Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule


aboriginal fan
An Aboriginal supporter of the Collingwood (Magpies) team follows the emotions of the match. There are several Aboriginal players serving different Australian AFL teams.
Collingwood in the field
Collingwood players take the field for the start of the long AFL match.
Entry into MCG
The opposing teams from Essendon and Collingwood enter the gigantic arena at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
dispute lit
Players from Essendon and Collingwood fight for a lost ball.
In midair
Essendon and Collingwood players jump to win an aerial ball.
air dispute
Opponents prepare to try to capture a ball thrown into the air by the referee of the match.
runaway ball
Players vie for a stray ball on the ground.
Fans
Essendon fans support your team's entry.
back to the pitch
Spectator returns a kicked ball to the MCG stadium stand.
together in victory
Essendon players return to the dressing room after their win against Collingwood.
Foward
Collingwood player kicks the ball to his team's attacking front.
In the dark
A moment of darkness at Melbourne's MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) stadium, one of the biggest in Australia, originally erected to host cricket matches but now also used for AFL matches
Australian football
Players compete for a move at the four posts that award points in the newly created AFL football.
Bookmarks
Electronic whiteboard informs the best markers.
The Great MCG
Panoramic view of the huge MCG, Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.

For a time, life went on for Tim Reynolds. The change of New Zealand for Victoria's state it was smoother than I thought. And, in a flash, the newcomer found a job, started a family, and began to adapt to Australian ways.

But Tim never managed to get rid of his pompous and overly institutional posture. The sentences always came out too leisurely and haughty, and his expressions of spontaneity came months apart, glimpses of a corrupt and long-lost youth.

One of the inevitable consequences was divorce and the complete breakdown of the home that had long threatened to collapse. Nick, his youngest son, had decided to stay with him and not his mother. The choice, self-serving, quickly confirmed the descendant's total contempt. And an assumed indifference that only deepened his father's hurt and emptiness.

That's how we know him. Desperate and looking for a new existence. Travel had proved a delightful escape, but his well-paying job – A$ 1500 a week as a guard in Melbourne court – forbade major evasion.

Tim Reynolds' Generous Welcome

Not being able to go to the mountain, Tim had to draw the mountain to himself. And the solution he arrived at was to become a host of foreigners visiting South Australia, something that quickly became an obsession, to the point of assuming online the desire to welcome people from all over the world.

In addition to telling his guests about his wanderings around the planet, Tim enjoyed unraveling exquisite encyclopedic knowledge. Aware that we come from a country adept at sporting kings, he can't resist reporting the old feats of Eusébio and wins us 10 dollars in a bet on the number of world titles in Uruguay.

Afterwards, he goes on to boast the superior qualities of rugby and, to our absolute surprise, an unknown sport of which he became an unconditional supporter after arriving from the New Zealand, Australian Football.

The transmissions of the challenges of the downunder These modalities helped him pass the time, especially while the travelers he received were away to discover Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road's natural sumptuousness.

Essendon vs Collingwood. Derbi at the gigantic Melbourne Cricket Ground

From time to time, Tim even made a point of watching a game sitting in the stadium. Our curiosity about the sport, which we hadn't even heard of, emerged as the pretext he needed to repeat it.

“Hurry up, I don't want to miss the beginning of the game, he alerts as we wolf down the last of the chips in the little house of faith.ish & chips of Caulfield." Infected by her pent-up excitement, we began to feel some frenzy.

Field entry, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, AustraliaThe opposing teams from Essendon and Collingwood enter the gigantic arena at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

We drive from the far outskirts to the center of Melbourne and arrive at the stadium late. We bought the tickets, went in and sat down still excited, with the game already in progress.

But the euphoria quickly wears off as the teams from Collingwood and Essendon battle the tiny stretched spheroid, tiny in the immensity of Etihad Stadium. We confirm the suspicion that, for any fanatic of the sporting king, that eccentric game too quickly proves soporific.

Public, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia

Panoramic view of the huge MCG, Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The Unexpected Complexity of Australian Football

We have 36 players on the field, plus a series of referees.

