Footy Fever: 18 Teams, 150 Years, 1 Brownlow

You're listening to English with an Aussie, the #1 podcast spoken entirely in slow English.

Welcome everybody! My name is Adriana, an experienced English teacher from Down Under. I have created this podcast for international students, professionals and intermediate ESL speakers who are planning their new lives in Australia. Each episode I will share an interesting aspect about the Australian culture. In addition to this, you will find many grammatical lessons to help you start speaking like a native in no time!

Last week, I put out a survey to my podcast community and asked everyone to choose the Australian sport they were the most interested in learning about. With an astounding 90% response rate, The Australian Football won the survey by a mile! Today you’ll learn why Australians go mad for this sport. We’ll first dive into the history of AFL and how the game works. I’ll then present the 18 AFL teams that are spread over Australia’s 5 mainland states, and finally you’ll learn about a famous AFL event called the Brownlow Medal Ceremony.

Chapters

• 0:00 An Introduction to the Episode with Gabriel and Tony
• 4:20 A Brief History of the AFL
• 6:20 How Do You Play AFL?
• 13:58 The AFL Teams of 2024/2025
• 16:30 The Brownlow Medal Ceremony
• 20:03 A review of the lesson and what's coming up next episode.

Transcript

🇦🇺 The Australian Football League & Brownlow Medal 🇦🇺

Episode 008 | #EnglishwithanAussie

JINGLE:
Hello everybody and welcome. I’m your host Adriana, and you're listening to English with an Aussie, the no. 1 podcast spoken entirely in slow English.

INTRODUCTION:
Last week, I put out a survey to my podcast community and asked everyone to choose the Australian Sport they were the most interested in learning about. The options were as follows: netball, rugby league, AFL, cricket, lawn bowls and surfing. With an astounding 90% response rate, Australian Rules Football won the survey by a mile! A huge thank you to those of you who casted their vote. Now, let’s take a moment to hear from some of my listeners, and why they chose the AFL over the other sports.

1. Hi everyone, how you doing? I’m Gabriel. I’m an Italian guy who lives in Australia. I voted for AFL because here, this sport is part of Australian culture. In my state, in Victoria, heaps of people follow and practise AFL. There are a lot of rules and it is a really physical sport. I can’t forget the first time that I went to see my first match in Melbourne. Can’t wait to hear the podcast!
2. Hi it’s Tony here, I live near Melbourne in country Victoria in Australia. I selected the AFL, which is the Australian Football League for the pure reason it’s an Australian sport. So it was created in Australia by Australians. Other sports are popular in the country, most of which came from England or Great Britain like cricket, soccer (also known as football), rugby as well. But yeah, The AFL is unique to Australia, which is played on a cricket field and then it’s restructured to be football.

So, in today's episode I’ll be introducing you all to a special sport that is only played in Australia. A sport that is neither soccer, nor rugby, nor anything else in between. Australian Rules Football or simply put AFL, is unique. It’s a game which began at a high school exactly 166 years ago. Today you’ll learn why Australians go mad for this sport. We’ll first dive into the history of AFL and how the game works. I’ll then present the 18 AFL teams that are spread over Australia’s 5 mainland states, and finally you’ll learn about a famous AFL event called the Brownlow Medal Ceremony. Well without further adieu, let’s jump in! 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AFL 

Let’s rewind the clock to the year 1858. It was a cold August day at a grassy parklands just outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where two high school teams gathered to play the first official match of Australian Football. But not just any game of football. A game so unique, it is said to have been inspired by Gaelic Football and the Indigenous game of Marngrook which young Aboriginals played in the Victorian bush. With the arrival of the Europeans into Australia, all forms of football started to evolve and some even started being played on the goldfields. Rules were added, and some rules were adjusted until finally the Melbourne Football Club was created. The club officially ‘codified’ the sport, meaning that all rules and regulations were approved and set in stone. Since then, this game of football is now called Aussie Rules among the locals. Only minor adjustments have been made to the sport to ensure safety and game flow, but one thing is for certain, the AFL displays the qualities of what it means to be a real Australian: hope, courage and teamwork!

