25.06.2021 - Unless you’re located in the land down under, you might not have seen too much about the game of Australian Rules Football. It’s one of the most unique sporting spectacles you’ll ever see with an amazing combination of speed, skill, athleticism and toughness that appeals to fans worldwide.
1. The passion
Australian Rules Football is a religion down under. If you don’t have a team you support, then you’re a weirdo. If you’re at a BBQ and meeting someone for the first time, you ask them their job and then you ask them what AFL team they support. Some get to choose a team while many are born into a team based on their parent’s poor (or genius) decision making. There is no choice. And once you commit, there’s no turning back.
Some fans have suffered a lifetime without winning the holy grail - the coveted AFL premiership trophy. Yet, they will turn up each week and cheer and scream for their team until they can scream no more. The passion of the fans is undeniable and there’s no better game to watch live than a game of AFL. The passion and atmosphere will consume you and you’ll be hooked for life.
2. The bumps and bruises
Unlike American Football, the AFL players have no padding. It’s full-on 360 degree contact but without the safety net of shoulder pads or helmets. Players take bumps and bruises throughout as the game centres on an unrelenting desire to capture the unpredictable bouncing ball. The tackling has improved over the years and now players must be built rock hard to absorb the blows and execute under immense physical pressure. The body-on-body smack of two players colliding is a sound you won’t forget.
3. The high fliers
AFL comes at you from all angles. The game is not just played on the ground but players compete in the air as well. When a ball is kicked into the air, players do whatever they can to catch it (known as a mark). Sometimes marks are easy. Sometimes they involve leaping high up onto your opponent’s shoulders and plucking the leather from high in the sky. This spectacular leap for the ball is one of the major attractions to the game. There’s no other sport like it!
4. The sweat
AFL is a fantastic game for sports betting and it’s the absolute best game in the world for Daily Fantasy Sports. Stats are taken for every element of the game and there are literally hundreds of different sports betting markets to wager on across 20+ rounds of 9 games per week. It’s a sports betting dream if you like AFL tips. You don’t have to be limited to a match result bet as you can wager on all sorts of things, including individual player outcomes such as goals kicked or number of times they dispose of the ball. AFL DFS has also taken off in recent years and while there are a lot of players to get your head around, it’s a much smaller player pool than the NFL, while being far more interesting than a typical NBA game where the stars dominate. All players on the field are in play in AFL DFS and sweating the action live with a few wagers is an amazing way to watch the game.
5. The glory
Supporting a team that wins the AFL premiership is the ultimate. It’s bragging rights for days, weeks, months, years, decades, lifetimes. It’s the reason why you support a team through thick and thin, and there’s no better feeling in the world than that final siren sounding with your team on top of the mountain. If you’re new to AFL, the best advice is to pick a team to support. Choose the best player, your favourite colour, your preferred city, or whatever. It doesn’t matter your reasoning. Just pick a team and stick by them...forever. We promise, one day it will be worth it.
