Messages

Really think both games played at different levels of intensity .hard game to call hope Stephen and Sheehan back

Canavan a dinger on the gadget

Do black cards apply in this game?

Brutally honest from Seán Cav, and accurate (article above from the Irish Independent).

Poor Westmeath will get the backlash in the long run this will help Tyrone

Tyroneman,
I've been in Oz for thirteen years and am a huge fan of Aussie Rules and a member and season ticket holder of the Fremantle Dockers.

The big guns as far as history goes are (in no particular order) Collingwood, Carlton, Sydney (South Melbourne FC), Western Bulldogs (Fitzroy Football Club) and Richmond.  Many of the other clubs only joined the AFL in the 80s and 90s with the two newest teams, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney in the league less than 6 years.

As regards to supporting the clubs, well take your pick if you live in Melbourne but in the other states pretty much every local goes for his or her local team.  In Western Australia (the size of Western Europe with the population of 2.5 million) Fremantle lag behind West Coast (spit spit - hate that club with an effin passion) in terms of popularity (and trophies too, before anyone accuses me of outright bias - but then Freo is not a club whose name is sullied by rampant drug use...nuff said).

South Australia has two clubs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide, the latter being my preferred team as the former's fans are to be "experienced" especially in Adelaide).

Queensland has two clubs, Brisbane and Gold Coast, as does New South Wales (Sydney and GWS).

In terms of who the Irish support, well that depends where you live.  I detest Collingwood (although just a bit less than West Coast) - it's the Liverpool of the AFL...yeah we won shit loads....years ago, and so should be handed everything now...kind of club. But it has strong links to the Irish workers and ghettoes in Melbourne at the start of the 20th. Century.

Fremantle, Port Adelaide and, I suppose, Western Bulldogs are the traditional people's clubs.  From humble origins and supported by honest (if not one-eyed), forthright fans.

There, hope that is a wee start.  Hope you can participate in the Season 2014 thread which I have just started today.

Good summary I miss been in Oz catching the games live

Well done James

It's a delicate matter to navigate this with the obvious racial minority angle involved, but limiting the side to indigenous players only might be a massive own goal from the Aussies. Whatever about the eventual quality of the team, right now nobody here knows anything about these players and will just feel the travelling side is diluted, either rightly or wrongly, simply because it appears the squad is not selected from the full roster of AFL players.

All this comes after a few years of very asinine performances from the Aussies whose teams have of late gone full circle from balls out blood and thunder decapitations to advocating a slightly less sanitised form of Morris dancing. I used to be a fan of this but it's abundantly clear, no matter how much it sticks in our craw as proud Irishmen, that if the Aussies picked their best team and took it seriously in the physical sense - and I don't necessarily mean resorting to the fist either - then they would blow Ireland away every time. We've made huge advances in the physical preparation of our players but despite the similarities in the codes in some respects, in this one the sports are worlds apart. If one side has to water down their physicality or go less than full tilt just to make sure the thing is viable and the other lads don't get hurt or too badly beaten - with apparently limiting selections now coming into the mix too - then the thing just isn't viable and should be dispensed with. We can be very proud of our players and our game and there's no shame in saying we can't match full-time professionals in an all-out game. Back in the eighties the playing field was much more level and then both teams could have a go and each other full-throttle - but those days are long gone and won't be back.

The AFL seem to have lost their appetite for it and I expect the GAA will too after this years series.

I agree the Aussies have lost interest I hope that their selection will work. Bad times for Aussie rules money ruins most sport when introduced

Seems a top guy nice touch.

Tyrone 95/96 should read Peter Canavan 95/96 some serious passangers on that team. Tyrone of the mid 80s were a great side and could or should have won it in 86. How many sides have been up by 7pts with 20 mins to go in an All-ireland final only to be beaten by 8 pts. Had Tyrone been playing anybody else that day other than the greatest team of all time they would have won it. That had to be the biggest comeback in an all-Ireland final.

I agree just saw it again recently . However Tyrone made up for it in the last decade

This thread is already like 2 bald men fighting over a comb!

Very good

Jim Gavin calm operator good first season.

I hope that the ref did not tell him that he had time . Don't think they will mention of the negative stuff .

Thought McQuillan was terrible. He was punishing Dublin for over aggression in the first half yet let them away with it the second? Refs get a lot of stick but in a lot of cases its justified.

How 4 or 5 men slapping, hauling and dragging someone is not a free I will never know.

Brutal Final with mistakes all over the park. Brogan will get MOM but I though Keith Higgins looked the best player on the field Today.

Not a great performance injury time looked light

How is Johnny Cooper? Did not see him celebrating

How long will the speech be ? Sam on a Pizza box