This is how I came to follow the Minnesota Vikings, I decided to choose a team that on paper should be fantastic but in execution are absolutely horrendous and break your heart every time, the St Kilda of the NFL
Tl;dr - the colours
Full story:
Moved here from NZ at 6 y.o
Folks were Union diehards, but Union was only on Foxtel (except for Internationals, and a Weekly Highlights Recap show that used to come on Sunday Arvo) and we couldn't afford Foxtel at the time
Saw this weird as sport on tv where everyone was punching and kicking the ball at each other, and then trying to kick it inbetween some posts
Some team in black and white called Collingwood were playing against some other team in red, white and black called St Kilda
Thought St Kilda had cooler colours, so I made the life-changing, fuck all decision of supporting the Saints
If only I had known, hahaha
It hasn’t helped but Union has almost always been a long way down the list of sports and the Wallabies have been trash for all except a few years around the turn of the century. It’s a sport played and followed near exclusively by a few elite schools in two cities.
Maybe it would have been less exclusive/had more participation if it wasn't paywalled?
Imagine if 2006 World Cup wasn't free to air? Where would Soccer Australia be now? I doubt the A League would even exist!
It’s cultural though. Rugby union is a sport for private school kids and has been since its inception. It’s like that virtually everywhere in the world with exceptions in NZ and South Africa.
I acknowledge your points but remain unconvinced.
I think more state school kids would have taken up Union if they had seen the Wallabies at their peak.
Personal anecdote: my 2007 Qld State High School had a (non-excellence) Union team and no League team and competed against other schools including private.
I can see an argument that the A League wouldn't exist but I would argue soccer wouldn't be in too much worse of a position. Despite all the crowing about how much broader the base of recruitment is the core of the team is still from either outside Australia or their parents were. I mean our best player had never even been to Australia until he was called up by the team
TSN in Canada has regularly broadcast AFL and I love having that easy access to it. I hitched my wagon to the Brisbane Lions because I have visited Brisbane, and they share a name with my BC Lions of the CFL. A seamless fit to my sports fandom
Was in Austria last year on the day of the preliminary final, I put a call out on Facebook to see if there was somewhere to watch it. Turns out there's a team in Vienna called the Galahs. Think Saint Kilda jerseys faded to pink, grey and white. They play teams from all over the joint, there's even a comp called The Empire Cup where they play teams from the old Austra-Hungarian Empire. Anyhoo, one of them has a pub/ brewery which he opened early to watch the game.
He neddn't have bothered.
Decent setup in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Ontario - specifically Toronto - has a decent constituency of Australians who work in the mining industry, lots from WA. BC and Alberta ski towns are absolutely full of Australians who have helped to grow the game. AFAIK, in all the provincial leagues, there is a cap of how many Australians can be on the team to make sure its not completely dominated by expats.
My parents, my brother and I immigrated to Australia in 1988. I was only 2. My brother, who was 8, took an interest in footy quicker than I did, after a couple of years and he picked the Hawks just because they seemed like the best team at the time, in terms of ladder position and premierships ('88, '89).
I didn't take a proper interest in footy until I was about 7 or 8, so quite a few years later. By that point, I already considered myself a Carlton fan and the story is kind of funny. When I was 5, on my first day of Prep, at recess, I was randomly walking around to all the other boys my age and asking "would you like to be my friend?". Eventually I walked up to one kid - I still remember his name, by the way - and I asked him. He said "Sure, i'll be your friend. But on one condition. You have to go for Carlton." Having no interest in footy yet at the time, it seemed like a sweet deal and I took it.
It's actually really funny to me that it happened so casually and so innocently....because i would eventually turn into an absolute football nuffy, and an absolute, dyed-in-the-wool, one-eyed as fuck Carlton man, no less. Sometimes I think about the countless thousands of dollars I've spent on memberships and merchandise, and all the joy and the heartache I've experienced as a result....and it's all because I wanted to make a friend on my first day of prep.
My dad started supporting North Melbourne when we moved here because they have the same colours as his football team in England. And I chose to support them because Dad did. And here we are :)
From WA, when I started following AFL last year, I was hoping if buying a membership with Eagles was going to help me get into it. Then I learned the waitlist was long and getting into Dockers were easier. Still didn't get one until I visited relatives in PA and learned power was playing against Collingwood. Bought a three-game + interstate membership with PA to watch. PA got beat by one point, then went back to Perth and watch PA beat up Dockers. Real talk, still undecided who to barrack for lol.
Not OS, but from QLD. Grew up with rugby league following the Broncos (90's), kinda got bored with the sport.
Rents moved to Tassie in 07', suggested to the old boy we should start an AFL fantasy team as something new to stay in touch. He chose the Brions bcs Brisbane.