As if that wasn't enough, the oval pitch – which seems bigger than some countries – is invaded all the time by secondary players from the teams whose functions for us are enigmatic and reveals itself as a stage of chaos that the frequent substitutions and interruptions reinforce.

It is also difficult for us to appreciate the frequency with which the ball is kicked – or, worse, thrown by clenched fists – through the air or slammed into the ground, only to be disputed by opponents who jump with their arms outstretched to the sky.

Player Collingwood, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, AustraliaCollingwood player kicks the ball to his team's attacking front.

These alleged flaws are, however, unique qualities for incorruptible fans of the state of Victoria and elsewhere in Australia. On a day of the Grand Final of the AFL (Australian Football League), the biggest stadium in the country, the MCG – Melbourne Cricket Ground – undergoes an adaptation to the rival modality and can host almost one hundred thousand fans.

Accordingly, in 2008, the average attendance of the championship was around 39.000 spectators, in an annual total of seven million distributed by one hundred and seventy-six matches.

The Growing Popularity of Newborn Australian Football

Despite these convincing numbers, Australian football is still a hot topic among Australians. Sport has prevailed in Melbourne (where he was born) and the inhabited rest of southern Australia. It gains ground in other states where the national association has been injecting money to make it a true national phenomenon.

But its increasingly commercial popularity collides with that of rugby and cricket. Although official records count 130.000 adult players and around 2.600 teams, so far, the footy only convinced about half the population of the big island.

Interestingly, many Aborigines are inveterate fans, contributed by the fact that some of their communities have famous practitioners in various clubs.

Supporter, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, AustraliaAn Aboriginal supporter of the Collingwood (Magpies) team follows the emotions of the match. There are several Aboriginal players serving different Australian AFL teams.

Outside Australia, there are reportedly 30 countries that practice it, with the greatest significance in neighboring Papua New Guinea and New Zealand but also in the South Africa ( United States and even a little in Europe.

The Many Variants of Australian Football

At the same time, Rules gave rise to a series of modalities adapted with rules that allow different physical contacts. These were the cases of Kick-to-Kick, End-to-End Footy, Markers Up, AusKick, Rec Footy, 9-a-Side Footy and Masters Australian Footy.

Air Contest, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, AustraliaEssendon and Collingwood players jump to win an aerial ball.

When faced with the absence of dedicated fields, Australian players living abroad created as many local versions as possible. These were the cases of Metro Footy and the Samoa Rules.

In 1956, Rules was practiced as an exhibition sport in the Melbourne Summer Olympics. Later, from 1967, several matches took place between Australian and Gaelic (mainly Irish) clubs.

In 1998, the International Rules Series took place, a competition between the two respective teams that would be suspended, in 2007, due to the excessive violence of the Australian team in the previous year.

The exaggeration of ozzies it even forced the laws of the game to be changed to safeguard the player in possession of the ball. The following year, that protection seemed assured and minimal testing was resumed in Australia.

Run, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia

Players vie for a stray ball on the ground.

Tim is just one of many more recent supporters but defends the “Rules” with the force of a crowd: “You Europeans are eternal addicts to this sport of barbarians…” he snipes without ever losing his composure. “Here, we are always evolving.”

Melbourne Derbi Possible Records

We end up confirming it when we are victims of the marketing that the modality was involved in. Upon entering the stadium, careless security guards had let us through with cameras and professional lenses. But, we had already registered the game for half an hour when a steward coming out of nowhere prohibits us from shooting because of commercial restrictions of the home team.

Cheerleading, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, AustraliaEssendon fans support your team's entry.

Tim indulges us and we take refuge from supervision in the secluded confines of the third ring. From there, we stole some extra footage but distanced ourselves even further from the action and short relationship with sport.

After the final whistle, the Essendon Bombers get the better of Collingwood's Listed Magpies. The host returns home excited and we with our curiosity satisfied but not convinced.

Essendon, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules football, Melbourne, AustraliaEssendon players return to the changing rooms after their victory against Collingwood.

Australians created Rules and dare to call football a sport in which, almost a century later, all players still play with their hands. For any serious football fan, the punishment is obvious: let them play it.