HOW DO YOU PLAY AFL? 

The AFL season typically runs from March to September each year, and finishes with the AFL Grand Final to determine the league champions. If you happened to listen to my episode on Australian Celebrations, you would know that in 2015 Grand Final Day was made a public holiday for all Australians. So you are probably wondering, Adriana, how does one play AFL? Well, as mentioned, AFL is a one of a kind sport played on a large oval field. 2 teams try to score points by kicking the ball through 4 tall goal posts. The ball is similar to the shape of a rugby, but longer and is made out of leather. A red ball is used for day time matches, and a yellow ball is used for night time matches. At both ends of the field there is a 50m line called the ‘Arc’ to signify the scoring zone. If a team kicks the ball between the 2 middle posts they are awarded 6 points. If a team kicks the ball between the 2 outer posts they are awarded only 1 point. And finally, if a team hits the post with the ball they are awarded 1 point too.

Okay, let’s talk about positions. Each team has 18 players which are sorted into 8 main positions. The forwards, defenders and midfielders make up the majority of the team. However, the AFL has some unique positions. 1 of which is called the ‘ruckman’. Ruckmen are generally the tallest and strongest players on the team. The designated ruckman from both teams start the match in a small circle. Here the ball is bounced up into the air by the umpire and the two ruckmen must jump and tap the ball to their teammates. Another interesting position is called ‘the ruck rover’. Normally this player is small, fast and incredibly fit. The ruck rover can be found lurking around the ruckmen and anyone else who is contesting for the ball. The ruck rover collects the ball and distributes it to the attackers. 

Now, the game has four quarters, each lasting 20 minutes so that means a game of AFL goes for a minimum of 80 minutes plus any extra stoppage time. At the end of the 1st and 3rd quarter, a 6 minute break is taken, and at half time a longer 20 minute break is taken. Due to the size of the field, players are exhausted by half time and absolutely need some rest. To play AFL you can either kick the ball, punch it with your hand, or run with it. When running with the ball, you must bounce the ball or touch it on the ground every 15 metres. Players can tackle each other, but only between the shoulders and knees. You are not allowed to throw the ball, instead to pass the ball to a teammate at a short distance, you can perform something called a ‘hand pass’ which is where you place the ball in the palm of one hand and punch it with the other. If you decide to kick the ball to a teammate and the ball goes further than 15 metres, the teammate who caught the ball is allowed to stop and take a free kick without anyone annoying them. This concept is called a ‘mark’. If the ball is kicked and goes less than 15 metres, you may be subject to a tackle if you do not get rid of the ball fast enough. So in essence, the idea of AFL is to kick and mark the ball consistently, until you get the ball in range of the goal posts. Anyone who breaks the rules gives the other team a free kick. Poor sportsmanship such as dangerous tackles, fighting or answering back to the umpire will result in either a yellow warning card, a red suspension card or a green card which sends a player off the field for 15 minutes. Lastly, if the ball goes out of play 1 of 2 things can happen. One team can take a free kick or something called a ‘throw in’ can occur. This is where the boundary umpire retrieves the ball where it crossed the line, turns his back to the players and throws the ball in over his shoulder. 

THE AUSTRALIAN AFL TEAMS

Okay, now you’ve got your head around the game. Here is a list of the current 18 AFL Teams. You will notice that they all have a mascot or a nickname. Starting in alphabetical order we have the…

1. The Adelaide Crows
2. The Brisbane Lions
3. My family’s team The Carlton Blues
4. The Collingwood Magpies
5. The Essendon Bombers
6. The Fremantle Dockers
7. The Geelong Cats
8. The Gold Coast Suns
9. The Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants
10. The Hawthorn Hawks
11. The Melbourne Demons
12. The North Melbourne Kangaroos
13. The Port Adelaide Power
14. The Richmond Tigers
15. The St Kilda Saints
16. The Sydney Swans
17. The West Coast Eagles
18. And lastly, The Western Bulldogs

Here’s a fun fact for you. Up until 2017, the AFL was dominated by men. However, in March 2017, the AFL welcomed a women's league called the AFLW. Annitally, the competition started with only 8 teams, but with its growth in popularity the AFLW  has now expanded to 18 teams since 2022, just like the men's league. If you do happen to tune into the women’s league you will notice some minor modifications to the sport such as a smaller ball being used, 16 players on the field instead of 18 and quarters running for 17 minutes instead of 20. 

