TheBanyanTree: Some Muvvers really DO have em!!

[Roger Pye]

As one might expect - indeed, as one has come to expect - the fleabitten 
woofess has much of it wrong and has even missed a couple of facts. Fact 
One being that soccer in Oz is more commonly known as and referred to as 
'wogball' and Fact Two that Rugby League players the world over do not 
have necks!

So let us once more take it from the top.

Gaelic football was the first 'code' and was played by whole Scottish 
villages one against another using a pig's bladder as the ball.

Rugby Public School in the town of Rugby in the English Midlands took up 
the idea several hundred years ago and to show they were different made 
the bladder into the now familiar oval shape. The town is still there, 
so is the school. The game itself was probably very close to Rugby 
Union, the principal aim of which is take as much time as possible to 
score any points.

Rugby League is a watered down version of Rugby Union in which the 
principle aim is much the same as RU but includes the added requirement 
of maiming as many players on both sides as possible.

With the exception of certain elite teams such as Manchester United and 
(Woolwich) Arsenal or the game as played in some South American 
countries, wogball (soccer) has to be one of the slowest (if not THE 
slowest) and boring ball games in the Universe.

AFL (originally VFL) is, however, one of the fastest and exciting 
spectator sports of all time. And, contrary to the 'popular' opinion of 
Peter (Manly Sea Eagles play Rugby League) and Woofie (whose state 
capital and port have an AFL team each), the games does have rules and 
the next time either of you sees an AFL player scratching his bum it 
will be the first time - very difficult to scratch one's bum when 
sprinting up the field bouncing a ball when being pursued by 18 very fit 
young men not to mention those on one's own side.

roger



woofie at woofess.com wrote:
> 
> OK - Let's get a few things straight here!
> There is football, which is often called soccer.
> Then there is rugby union - commonly called rugger - a gentlemanly but 
> still physically rough game played by gentlemen, who pretend to be couth.
> Then there is rugby league, which is an uncouth game played by uncouth 
> New South Welshmen and a few other later ring ins. It is characterised 
> by lots of punch ups between players, between players and referees, 
> between players, referees and spectators and between spectators 
> themselves. You can tell if a game of rugby league has been played on a 
> ground by all the pools of blood, broken beer bottles and chipped teeth 
> scattered everywhere.
> Then there is that embarrassing game called Australian Rules, which 
> doesn't seem to resemble anything much at all. It consists of a lot of 
> grown men (extremely uncouth grown men) who stand around on a field 
> scratching their bums while a few other men beat each other silly over a 
> ball at the other end of the field. This game was invented by Victorians 
> -  from a rather intellectually-challenged  state which gave the world 
> Fosters and VB. Both of which are classified as extremely toxic 
> compounds on  govt poisons' registers.
> Lastly, there is something which the rest of the world calls gridiron, 
> but which Americans erroneously believe is football. The game does have 
> a tiny ball in it, but the players don't seem to be able to do much with 
> it. This game is sort of like a reality battle chess game and the 
> players line themselves up on positions on this grid wearing fancy 
> dress. They then carry out a complicated dance routine while shouting 
> "HIKE" a lot and looking upside down through their hind legs. After many 
> hours the players of one team might actually advance a few feet forward, 
> but this cannot be relied upon.
> Woof, setting you all straight:)
> Laura writes:
>> On 25 May 2010 at 14:30, Roger Pye wrote:
>>> AFL
>>
>> For some reason, my husband was watching Australian Football this past 
>> weekend.  I watched for a few minutes, then asked him what the rules 
>> were.  He said, "I have no idea."
>> Still, it was fun to watch.  Proper blokes playing proper ball.  Not 
>> like our sissy American "football" players with their pads and helmets 
>> and tights.  Bah.  What kind of footballer wears tights?
>> No offense intended, Dee and Jena, or to any of you other American 
>> football followers.  But if you'd ever watched Aussie League football, 
>> you'd know what I mean.
>> -- 
>> Laura
>> wolfljsh at gmail.com
>> http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com
> 
> 
>