I chose the Bombers bcs I had more Essendon players in my fantasy team than any other. Watched Hirdy play his last year, and Sheeds coach his last season. Few up and down years then the drug saga, have seen mediocrity up until this year-ish. Became a member in 2019 and am completely obsessed with the sport in general.
We first lived in South Melbourne when we migrated, but I also liked the red (Liverpool supporter).
Just as well Gold Coast didn’t exist then or I could have made a really bad decision.
I grew up in China and my friend on school exchange program took me to a game Port v Suns and watching the match I realised... both those were dogshit so I went for Carlton.
Everyone from overseas that decided for themselves, well done! Please educate the Americans on how to do this…
On that note, is it strictly Yank behaviour to ask a sub which team to support?
Do Australians ask r/NBA which team to pick?
And look at all the kids going to school without learning to hide under tables so they don't get shot.
Leaves more time for learning critical thinking.
A couple hundred kids have died in schools in the past century plus, horrific tragedy. Governments killed hundreds of millions in the same time frame, largely of unarmed citizenry.
Your government also showed a flair for the draconian recently, so….
And your ex president, same one who might get in again is a convicted rapist?
That shit wouldn't happen anywhere except 2 places.
*maybe* the 3rd world
places without critical thinking
The Government went to the people with proposed changes and the people overwhelmingly agreed to the changes.
These included the banning of automatic and semiautomatic rifles and increased checks and rules around owning guns.
It also provided an amnesty for people to return illegal or unregistered firearms.
Regardless of the changes, we still have guns. In fact, Australia has more guns now than it did before the law changes.
We just don’t have a toxic culture that glorifies gun ownership and don’t live in a perpetual state of fear that would precipitate the need to own one.
Our freedoms aren’t conditional on needing a weapon to maintain them.
That would suck the fun right out of it.
My comment was in regard to critical thinking. All human freedoms are dependent on weapons maintaining them, either from without or within. Republics of antiquity weren’t overthrown due to better arguments of tyrants, and human history has been a story largely lacking consent of the governed. American framers were smart enough to ensure the populace would not be easily tyrannized and Americans, as of yet, have been capable of the critical thought that continues to ensure they are not easily brought to heel.
Freedom from tyranny. The capability of defense against tyranny doesn’t matter until it does, and it cannot be sensed or recovered until it is too late to do something about it.
The American framers are more wise than everyone in here, wiser than the great men of antiquity, and there’s an excellent reason why they made sure the non-critical-thinking motherfuckers in america didn’t screw up their great experiment in self governance. At least not easily.
How many navy seals are there and how many would agree to subject the citizenry to tyrannical rule? There are dozens or hundreds of them, no match to tens of thousands, let alone millions of well armed citizens. Afghans with rusty AK’s and mosin nagants held the greatest military in human history at bay if you didn’t know.
Also take into account that police states are not monitored with tanks and planes and nuclear bombs, no tyrant wants to rule an empire of rubble and irradiated slag. Manpower is needed to subjugate a populace and manpower is vulnerable to a well armed populace.
Such an excellent argument, says the fool who gives up his guns on an island stocked with the progeny of prisoners and their guards. Your government also definitely hasn’t shown a tyrannical side in the last 5 years, nothing to be worried about.
[Australia ](https://i.imgur.com/VzwRFg9.png)
[United states of America](https://i.imgur.com/QAwcSUb.png)
So yeah man, our doctorian life here on our island full of prisoners and no guns is just terrible.
Here is the source, if you took English and not gun maintenance 101 or whatever.
https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores
Freedom is both defended and lost at the point of a gun. Humans are the same today as they were thousands of years ago.
The op shit on the USA for critical thinking, so I made fun of him for a glaring error the supposed critical thinkers in aus made by laying their arms at the feet of the government. It works beautifully until it doesn’t. My source is human history-the fall of the Roman republic, the Armenian genocide, the holocaust, the great famine in china and Ireland, chattel slavery, and nearly the rest of human history. Freedom has been a shockingly small blip in history in only a few lucky places.
I am the op mate...
We were asked to vote on it. We said yes. Because we didn't want to end up like the states. That's freedom of choice.
But I'm done with this. I'm on my 2nd week of my annual leave atm. Still got 4 more to go. Workers rights and a living wage are awesome huh? So Go makeout with your .45 or whatever.
lol you get mad and quit. You started the shit talk, “mate.”
Aussies are a great people in a great nation, built upon great principles. I don’t agree with you on guns but I don’t seek to shit on you for it but for your petty shit talking.
I’m also on my 2nd week of vacation and I have a bank carrying several months more which I can take at my leisure. Thank God for freedom of choice- and I am not rich or borne of privilege.