Great Ocean Road, Australia

Ocean Out, along the Great Australian South

One of the favorite escapes of the Australian state of Victoria, via B100 unveils a sublime coastline that the ocean has shaped. We only needed a few kilometers to understand why it was named The Great Ocean Road.
Melbourne, Australia

An "Asienated" Australia

Cultural capital aussie, Melbourne is also frequently voted the best quality of life city in the world. Nearly a million eastern emigrants took advantage of this immaculate welcome.
Sydney, Australia

From the Exile of Criminals to an Exemplary City

The first of the Australian colonies was built by exiled inmates. Today, Sydney's Aussies boast former convicts of their family tree and pride themselves on the cosmopolitan prosperity of the megalopolis they inhabit.
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Perth, Australia

the lonely city

More 2000km away from a worthy counterpart, Perth is considered the most remote city on the face of the Earth. Despite being isolated between the Indian Ocean and the vast Outback, few people complain.
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Perth to Albany, Australia

Across the Far West of Australia

Few people worship evasion like the aussies. With southern summer in full swing and the weekend just around the corner, Perthians are taking refuge from the urban routine in the nation's southwest corner. For our part, without compromise, we explore endless Western Australia to its southern limit.
Atherton Tableland, Australia

Miles Away from Christmas (part XNUMX)

On December 25th, we explored the high, bucolic yet tropical interior of North Queensland. We ignore the whereabouts of most of the inhabitants and find the absolute absence of the Christmas season strange.
Discovering tassie, Part 3, Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania from Top to Bottom

The favorite victim of Australian anecdotes has long been the Tasmania never lost the pride in the way aussie ruder to be. Tassie remains shrouded in mystery and mysticism in a kind of hindquarters of the antipodes. In this article, we narrate the peculiar route from Hobart, the capital located in the unlikely south of the island to the north coast, the turn to the Australian continent.
Discovering tassie, Part 1 - Hobart, Australia

Australia's Backdoor

Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and the southernmost of Australia, was colonized by thousands of convicts from England. Unsurprisingly, its population maintains a strong admiration for marginal ways of life.
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Australia

Tropical Queensland: An Australia Too Wild

Cyclones and floods are just the meteorological expression of Queensland's tropical harshness. When it's not the weather, it's the deadly fauna of the region that keeps its inhabitants on their toes.
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

Texas is on the other side of the world, but there is no shortage of cowboys in the country of koalas and kangaroos. Outback rodeos recreate the original version and 8 seconds lasts no less in the Australian Western.
Perth, Australia

Australia Day: In Honor of the Foundation, Mourning for Invasion

26/1 is a controversial date in Australia. While British settlers celebrate it with barbecues and lots of beer, Aborigines celebrate the fact that they haven't been completely wiped out.
Red Center, Australia

Australia's Broken Heart

The Red Center is home to some of Australia's must-see natural landmarks. We are impressed by the grandeur of the scenarios but also by the renewed incompatibility of its two civilizations.
Wycliffe Wells, Australia

Wycliffe Wells' Unsecret Files

Locals, UFO experts and visitors have been witnessing sightings around Wycliffe Wells for decades. Here, Roswell has never been an example and every new phenomenon is communicated to the world.
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
Discovering Tassie, Part 2 - Hobart to Port Arthur, Australia

An Island Doomed to Crime

The prison complex at Port Arthur has always frightened the British outcasts. 90 years after its closure, a heinous crime committed there forced Tasmania to return to its darkest times.
Michaelmas Cay, Australia

Miles from Christmas (Part XNUMX)

In Australia, we live the most uncharacteristic of the 24th of December. We set sail for the Coral Sea and disembark on an idyllic islet that we share with orange-billed terns and other birds.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
A campfire lights up and warms the night, next to Reilly's Rock Hilltop Lodge,
safari
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, eSwatini

The Fire That Revived eSwatini's Wildlife

By the middle of the last century, overhunting was wiping out much of the kingdom of Swaziland’s wildlife. Ted Reilly, the son of the pioneer settler who owned Mlilwane, took action. In 1961, he created the first protected area of ​​the Big Game Parks he later founded. He also preserved the Swazi term for the small fires that lightning has long caused.
Herd in Manang, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 8th Manang, Nepal

