Australian Rules Football Part 2

The Magoos season is officially over.  That means, among other things, I can now wash my jersey, or jumper, as they call it here. Magoos is the nickname for Ormond College’s seconds footy team.  Footy is such a big deal around here the college has not one, but two teams—firsts and seconds.  Think of it almost as varsity and JV.

The season was four games long and I played in every match.  The level of play was right for a beginner like me.  Anyone was welcome to play, and while everyone on the team wanted to win, no one took it too seriously.  In fact, the drinking was more serious than the playing.  To give you an idea of the team’s priorities, the first practice I went to we started on a warm-up run.  After about 30 meters we stop and our captain yells to get in a circle for push-ups.  “Count ‘em out boys!” he hollers to the team.  Now, I take pride in my pushups and using proper form, so I’m ready to bang out a set and form a good impression.  We get down on our hands, bend the elbows, the team calls out “One!” in unison, then everyone gets up.  “Good work boys,” our captain calls out as the team applauds itself.  Practice starts.

My Jumper: I couldn't wash it for the entire season.

In the first game my biggest highlight was when I went up for a mark (Refer to Part 1 for an explanation).  I had the ball in my hands but an opposing player hit me from behind and I landed in the mud (without the ball).  The ref awarded me a free kick and the kick went pretty far but the other team got a mark off it, and I think it led to one of their goals.

Over the next few games my touches steadily increased as I became more comfortable with the game.  We won our third match pretty easily after a quick start in the first quarter.  The other college was coming back strong in the fourth quarter until the ref stopped the game to count the players, and it turned out they had emptied their bench and had 24 players on the field (instead of 18).  The ref called the game after that.

 In the last game I had a number touches, a decent run, one or two tackles (probably one), a couple handballs (and a throw that went unnoticed), and two decent kicks of the ball.  In the end I’m glad I laced ’em up for the Magoos.  The thrill from playing was worth it; every time the ball came my way I pretty much got rid of it as soon as possible.  It was a great experience, but I think I’ll keep Ultimate Frisbee as my main sport.