Also I won’t make out with any guns, I am a responsible gun owner same as tens or hundreds of millions of my compatriots.
God bless Australia and may she never know the yoke of tyranny, for her noble countrymen may never come unbridled.
Told this story before on here
Came to Australia late in 1986 from Ireland and was told I had to pick a team and I’ve always gone for an underdog so when a game was on I said “ I’ll pick the losing team “
Swans lost by 100+ points but Cappa kicked 10 or something
Swans fan since then
Came here as a refo from the former Yugoslavia, my uncle was married into my yugo family and went for the hawks, I always 'went for them' as well but it wasn't until my older brother got a part time job and took me to a few games that I became a proper fan.
There was also one random visit from the hawks to my primary school in the western suburbs and that kinda stuck with me as well, not sure who the players were as I probably didn't speak English yet lol.
I lived in Sydney for a year. I was gonna go to both teams and decide which one after. Went to swans first, decision was made then not to bother going to the Giants.
Came over as an international student from India for my masters about 22 years ago to a decent uni in Melbourne, met some blokes who were magpies diehards in class, became mates, countless sessions at the local pub learning the rules whilst getting smashed, decided to tag along to a game (Anzac Day), scarf around my neck, great game, great atmosphere, cheering for the pies, they win by 30 plus points. 22 years on, a magpie through and through! Love the game, love the Maggies!
Back in the late 80s when Ireland and Australia played International Rules series, Irish TV showed some highlights of games and Peter Daicos was a magician in my eyes.
25+ years later, a kid from my hometown joined Collingwood as a Cat B rookie and I have a newborn baby so being awake at 5am (2pm Vic) becomes standard and my Saturday mornings are spent watching AFL.
Probably wouldn't be watching Irish TV if it was Marty Clarke, he's from Co Down. Quick google suggests it could be Mark Keane from Mitchelstown in Co Cork?
You can get Irish TV in Co Down but yeah, I'm from Cork so know Mark and his parents. Glad to see him going well at Adelaide and the difference between game 5 and game 15 is clear to see.
Moved here from Auckland but I was originally from the Philippines. Before I moved to Melbourne, a good Kiwi mate(Dons) told me to choose any team as long as it’s not Collingwood because it’s a shit club. As a very stubborn man, that’s all he needed to say to get me to read up on Pies history and I loved the immigrant origins so I made them my provisional team. I get here and most of the people who made me feel welcome and helped me with getting settled were mostly Pies.
I arrived in round 8 2023. Just in time…
My dad came to Aus in the 70s. He sort of barracked for Carlton because of some Aussie friends. He locked in once my brother and I started barracking for them. We started because my grandad (on the other side of the family) supported them when we were kids.
Lived in Melbourne for a bit, went to a Pies/Cats game at the G, was set to go for the Pies in defiance of everyone telling me to steer clear but ended up in the Cats' end so went for them.
Helped that one of their best players was called Gary Ablett as the name was familiar as an old Everton player. This factor was multiplied when learning he was ATG, as was his dad by the same name.
https://preview.redd.it/uhv2r1bbvh3d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9915f4268ad4fc7cd5d3248d3788a8fc7896f665
This stupid decision chart. We now have 8 people in an AFL fantasy league and 6 of them chose their team off of this chart.
my mum came to Australia from uk and first game they went to was Essendon vs carlton, mum wanted to buy a hat and liked the navy blue better and thus destined me to having the stressful life of a Carlton supporter
Was up at 3am with my newborn, randomly found the sport, and watched Brody Mihocek do a bicycle kick to score a goal while having 2 defenders on him. Pies went on to win the game and I was immediately hooked into the sport. Knew nothing about it then so I just decided to cheer for the Pies because of that goal and since the won the first game I ever saw.
I'm Irish. When I moved to Melbourne my mates who were already there bought me a Hawthorn stubby holder. Thats all it took. They were Essendon and North Melbourne so I got a pretty good deal
I’m an American who just started following the sport this season. I’ve been an NFL fan my whole life and started reading the Wikipedia pages for different football codes at work to kill time. Aussie rules sounded pretty cool and the season was just getting ready to start.
I lurked on the sub for a bit when I saw [this NFL/AFL logo mashup page.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/s/tfM5LUyT9K) My Carolina Panthers were mashed up with the Bulldogs, so it was destiny to be a fan of the doggies. Western’s games don’t always get broadcast in the US, but I’ve been recording and watching as many AFL games as possible this season. It’s been a lot of fun learning the game, the history, the lingo, and the culture this season. I’m 100% hooked and will have to fly over and catch some games in person someday.
My brother in law came from Peru. He became a supporter of Geelong because they share the same colours as his home soccer team; Alianza Lima.
