, Grand Slam tennis matches, ice hockey, baseball, NFL, swimming, and Olympics.
You name it and I’ve seen it, and my wife has certainly heard about it. But I love a good argument, and this was a cracker.
On a recent visit to the UK I was enjoying a warm beer in the pub with some mates who I’d grown up with.
We’d played football together, followed our team all over England for 25 years, and seen the all the highs and lows that come with being a supporter (well mainly lows, I’m from Middlesbrough).
Suitably full of bravado, I brazenly slammed the table and declared that Australian rules football was by far the greatest sport in the world. Why would a Pommie fall so utterly and passionately in love with Australian football, a game my UK mates still refer to as ‘men playing in tight shorts’?
After the stunned silence was replaced with howls of derision, I put forward my case.
The players themselves are arguably some of the most talented all-round athletes in the world. They are the complete package. They use every skill set that players from other codes use – both hand and foot skills are constantly required to control and move the ball. In terms of endurance, AFL players possess elite running ability, with the average distance per game covered around 14 kilometres, as opposed to under 12 kilometres for football and 10 kilometres for rugby. Not only that, a significant proportion of that distance is ran at full speed.
Israel Folau, unquestionably one of this country’s most talented athletes, struggled to cope with the aerobic demands of AFL. This athletic ability is then complemented with significant upper and lower body strength, and instances of explosive muscular power are a key component of the game.
The real beauty of the game is its 360-degree periphery and the lack of spatial limitations possessed by other codes.
In other contact sports you know you’re going to be hit head on. In AFL you have no idea where that next tackle is coming from. And is there anything more breathtaking than watching a player fearlessly run backwards with the flight of the ball into a pack?
The spirit of how the game is played is another key point. My major gripe with football is the theatrics that often take place on the field, which seem to be getting lamentably worse as the World Cup reaches its climax. The accepted norm in AFL is to get up and play on. No matter how hard you’ve been hit, players on the whole don’t feign injury – indeed, many heroically play through it – and unlike football, stretchers are only used when they’re needed.
Players don’t continually plead with the umpire to have opposing players punished, and players certainly don’t abuse and manhandle officials when decisions don’t go their way.
But it’s more than that. At all levels of footy it’s about being positive, players rarely chastise other players on their team, encouragement and appreciation for every effort is constantly being offered, teammates stick up for each other on and off the field.
As for the AFL competition itself, I love the socialist philosophy that it aspires to. Notwithstanding the current and valid debates around equalisation, at the very heart of the game there is a desire and commitment to see every club with an equal chance of success. The salary cap and national draft have provided a genuine framework of equality, and as Port Adelaide have proven, a club can quickly become successful when all seems lost. There is an inherent fairness in the competition and I applaud the efforts to maintain it.
As for crowds and atmosphere, the countdown to the first bounce of an AFL grand final is one of the most spine-tingling moments in world sport. In terms of popularity, AFL punches well above its weight; in 2013 the average crowd was 32,163 as opposed to 35,903 in the English Premier League. Blockbuster games come thick and fast and 60,000-plus crowds at the MCG are common.
The game cares for, and caters to men, women, children, young, old, any colour and any nationality. The AFL is a world-class organisation from the top right down to grass roots, and is the envy of many other professional competitions around the world.
I’d contend that many other sports may claim to have some of the qualities I’ve outlined, but none have the full package that Australian football enjoys.
So get along and watch the big men continue to fly high in the greatest game in the world.
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