If you ask some locals here what's their favorite thing about Victoria during the autumn and winter seasons, you are likely to get a one word answer- Footy! Footy, short for Australian Rules Football is a fast pace, good spirited game, often mistaken by foreigners as rugby. There are 36 total players on the elliptical field during play, and at the particular game we attended (Collingwood vs. Carlton- 2 old time rivals), over 88,000 spectators!
On game days fans sport their team colors proudly, in the form of a scarf or jersey. We have grown to be fans of footy, and cheer for 3 teams, which is quite unusual since it feels like you're to only go for 1 team, perhaps decided for at birth by your family. In no particular order we go for: Collingwood Magpies, St. Kilda Saints, and Geelong Cats. We're still working on learning the team songs. :)
Go Pies!
Friday night Footy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)- great weather, great vibe, 2 great rivals = heaps of fun!
Our team won, so it's tradition to sing the team song afterwards- "Good old Collingwood forever, we know how to play the game! Side by side we stick together, to uphold the Magpies name! Good old Collingwood!"
oh the kids will SOO not be happy to hear you have Collingwood in your list of teams. First of all, you are definitely to only go for ONE team. :) (says me who doesn't really go for one at all), and second of all, Collingwood shouldn't be it. The kids often say "boo!" whenever they see black and white striped things. Too funny! You really are good Melbournians... hehe.
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