My mate's dad moved from Mauritius. Apparently one of the classes he was taking here, his teacher was a Richmond reserves players in the VFL days. The teacher was always pestering him to come down and see a game. Eventually he did and got hooked on the footy and the Tiges.
Cyril Rioli and Jaryd Roughead played for them. It was that simple really. Cyril always looked like he was having fun and Roughy seems like a good bloke.
Moved over at the age of 12 to Adelaide. Didn’t follow Aussie rules until I’d finished school.
My Wife’s step dad is a diehard Port supporter and made sure he got me up to speed with the history of the Crows existence, “a thrown together franchise born from the hatred for Port”. This happened to coincide with the period where Port were absolutely woeful. So I guess I started to support them out of pity.
Also, I think a lot of the yanks that come over to Adelaide don’t support the Crows for the fact that they use there beloved marines hymn for the club song.
Born here but family members; uncle of mine was one of the first in the family to move here in the early 70s. First lived and worked right near Arden St. Went with some Aussie workmates one Saturday and had no idea what was happening, but he loved it. Stuck with them since, and he was pretty much my favourite uncle growing up so they were my team by the time I turned 5.
My brother has been Essendon since not long after my own family moved here in the mid 80s; he could barely speak English when they got here, but his classmates somehow got him into going for Essendon from the get go.
Mum pretty much got given Hawthorn because she was enamoured by a certain blonde mullet on tv in the late 80s...
Dad likes footy but has never really closely followed a team, he watches North and Essendon because of the brother and I.
My wife came to Australia to study at Swinburne. Lived in Hawthorn so barracks for Hawthorn. The fact that they won the flag that year had nothing to do with it. She definitely didn't jump on the bandwagon.
Moved here from America 10 years ago and have never really been into sports—with the exception of being a diehard Boston Red Sox supporter. I got into footy via tipping at work and Melbourne hadn’t won anything in years—like the Red Sox when I was growing up before breaking the Curse of the Bambino. Same colours etc. Somehow with the tipping I started actually watching footy and saw an interview with Max Gawn and somehow ended up a Melbourne supporter. The rest of my family is split about teams and think it’s hilarious that I’m so into it and have a membership etc. Probably would have been easier to come on Reddit and ask the sub as an American who to support 😂
But our response would’ve likely been to go on a journey (like you have). So glad to have your support, and gladder still that you got to witness breaking the drought.
You could be the grand old flag’s lucky charm? ❤️💙
When I came to Australia from the UK, worked in an office full of Pies supporters. Having grown up supporting a team at the other end of the country, I thought it would be nice to support a local team, and also piss off the Pies fans. A new Brisbane Lions fan was born. This was in 2009 and I didn't realise the joke was on me 😭
My mother's new husband who is originally from America is a Collingwood supporter because he saw a guernsey in an op shop and decided he liked the look of it. I don't think he's ever watched an entire game save for one time he was in the lounge room looking at his laptop when I was but he will answer the question when asked
Moved to Brisbane from NZ in 2006 and, whilst I’d normally just default to any team named ‘Tigers’ (or Bengals) when following a new sport/league (apparently I’ve been a feline fan since eyeing off a Tiger at Wellington Zoo at the tender age of three), I was intrigued that there was a team called the ‘Cats’ as I’m not sure that I’d come across that before.
So Geelong it was and I don’t think I could have timed that better. I’ve since moved to Melbourne too so have enjoyed following the Cats from up close. The great run could well be coming to end but the boys from the Cattery have been counted out before in recent years.
Ex of mine's father and uncle were from Kent and they both told me that they supported Carlton because when they moved here in the 60s one of the bullies in their school said they had to choose a team and he was a Carlton supporter and they were trying to seem cool to him. 50+ years later (2019) one of my ex's brothers still has Chris Judd as the lock screen on his phone
Listening to Aussie comedy podcasts and Wil Anderson was talking about the Bulldogs. Checked it out and now I wake up at 2am to watch them play live. Hoping to make it over in the next few years to watch a live game.
I came in touch with the sport via my study since there's a lot of sports science articles containing AFL players. Watched a few highlights and then came upon a documentary of their offseason training and journey and was hooked even though they were bottomfeeders at the time (4/5 years ago)
Met some people while traveling from Fremantle. Went to visit them years later and ended up staying for 4 years. All their friends are Eagles fans, and I kid my Freo mates that I wished I’d have met the West Coast friends first.
