Football vs Footy

After moving back to Australia last year, Mike250 has introduced his two little fellas to the noble sport of Aussie Rules aka Footy (which confusingly is a slang name for both the game and the ball).

This is just one of the things Americans and Australians have in common, we're both HUGE sports nuts; sports plays a big role in both cultures. What can we say, we love our sports. But while that is something we have in common, it's also a big difference between us.

Let's take a look at Football, both U.S. Football and Aussie Rules/Footy.

In most cases American kids won't start playing Football until they're in High School. They'll play Little League Baseball prior to that, and maybe throw the ol' pigskin around with Dad or their mates, brothers, etc, but in the U.S. Football usually begins in High School. In Australia it's not uncommon for the kids to kick the footy around at a very young age, but the Aussies also have programs to start the kids playing Footy at a much younger age than in the U.S.

In the U.S. when you start playing Football, as mentioned, you usually play for your school, and Leagues are set up where schools will play off against each other.

In Australia it's more like Little League in the U.S., where the team you play for is not affiliated with a school (although in some cases it may be), but instead often represents your home town. In Melbourne they will often set up "Little Leagues" with teams modeled after those in either the Victorian Football Association or the Australian Football League, just like when your 8-year old plays Baseball for the Dodgers.

By the time Aussie kids are old enough to where they would have only just started playing Football for their High School in the U.S., they've already been playing Footy in Australia for several years. At this point they may even move out of their "Little League" team and start playing for the Under 14s or Under 16s team for their home town. This is still a similar format to U.S. Football, where you have the High School team representing the town, playing league games against other towns' teams.

The big difference comes at 18 years of age, which is when most kids, in both countries, graduate High School and enter the work force or move on to College.

In the U.S., unless you're good enough to make the college team, your Football "career" is usually over at this point. You might play a game of touch at the park with your mates every couple of months or so, but you're probably never again going to play Football at anything remotely resembling a professional level.

In Australia when you turn 18 and go to college or enter the work force, your Football "career" is far from over. In fact it's only over if you want it to be. Many Australian towns host not just one Football team, but two, or even three, although they're actually all the same team.

For example, my hometown of Traralgon has the Maroons, and there's the Maroons Seniors made up not of the oldest players, but of the best players. These are the guys who could be playing in the VFA or AFL if they were just a little bit better, or perhaps they will be in a year or two when they get some experience under their belt. There's the Maroons B-grade team for the players taking a break from Seniors, or who maybe aren't quite good enough to make the cut. Then to really rub the salt in there's the C-grade: "No offense, mate, but you're not quite good enough to be a second rate footballer."

So in the U.S., if you don't get into a College Football team, that's pretty much it. In Australia, if you can keep up with the young bucks, you can keep playing Footy well into your 30s. If you stay in shape and don't get injured too badly, you can even play Footy for your home town when you're in your 40s. Of course you might be in the B-grade or C-grade squad, but there's still an option for you to pull on the boots and have a go.

This is the big difference between the two cultures. We both love our sports, but after turning 20 years old, while many Aussies are able to continue playing the sport they love, many Americans have no choice but to become the stereotypical Armchair/Watercooler Quarterback.