04/25/24
September 24, 2005
Ugly ducklings no longer: The Sydney Swans win their first AFL premiership for 72 years. The Grand Final is a 4 point thriller, but the Swans hold off the West Coast Eagles with hard work, determination and some luck of the Irish.
Such a cool game - I'm very much looking forward to going to see this game in London in a couple of weeks.
posted by JJ at 07:52 AM on September 24, 2005
Have fun with all those Sandgropers. I predict that Freo will now take over from the Swans as the AFL's lovable losers (they are the only team without a title). Unless you're an Eagles fan, of course.
posted by owlhouse at 08:09 PM on September 25, 2005
I really, really, really do not like nor have much time for Aussie Rules. But having said that, I was pleased the Swans won the championship. Really pleased! And good to hear commentators rating it one of the best finals ever. This one was for John, an old Aussie codger with no family living in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He was 78 years old in 1989, but looked a good 20 years younger. He was in good condition and used to walk 15 miles every day. John did not own a TV, but he had the gift of gab. For several years John would come by the record stores and book stores where me and my mates use to work, and daily try converting us to a religion called "Aussie Rules Football" and the church called the VFL (old skool -- I suspect it's now AFL). John was like a Johnny Appleseed sent from downunder on a pilgrimage to spread the word, his mantra was always, "The Rules man, the Rules!!!" The Sydney Swans were always his favorite team, and I would occasionally look up the standings to give him some stick. He was always disappointed because TV never showed the Swans, 'cos they were waaaay too piss-poor and never worthy of the game-of-the-week, and John would bite his lip trying not to complain to bar-keepers who reluctanctly showed the "Rules" on their TVs to keep him happy. I used to antagonize him further by saying, yeah, the Rules are good, but it's a girls game compared to rugby. He would dismiss that outta hand, baaah, that's just outdoor wrestling. And then some time in the early-to-mid 1990s I stopped seeing ole John, and wondered... what happened? where'd he go? did he die? did he move? John was a super-nice guy, but it was hard to nail down details about him. I used to think he'd escaped some dark past and would ask him pointed questions, like, what's someone from NSW doing watching VFL? He explained that he was from Victoria and that the Swans moved to Sydney kinda like the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Otherwise, John was extremely tight-lipped and elusive about his past. So in the wee hours of Saturday, I followed the AFL Grand Final. I was surprised to learn it was the Swans first championship since 1933, so ole John would only have been a kid when he saw (or rather, heard on the radio) his team last raising a championship trophy. So I'm sparing a thought for ole John. Congrats to the Swans, and congrats to their biggest fan, even if he's no longer on this mortal coil. If he's upstairs, you can bet he was looking down with the biggest smile you ever saw.
posted by the red terror at 01:23 PM on September 26, 2005
I saw a video of the final last night - a girl's sport compared to rugby? What version of it are you watching? If there's a scrap in rugby the game gets stopped and people get sent off - in Aussie Rules it seems to be a tactic of the game to try and avoid dedicating too many people to the fights because the play doesn't stop! I was looking forward to seeing some live action in a couple of weeks already, but now I'm REALLY looking forward to it!
posted by JJ at 05:19 AM on September 29, 2005
The Irish reference is to gaelic footballer turned Swan, the incomparable Tadgh Kenneally.