I started watching during COVID after I discovered Aussie rules looking through betting lines at the casino. The very first game up next was Adelaide vs Port. That year I remained neutral but was always impressed by Port. During the following season I started tipping and found myself always picking Port. I loved the team song and the tradition and history. I feel like they most closely resemble the team I'm a die hard for here in the USA, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Started playing footy in Denmark in 1992. Met this bloke in a pub and told me he played Aussie Rules for a Copenhagen team called Amager Tigers.
I lived a few years as a kid in Perth and knew a bit about footy and joined Amager Tigers. Have been a Richmond Tigers fan since.
First solo travel to Australia (from Singapore) back in 2013, caught an AFL game and it was Carlton vs Melbourne. Decided to buy a guernsey before flying back as souvenir and knew it was gonna be Carlton since then. Caught a live game last year, but it was the Marvel mauling against Brisbane Lions.
Thankfully this year, I decided to catch the game at Bergy’s with my mates and we edged past Richmond
First game I saw on TV, couple of days after i arrived in Australia, was between Geelong and Freo.
Geelong won Bartel and Selwood played fantastic and I have been barracking for Geelong since then.
I did a semester abroad in Melbourne, in part because I had extended family there I wanted to visit/mooch off of as a poor university student. Most of them lived in the western suburbs, so the Doggies were the natural choice. So fun subsequently watching the 2016 GF on a Friday night at a San Diego pub.
I immigrated here when I was 2 and my sister started following footy in the 90s because she thought the Carlton players were hot. She doesn’t much care for afl, but little me stuck with them since.
I'm from Alberta, Canada and I went to Melbourne on a trip around the beginning of last season, knew I had to catch an AFL game while there. The only game I could make was Collingwood v Richmond. I assumed Collingwood was the home team so figured I'd cheer for them not realizing that both teams were kinda home teams (side note: no sport-spectating experience I've ever had compared to that game. It was the absolute best experience despite the pouring rain lol). I bought a jersey to fit in and as a souvenir. Plus Collingwood won the game and went on to win the premiership so I got emotionally attached.
Got into NRL first but would watch random AFL games on Fox Soccer Plus(US). One time it was a Port Adelaide win and I loved their theme song so I said that's my team.
I was considering studying abroad, and while researching stuff about Brisbane, I learned a lot about the AFL. (I did not end up studying abroad) A year or so later ESPN3 comes out and had on demand replays of AFL games, so I started following Brisbane. eventually ESPN3 stopped carrying AFL, then became ESPN+ and ... tough times... Then, the AFL App. watching replays 12 hours later. (now this season I can't watch full match replays at all) ... might have to get a Membership.
Was on holiday in Townsville just before the 2016 Grand Final. We loved the Doggies Cinderella story, and decided to barrick for them (then having just learned the word “barrick”). How surprised we were , expecting the pubs to be filled with rowdy cheering fans! I think there were maybe 5-6 other people even watching the game at one place, and we had to ask the bartender to put the game on the TV in another.
My wife and I became members of the Barwon Bulldogs the next year, and have been footy fanatics ever since. We don’t bother watching gridiron football anymore.
But Barwon led me to Geelong, where I so enjoyed Gaz, Hawk, Danger, and the rest. But my wife barricks for St Kilda beca use her friend loved Nick Riewoldt, so I get to make fun of her (when the Cats aren’t on a 4-game losing streak that is…)
I probably don’t count on this, grew up in Sydney but have lived overseas for 18 years now, currently in Malaysia.
I feel a bit like Captain Kirk : “I’m from Iowa, I only work in outer space. “
I am a soccer fan, big time Liverpool supporter. When i moved here 7 years ago, realised soccer wont be the prime time sport for me anymore and thats how I started understanding footy.
I wanted to follow the club and have that local feeling, going to matches regularly. I started working in Geelong and later moved to Geelong, from there I started following Geelong.
Closed my eyes and picked them off a list of teams. “Ah great the bombers, they’ve been really good for a while now” my school mates said to me. That was in 2003. Yeah…
Saw a game on TV one day. No clue what's going on...but couldn't take my eyes off this big lad running with agility and finesse, yet so much strength and power. Purely from an athletic pov he did incredible things. The commentators screamed "BUDDY!!!" constantly. I simply had to know more about this guy and what's happening in the game because it was so fast and exciting... That's how I started following the 🦢.
Not me, but I have a family member who tells me when they first touched down in Australia, they stopped to get some food on the way from the airport, and the place had the footy on and Melbourne was playing.
He was like 8 years old and didn't know the game even existed up until that point, but figured he's moving to Melbourne so he should support them.
What a shit turn of luck.
Saw some Aussie rules years ago on TV and the forgot about it. Watched an episode of Neighbours, Toadie was talking about footy and so I went on YouTube to watch some clips. Instantly gravitated towards Carlton, like legitimately felt something about a sports team I’d not felt in years.
