#18 Cheering for a footy team | Australian Rules Football

Is there a team that you’re cheering for?
Far out! I can’t make heads or tails of the sport.
I thought this game was going to be a nail biter, but it looks like we will win by a mile!
They’re the favourites this year.
They’ve been blowing away the competition.

Useful phrases to use when talking about the AFL:

Geez, what a speccie!
It’s incredible how he marked it.
Pies have a lot of frequent flyers on their team while Swans are making a hash of it.
I’m barracking for this team.

Colloquial expressions:

Far out is an expression of surprise, amazement or even dismay that means “Oh my goodness!”

When you can’t make heads or tails of something, it means that something is confusing you.

When you get the basics down, it means you know the basic information about something.

When you pick someone’s brain about something, it means that you are getting information about something that they know a lot about.

Geez is an expression used to show surprise or annoyance. "Geez, you scared me!"

Nail biter – A situation or a thing that causes great excitement, anxiety or tension. "That movie was a nail biter."

Vocabulary:

Footy – Can refer to Australian Rules football , soccer, rugby union or rugby league.

Goal posts – The two middle and taller posts.

Behind posts – The two outer and shorter posts.

To barrack – To cheer for or to support a particular AFL team,

A speccie - Refers to a spectacular catch of the ball, also known as mark, which typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player.

A screamer – The same as a speccie.

Frequent Flyers - Players who take lots of screamers or speccies.

A mark - The catch of a kicked ball which earns the player a free kick. So, when a player takes a big mark, you can say, “What a screamer!”

Making a hash of it - Making a lot of mistakes.

The favourite – In sports, it refers to the athlete or team predicted to win.

The premiership – The award given to the AFL team that wins the finals.

Cultural information:

Australian Rules football is also known as Aussie Rules, football or footy. It is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players each. The fully professional league of Aussie rules is the Australian Football League (AFL) and the women’s equivalent is called the AFLW.

Australian International Football (AFI)

promotes Aussie Rules not only internationally but also within multicultural communities here in Australia. At AFI events, men and women play together non-contact version of the game while exercising out in fresh air and meeting new people.

# 18 Cheering for a footy team | Australian Rules Football

Transcript:

(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)

Hi! Welcome to the SBS Learn English podcast, where we help Australians to speak, understand and connect.  

My name is Josipa, and like you, I’m learning more about the Australian culture every day.

And something that gets all Australians talking, and often arguing about, is… sport!

So, today we’ll practice how to talk about one of the country’s most popular games, Australian Rules football which is the game played in the professional ‘Australian Football League’, commonly called the AFL’ or Aussie Rules.

Let’s start by listening to a conversation between Allan and Susie. Allan grew up watching the AFL, while Susie, like me, doesn’t know much about AFL.

Allan:

Is there a footy team that you’re cheering for, Susie?

Susie:

Far out! I can’t make heads or tails of the sport. All I know is that there are 18 teams in the AFL and that players have to kick a ball between the goal posts.

Allan:

You’ve got the basics down! When a player kicks the ball between the goal posts and another player doesn’t touch it, then their team is awarded six points. If it’s between the behind posts, it’s one point.

Susie:

There’s so much to learn! Can I pick your brain about it?

Josipa:

When I first heard my friends talking about footy, I thought of football as soccer; but in Australia, footy refers to soccer, rugby league, rugby union or Australian Rules football!

But for today, when we say footy, we are referring to AFL, a contact sport that has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia.

Now, let’s look at Allan and Susie’s conversation more closely to learn about AFL and practice some valuable phrases when talking about sport.

Allan asked Susie what footy team she was cheering for, and she replied,

Far out! I can’t make heads or tails of the sport.

Far out! is a common expression that is similar to “Wow!” It can be used to express surprise, amazement or even dismay.

When you can’t make heads or tails of something, it means you are confused by it. For example: “I can’t make heads or tails of this instruction manual!” Or: “I can’t make heads or tails of your handwriting!”

Susie also said,

All I know is that there are 18 teams in the AFL and that players have to kick a ball between the goal posts.

There are 18 teams in the AFL, which is short for the Australian Football League. Each team has 22 players but only 18 of them play on the field. The objective of the game is to kick the oval-shaped ball between the posts at the end of the field.

Allan then gave us a phrase we can use in many everyday situations. He said,

You’ve got the basics down!

When you get the basics down, it means you know the basic information about something. For example, I could say, “I’m new to gardening, but I’ve got the basics down.”

Allan also said,

If it’s between the behind posts, it’s one point.

In Aussie rules, there are no goal nets at the end of a field. Instead, there are four goalposts which is made of two taller posts in the middle while the behind posts are the shorter, outer posts at each end of the field.

And points are scored by kicking the ball between the posts. Now to be completely honest, I can’t even pretend to understand how the AFL scoring system works, but don’t worry, I have invited a special guest for this episode so we can pick his brain about it later on.

By the way, to pick someone’s brain about something means to ask them for information about something that they know a lot about. So you could say,

Can I pick your brain about it?

