Australian Rules Football

Australian Rules Football

Despite its name, novice observers frequently ask the question: "What rules?" This fast, vigorous game, played between teams of 18, is one of four kinds of football Down Under. Aussies also play Rugby League, Rugby Union, and soccer, but Australian Rules, widely known as "footy," is the one to which Victoria, South Australia, the Top End, and Western Australia subscribe. It's the country's most popular spectator sport.

Because it is gaining an international television audience, the intricacies of Aussie-rules football are no longer the complete mystery they once were to the uninitiated: the ball can be kicked or punched in any direction, but never thrown. Players make spectacular leaps vying to catch a kicked ball before it touches the ground, for which they earn a free kick. The game is said to be at its finest in Melbourne, and any defeat of a Melbourne team—particularly in a Grand Final—is widely interpreted as a sign of moral lassitude in the state of Victoria.