THE BROWNLOW MEDAL 

Alrightys, let’s get down to some of the fun stuff! Besides the Grand Final the second most important and in my opinion, the most looked forward to event in AFL culture is The Brownlow Medal Ceremony - or simply put ‘The Brownlow’. The Brownlow is a huge yearly event in the Australian Football League which honours the best and fairest player of the season. During the season, after each game, the umpires vote for the three best players. The best player gets 3 votes, the second-best gets 2 votes, and the third-best gets 1 vote. These votes are kept secret until the ceremony, which happens 5 days before the Grand Final. The ceremony is held at Crown Melbourne. Anyone affiliated with the AFL such as players, officials and media dress up in the best clothes and enter Crown via an extravagant red carpet. Many people refer to this event as the ‘Gownlow’, because many of the players' partners walk the red carpet like movie stars with beautiful designer gowns - another word for dresses. At the dinner, the judges read out the votes from each game of the season. It's exciting because the leader can change as they read more votes. Players who got in trouble during the season are disqualified from the running. The ceremony usually lasts all night and includes interviews, speeches and homages to any memorable players of the past. At around 11 o’clock the Brownlow Medal winner is crowned. If two players have the same number of votes, they both win the medal. In fact, in the year 2012 the medal was shared between Trent Cotchin from the Richmond Tigers and Sam Mitchell from the Hawthorn Hawks who both tied in at 26 points each. To sum up, the ceremony isn't just about the winner - or winners. It also gives awards for the Best New Player and the Best Goal of the Year. It's become a big media event, and a chance to get glamorous and celebrate the best players in the AFL.

REFLECTIONS

Well if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for sticking around. But as always, it’s time to say our goodbyes. Just to remind you, today's episode was all about The Australian Football League. We first heard from my friends Gabriel and Tony who explained why they chose to learn more about the AFL. I then took you through a brief history of its origins and how the game works. We then looked at the 18 teams of the AFL and finally we discussed the very glamorous Brownlow Medal Ceremony. A big thank you again, to everyone who helped shape this episode, I hope you all learnt lots of new things! Next episode, we’ll be diving into a part of the English language called ‘idiomatic expressions’. So, stay tuned if you want to start speaking like the natives do! If you would like to join my inner circle and receive free content such as the entire transcript of this episode, please join my Facebook group. I’ll leave the link in the description. Once again, thank you everybody. You've been listening to English with an Aussie. 

VOCABULARY LIST

1. survey : is a method of gathering information from a group of people, typically through a set of questions. 
2. mainland states : refers to the states of a country that are part of the main landmass, as opposed to islands or territories.
3. Gaelic Football : An Irish team sport that combines elements of soccer and rugby. 
4. Marngrook : An Indigenous Australian ball game traditionally played by Aboriginal people in parts of Victoria. 
5. codified : To arrange or organise laws, rules, or procedures into a systematic collection or code.
6. leather : A tough, flexible material made from animal skin, usually from cows.
7. sportsmanship : Good sportsmanship means playing the game with integrity, respecting others, and enjoying the activity regardless of winning or losing.
8. suspension :  A punishment that stops an athlete from playing for a set time.
9. mascot : A person, animal, or object used to represent a group, team, or organisation. Mascots are friendly symbols that people can rally around and support.
10. Crown Melbourne :  Opened in 1994, a large entertainment complex and casino in Melbourne, Australia. Crown is a significant part of Melbourne's entertainment and tourism industry, known for its luxury amenities.
11.  gowns : A long, sofisticated, formal dress usually worn for special occasions.
12.  glamorous : Being glamorous means having a special charm or appeal that makes something or someone seem particularly attractive or exciting.