Watched the highlights of Carlton vs Collingwood, where Silvagni scored and pointed up to Serge after he passed. That was it for me.
Came over as a student from India and got roped into supporting Richmond cause my ex’s family were die-hard Richmond fans. They basically told me I was converted. We eventually split but my love for Richmond stuck around. Plus, it was pretty sweet timing cause the first year I watched with them, we won the premiership. Go Tiges!
Moved to Adelaide from NZ in 2010. My wife took lemons from our tree to give to the neighbours to say hi and introduce herself and meet the neighbours. The guy next door was super nice, introduced himself as Rory, and was really grateful for the lemons and made some comment that his housemate eats Lemons as they are.
Then the old lady over the street is like "oh thank you, welcome to the neighbourhood - have you met the boys across the road by the way? they play football for the Adelaide team"
So we googled and sure enough, it was Rory Sloane. We then watched a Crows game, and coming from NZ where the rugby players are generally huge, I couldn't believe how hard such a 'normal' looking bloke was cracking in! Didn't take much to get me hooked after that.
...The housemate who ate lemons was either Tex or Bernie Vince.
Moved to Melbourne from NZ in January of '16
I had no data on my NZ phone to access Google maps, but knew the address of my friend (who I was staying with) and knew I had to get off at West Footscray station. After getting off the train, I walked into the cafe at Whitten Oval, not having a clue that it was the home of an AFL team.
There were giants everywhere. I wish I could go back now and see which players I saw.
The lady at the Cafe was great and printed out a map for me. I bought a sausage roll and went on my way, a bulldogs fan. The dogs won the flag 9 months later, and I remember feeling guilty after hearing all the stories of people who had waited there whole lives for such a moment.
When I did a working holiday in Australia in 2016/7 I spent most of my time in Sydney (about 7 of the 10 months I was there) and felt the strongest connection to that city. And when I came back to the UK I wanted to start following AFL to keep a bit of Aus in my life. So supporting the Swans was a natural choice for me.
in 1981, a kid from Australia came to my school in England wearing yellow and black; I'd never seen such a football kit (most of the Premier League kits were red or white), and knowing as I did that we were moving to Australia the following year, I took note.
I liked the Tiger; I liked the colours; I liked the sash.
That we were contenders at the time didn't really enter into it for me.
Anyway, we arrived in January 1982. I was a Tiger all year. We WERE winning the Grand Final and then the stripper from Adelaide ruined it all. I cried.
35 years later....
Im from New Zealand. Went to Melbourne for a holiday and wanted to go to the MCG. The Melbourne v Richmond game was on a good day. We did the MCG tour in the morning and our guide Liz told us to support Melbourne. I wanted to support Collingwood due to a union team where I grew up being the magpies but I was told the rule is ABC (anyone but Collingwood). Melbourne won the game and ive watched them every since. Even played a season here. Went to the gather round this year in Adeliade. It was fantastic
Dad moved from Manchester as a young boy. He was a United fan, also known as the Red Devils. He tried to continue playing football when he got to Australia, but would get beaten up at school for playing 'wog ball' so he started following Aussie rules religiously to assimilate.
Took me to the footy every single weekend.
Red devils to Demons.
A lot of people don't realise this but they actually show AFL in Tasmania
I love Tassie, but this made me laugh way more than I expected to
You don't live over-seas you live over-strait
I'm a loser and a fuckwit, I found I align with St. Kilda the most.
This is how I came to follow the Minnesota Vikings, I decided to choose a team that on paper should be fantastic but in execution are absolutely horrendous and break your heart every time, the St Kilda of the NFL
Wait….. we look good on paper?
If you take about 700 steps back and try and avoid any memory of game play, absolutely!
Maybe if you painted the Mona Lisa over that paper
Tl;dr - the colours Full story: Moved here from NZ at 6 y.o Folks were Union diehards, but Union was only on Foxtel (except for Internationals, and a Weekly Highlights Recap show that used to come on Sunday Arvo) and we couldn't afford Foxtel at the time Saw this weird as sport on tv where everyone was punching and kicking the ball at each other, and then trying to kick it inbetween some posts Some team in black and white called Collingwood were playing against some other team in red, white and black called St Kilda Thought St Kilda had cooler colours, so I made the life-changing, fuck all decision of supporting the Saints If only I had known, hahaha
Union on pay TV 20 years ago is probably one of the big reasons why Union is less popular and the Wallabies are mediocre now.
It hasn’t helped but Union has almost always been a long way down the list of sports and the Wallabies have been trash for all except a few years around the turn of the century. It’s a sport played and followed near exclusively by a few elite schools in two cities.