Manang: the Last Acclimatization in Civilization

Six days after leaving Besisahar we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). Located at the foot of the Annapurna III and Gangapurna Mountains, Manang is the civilization that pampers and prepares hikers for the ever-dreaded crossing of Thorong La Gorge (5416 m).
Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Full Dog Mushing
Aventura
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.
Correspondence verification
Ceremonies and Festivities
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Islamic silhouettes
Cities

Istanbul, Turkey

Where East meets West, Turkey Seeks its Way

An emblematic and grandiose metropolis, Istanbul lives at a crossroads. As Turkey in general, divided between secularism and Islam, tradition and modernity, it still doesn't know which way to go

Fogón de Lola, great food, Costa Rica, Guápiles
Lunch time
Fogón de Lola Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Flavour of El Fogón de Lola

As the name suggests, the Fogón de Lola de Guapiles serves dishes prepared on the stove and in the oven, according to Costa Rican family tradition. In particular, Tia Lola's.
Culture
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
Traveling
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Efate, Vanuatu, transshipment to "Congoola/Lady of the Seas"
Ethnic
Efate, Vanuatu

The Island that Survived “Survivor”

Much of Vanuatu lives in a blessed post-savage state. Maybe for this, reality shows in which aspirants compete Robinson Crusoes they settled one after the other on their most accessible and notorious island. Already somewhat stunned by the phenomenon of conventional tourism, Efate also had to resist them.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
History
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
São Jorge, Azores, Fajã dos Vimes
Islands
São Jorge, Azores

From Fajã to Fajã

In the Azores, strips of habitable land at the foot of large cliffs abound. No other island has as many fajãs as the more than 70 in the slender and elevated São Jorge. It was in them that the jorgenses settled. Their busy Atlantic lives rest on them.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Winter White
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
Almada Negreiros, Roça Saudade, Sao Tome
Literature
Saudade, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

Almada Negreiros: From Saudade to Eternity

Almada Negreiros was born in April 1893, on a farm in the interior of São Tomé. Upon discovering his origins, we believe that the luxuriant exuberance in which he began to grow oxygenated his fruitful creativity.
Hikers below Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California, United States of America
Nature
Death Valley, USA

The Hottest Place Resurrection

Since 1921, Al Aziziyah, in Libya, was considered the hottest place on the planet. But the controversy surrounding the 58th measured there meant that, 99 years later, the title was returned to Death Valley.
Girl plays with leaves on the shore of the Great Lake at Catherine Palace
Autumn
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Golden Days Before the Storm

Aside from the political and military events precipitated by Russia, from mid-September onwards, autumn takes over the country. In previous years, when visiting Saint Petersburg, we witnessed how the cultural and northern capital was covered in a resplendent yellow-orange. A dazzling light that hardly matches the political and military gloom that had spread in the meantime.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Natural Parks
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Registration Square, Silk Road, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
UNESCO World Heritage
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Characters
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Martinique island, French Antilles, Caribbean Monument Cap 110
Beaches
Martinique, French Antilles

The Armpit Baguette Caribbean

We move around Martinique as freely as the Euro and the tricolor flags fly supreme. But this piece of France is volcanic and lush. Lies in the insular heart of the Americas and has a delicious taste of Africa.
Promise?
Religion
Goa, India

To Goa, Quickly and in Strength

A sudden longing for Indo-Portuguese tropical heritage makes us travel in various transports but almost non-stop, from Lisbon to the famous Anjuna beach. Only there, at great cost, were we able to rest.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Magome to Tsumago, Nakasendo, Path medieval Japan
Society
Magome-Tsumago, Japan

Magome to Tsumago: The Overcrowded Path to the Medieval Japan

In 1603, the Tokugawa shogun dictated the renovation of an ancient road system. Today, the most famous stretch of the road that linked Edo to Kyoto is covered by a mob eager to escape.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial
Wildlife
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.