Bingo_Arms
Cheesehead
- Joined
- May 21, 2024
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 10
I will admit, I'm somewhat a fan of Australian Rules Football. I like it better than Rugby. Can't stand soccer (futbol), it's like sitting outside in the rain, watching cars rust. I'm trying to figure out why the game hasn't come to the US to be honest. It has all the ways of maiming another person that we want in sports, and it means someone has to kick a ball as a part of the game. All the goodies of our game, except very few stoppages of play. They just keep rolling constantly, which means you really need to be in shape to play the game.
Yeah it definitely has the endurance/fitness requirement of soccer combined with a physicality aspect more in tune with rugby or football.
I just think it's such a unique sport to Australia and such a niche sport that if fans are interested they'll find a way to tune in. For what it's worth as well, the league is doing well just operating in their home country. I have no idea if they'd ever consider putting a team in New Zealand as that's a rugby haven but maybe something like that could happen. There's 18 teams now, when I lived there and followed it closer I think it was 14. 18 teams for a small country (population wise) is pretty good, it covers the majority of the country now with two teams out west, two in South Australia and teams into the north east state of Queensland in addition to their presence in the bigger states of Victoria and New South Wales.
It's a fun sport to watch, definitely fast moving.
The NFL has really grown over there in popularity though. Not that it will surpass their own "version" of football and league but the NFL's global reach is definitely evident whenever I go back to visit. I won't be surprised if in a few years they attempt an international game in Sydney. Seems like a wild thought but at one point so was Brazil lol.