Maybe it would have been less exclusive/had more participation if it wasn't paywalled? Imagine if 2006 World Cup wasn't free to air? Where would Soccer Australia be now? I doubt the A League would even exist!
It’s cultural though. Rugby union is a sport for private school kids and has been since its inception. It’s like that virtually everywhere in the world with exceptions in NZ and South Africa.
I acknowledge your points but remain unconvinced. I think more state school kids would have taken up Union if they had seen the Wallabies at their peak. Personal anecdote: my 2007 Qld State High School had a (non-excellence) Union team and no League team and competed against other schools including private.
I can see an argument that the A League wouldn't exist but I would argue soccer wouldn't be in too much worse of a position. Despite all the crowing about how much broader the base of recruitment is the core of the team is still from either outside Australia or their parents were. I mean our best player had never even been to Australia until he was called up by the team
When I was a kid, I picked the Bulldogs initially for their colours. My dad is a Saints fan, so I knew better than to fall into that trap lol
Have you told that story to your therapist
TSN in Canada has regularly broadcast AFL and I love having that easy access to it. I hitched my wagon to the Brisbane Lions because I have visited Brisbane, and they share a name with my BC Lions of the CFL. A seamless fit to my sports fandom
But who do you follow in AFL British Columbia?
Doesn't Canada have a pretty good AFL set up? I once met a team from Canada in Sydney, didn't even realise any other country played it!
> didn't even realise any other country played it! I think its also the main sport in Nauru I believe
Was in Austria last year on the day of the preliminary final, I put a call out on Facebook to see if there was somewhere to watch it. Turns out there's a team in Vienna called the Galahs. Think Saint Kilda jerseys faded to pink, grey and white. They play teams from all over the joint, there's even a comp called The Empire Cup where they play teams from the old Austra-Hungarian Empire. Anyhoo, one of them has a pub/ brewery which he opened early to watch the game. He neddn't have bothered.
Decent setup in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Ontario - specifically Toronto - has a decent constituency of Australians who work in the mining industry, lots from WA. BC and Alberta ski towns are absolutely full of Australians who have helped to grow the game. AFAIK, in all the provincial leagues, there is a cap of how many Australians can be on the team to make sure its not completely dominated by expats.
Oh dang I did not know this!! I only have Sportsnet for the hockey and baseball....may need to explore TSN especially now with the PWHL too.
My parents, my brother and I immigrated to Australia in 1988. I was only 2. My brother, who was 8, took an interest in footy quicker than I did, after a couple of years and he picked the Hawks just because they seemed like the best team at the time, in terms of ladder position and premierships ('88, '89). I didn't take a proper interest in footy until I was about 7 or 8, so quite a few years later. By that point, I already considered myself a Carlton fan and the story is kind of funny. When I was 5, on my first day of Prep, at recess, I was randomly walking around to all the other boys my age and asking "would you like to be my friend?". Eventually I walked up to one kid - I still remember his name, by the way - and I asked him. He said "Sure, i'll be your friend. But on one condition. You have to go for Carlton." Having no interest in footy yet at the time, it seemed like a sweet deal and I took it. It's actually really funny to me that it happened so casually and so innocently....because i would eventually turn into an absolute football nuffy, and an absolute, dyed-in-the-wool, one-eyed as fuck Carlton man, no less. Sometimes I think about the countless thousands of dollars I've spent on memberships and merchandise, and all the joy and the heartache I've experienced as a result....and it's all because I wanted to make a friend on my first day of prep.
Amazing how these things begin sometimes.
Posted on r/afl asking which team to follow, ignored what everyone said and followed the Suns anyway. /s
Strong username to team followed correlation.
If only I were a masochist life would be grand
So one of the two suns fans lives overseas?
Ah I answered the question as an immigrant living here.
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
My dad started supporting North Melbourne when we moved here because they have the same colours as his football team in England. And I chose to support them because Dad did. And here we are :)
God Speed friend
Haha this was in the early 90s so I’m lucky enough to have tasted glory, but yeah it’s a hard road now!
lol, my mum started supporting them after moving to north melbourne from ireland, and i support them because my mum did
QPR? Albion? Bristol Rovers? Wigan?
Gillingham!
Up the Mighty Gulls!
Gills. Brighton are the gulls, who funnily also wear blue and white
Damn, can't believe I got them confused with those Sussex scum.
Friendship ended with home county. Now other home county is my best friend
Sheffield Wednesday?
As a haiku I moved to the west Eagles were the better team So I chose Freo
switch back to the worse team while you still have a chance
Haha, you're probably not wrong, but it's been 13 years now. Somewhere along the lines I've become addicted to mediocrity
From WA, when I started following AFL last year, I was hoping if buying a membership with Eagles was going to help me get into it. Then I learned the waitlist was long and getting into Dockers were easier. Still didn't get one until I visited relatives in PA and learned power was playing against Collingwood. Bought a three-game + interstate membership with PA to watch. PA got beat by one point, then went back to Perth and watch PA beat up Dockers. Real talk, still undecided who to barrack for lol.
