GF weekend footy fever

One sport I can safely say I have never followed or understood is Aussie Rules football or AFL.  An oval field with 36 players on it, volleyball-"dig"-style passing, basketball dribbling and goal officials who look like judges at a livestock fair?  I didn't get it.  But being in the thick of it for Grand Final (GF) weekend I couldn't help but get excited by all the hoo-ha. 

Melburnians are fanatical AFL fans.  The majority of the teams in the competition are from Melbourne and its surrounds so it's without a doubt, the most followed sport over here.  Rugby schmugby.  Cricket and tennis maybe get a look in in summer, but generally speaking, it's all about "footy".

Surprisingly; although the game, when watched, appears to have very few rules, there's a whole list of them.  Too long to type out here, but download this brochure for some compelling reading!  All 93 pages of it:
http://www.afl.com.au/portals/0/afl_docs/development/afl_explained/Laws%20of%20Football_2010.pdf

I did my last-minute homework by watching the finals (a precursor to the "grand" final, it's not sufficient to call them "semis") last weekend and got a bit of a taste for the fast-moving, goal-scoring frenzy that is AFL.  I adopted S's team, the St Kilda Saints, mainly because they were in the finals and then the GF too and because I like St Kilda as a seaside suburb albeit very touristy - yes I am aware of my "pot" status in this regard! 

We only managed to catch the last 3 quarters of the GF in a Southbank bar, and what an exciting spectacle it was!  The Pies, as the Collingwood Magpies are colloquially known, were in the lead for 97% of the game but in the final quarter St Kilda managed not only to catch up, but to overtake the Pies for the lead.  But the drama didn't stop there and a reply from the Pies meant the match ended in a 68 all draw.  Now you'd think that given this was the GF of all GFs (these teams last met in a final in 1966 where the Saints beat the Pies by 1 point so there was a lot riding on the victory), there'd be some extra time to decide the winner.  No.  These two teams have to play another whole match this weekend crown the champions.  I've never seen more dejected looking players in my life.  There were also a fair few Collingwood fans in floods of tears.  They'd almost tasted victory only to have it snatched from their grasp.

I'll definitely be watching this weekend's rematch from the couch while recovering from my wisdom teeth operation on Friday morning.  Who knows, I might even be donning a rather fetching red, black and white Saints scarf and humming "when the saints go marching in".

Here are some cute ode to GF cupcakes we spied at the Queen Vic Markets on Friday afternoon.

And a packed Collins Street for the Grand Final parade at lunchtime, last Friday.