During our little break Susie has become a proper footy fan, and now her and Allan are watching a game between the Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Magpies, or “Pies” for short.

Allan:

Geez, what a speccie! I thought this game was going to be a nail biter, but it looks like the Pies are going to win by a mile.

Susie:

It’s incredible how he marked it. Pies have a lot of frequent flyers on their team while Swans are making a hash of it.

Allan:

You know I’ll always barrack for the Swans, but this year, it’s not easy to be their supporter. I think the Cats are going to win the whole thing. They’re the favourites.

Susie:

Ah yes, they’ve been blowing away the competition.

Josipa:

Let’s get straight to work and look more closely at the conversation between these two footy fans. Allan said,

Geez, what a speccie!

Geez is an expression used to show surprise or annoyance. For example: “Geez! You scared me!”

A ‘speccie’ or ‘screamer’ refers to a spectacular catch of the ball, also known as mark, which typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player.

I thought this game was going to be a nail biter, but it looks the Pies are going to win by a mile.

A nail biter is a situation that causes great anxiety, excitement or tension. You could say, “This movie was a nail bitter.

And when a team wins by a mile, it means that they win by a big margin. Susie then said,

It’s incredible how he marked it.

A mark is the catch of a kicked ball which earns the player a free kick. So, when a player takes a big mark, you can say, “What a screamer!”

Pies have a lot of frequent flyers on their team while Swans are making a hash of it

Frequent flyers are players who takes lots of screamers or speccies.

And if an Aussie Rules team is making a hash of it, it means they are making a lot of mistakes.

Allan then shared who he was cheering for and said,

You know I’ll always barrack for the Swans.

To barrack in footy means to cheer for a particular team. So, you could start your next footy conversation by asking, “Who do you barrack for?”

Allan then said,

They’re the favourites.

In sports, when a team or athlete is predicted to win, they are referred to as the favourites.

Susie replied,

They’ve been blowing away the competition.

To blow away the competition means to defeat everyone. For example: “He blew away the competition and won the gold medal.”

My guest today is Brian Clarke, CEO of Australian Football International, or AFI for short. His organisation promotes Aussie Rules not only internationally but also within multicultural communities here in Australia.

Brian, thank you for joining us today.

Brian:

Thank you, Josipa for inviting me.

Josipa:

First, can you tell me why are Aussies so crazy about footy?

Brian:

Australian Rules football, unlike the other codes, actually incorporates everything, you’ve got a bit of soccer, you’ve got a bit of rugby, even basketball. When you pick up the ball, you’ve got so many options: do you run, do you kick, do you handball, do you bounce. So, basically, you can go anywhere, you can use your hands, there are no goalkeepers. So, the freedom of the game is probably one of the best features.

Josipa:

I want to pick your brain about the scoring. I can’t make heads or tails of it.

Brian:

Ha ha, that’s not unusual. The scoring is probably the most challenging part of the game for new arrivals. So, you’ve got four posts at each end, you’ve got two middle posts, which are the taller posts, and then you’ve got two outside posts which are the smaller posts. If the ball goes to the two middle posts, the higher posts, it’s a goal, and it is worth six points. But if it goes between the big post and smaller post on end, it’s only worth one point. So, you might see something like one team scored 2.6, and you go: “well, what does that mean?’ Well, the two means the goals so, you’ve timed it by six points, that’s twelve, and the six behind is at one point. So, 2.6 is actually 12 + 6 is 18. It can be very challenging for new arrivals to get their head around that but look, it helps make it the unique game that it is.”

Josipa:

I love trying new things and I wouldn’t mind trying my luck with Aussie Rules, but I fear I might get hurt in the process.

Brian:

One of the great things about our game is that we actually have a non-contact and contact version, so we have tackling and no-tackling. You can choose to do either. We have a lot of communities that actually don't want to come to Australia and get tackled, and you know, potentially injured. So, a non-contact version is a lot of fun to play, you are still kicking, hand-balling, bouncing, marking and replacing a tackle with a touch. It's actually a lot of fun.

Josipa:

On your website, I've saw that you can play for your own country?

Brian:

Yes, our tournaments give you the opportunity not only to try our great game but also to play for your community. So if you have a parent or grandparent from that country, you can come and play for your country of origin. So, whether you are from South Africa, whether you are from South America, Asia, Pacific, Europe, come down and get involved with AFI. We’ll teach you how to play. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; you can play this game. And one of the things we do for new arrivals is we actually encourage men and women to come down and play a non-contact version of the game. And that’s really good because you get to exercise out in fresh air, you are meeting new people, you are making new friends, and you are not having your head ripped off.

Josipa:

That sounds awesome. I might see you on the field then.

Brian:

Looking forward to it.

for previews, updates and to provide feedback.

A big thank you to our educational consultant Shirley Glaister, our guests Brian Clarke, to May Khali and Richard Gurney who lent their voices, and to Paul Nicholson and Clair Drew who voiced the characters of Allan and Susie.