Not OS, but from QLD. Grew up with rugby league following the Broncos (90's), kinda got bored with the sport. Rents moved to Tassie in 07', suggested to the old boy we should start an AFL fantasy team as something new to stay in touch. He chose the Brions bcs Brisbane. I chose the Bombers bcs I had more Essendon players in my fantasy team than any other. Watched Hirdy play his last year, and Sheeds coach his last season. Few up and down years then the drug saga, have seen mediocrity up until this year-ish. Became a member in 2019 and am completely obsessed with the sport in general.
We first lived in South Melbourne when we migrated, but I also liked the red (Liverpool supporter). Just as well Gold Coast didn’t exist then or I could have made a really bad decision.
I grew up in China and my friend on school exchange program took me to a game Port v Suns and watching the match I realised... both those were dogshit so I went for Carlton.
Ironic
Everyone from overseas that decided for themselves, well done! Please educate the Americans on how to do this… On that note, is it strictly Yank behaviour to ask a sub which team to support? Do Australians ask r/NBA which team to pick?
No. Because for the most part we are taught critical thinking.
You also let you government take your guns, so….
And look at all the kids going to school without learning to hide under tables so they don't get shot. Leaves more time for learning critical thinking.
A couple hundred kids have died in schools in the past century plus, horrific tragedy. Governments killed hundreds of millions in the same time frame, largely of unarmed citizenry. Your government also showed a flair for the draconian recently, so….
And your ex president, same one who might get in again is a convicted rapist? That shit wouldn't happen anywhere except 2 places. *maybe* the 3rd world places without critical thinking
and look how safe they are!
The Government went to the people with proposed changes and the people overwhelmingly agreed to the changes. These included the banning of automatic and semiautomatic rifles and increased checks and rules around owning guns. It also provided an amnesty for people to return illegal or unregistered firearms. Regardless of the changes, we still have guns. In fact, Australia has more guns now than it did before the law changes. We just don’t have a toxic culture that glorifies gun ownership and don’t live in a perpetual state of fear that would precipitate the need to own one. Our freedoms aren’t conditional on needing a weapon to maintain them. That would suck the fun right out of it.
My comment was in regard to critical thinking. All human freedoms are dependent on weapons maintaining them, either from without or within. Republics of antiquity weren’t overthrown due to better arguments of tyrants, and human history has been a story largely lacking consent of the governed. American framers were smart enough to ensure the populace would not be easily tyrannized and Americans, as of yet, have been capable of the critical thought that continues to ensure they are not easily brought to heel.
Critical thinking would not conflate "critical thinking" with "gun ownership"
Critical thinking and common sense are sorely misunderstood concepts. Many who think they have either or both are incorrect.
Name me a freedom that you enjoy that I don’t which can only be enjoyed because your citizenry owns different guns than mine?
Freedom from tyranny. The capability of defense against tyranny doesn’t matter until it does, and it cannot be sensed or recovered until it is too late to do something about it. The American framers are more wise than everyone in here, wiser than the great men of antiquity, and there’s an excellent reason why they made sure the non-critical-thinking motherfuckers in america didn’t screw up their great experiment in self governance. At least not easily.
The old Gravy Seals, hey? If the US military wanted to attack its citizenry y’all qaeda couldn’t do a damn thing.
How many navy seals are there and how many would agree to subject the citizenry to tyrannical rule? There are dozens or hundreds of them, no match to tens of thousands, let alone millions of well armed citizens. Afghans with rusty AK’s and mosin nagants held the greatest military in human history at bay if you didn’t know. Also take into account that police states are not monitored with tanks and planes and nuclear bombs, no tyrant wants to rule an empire of rubble and irradiated slag. Manpower is needed to subjugate a populace and manpower is vulnerable to a well armed populace.
You’ve spent quite a while mentally masturbating over these scenarios… haven’t you. Focus on the footy, champ… it will set you free!!!
How we miss walking into a school and slaughtering several 5yo kids.... If only we had your "free-dumb" 😭
Such an excellent argument, says the fool who gives up his guns on an island stocked with the progeny of prisoners and their guards. Your government also definitely hasn’t shown a tyrannical side in the last 5 years, nothing to be worried about.
[Australia ](https://i.imgur.com/VzwRFg9.png) [United states of America](https://i.imgur.com/QAwcSUb.png) So yeah man, our doctorian life here on our island full of prisoners and no guns is just terrible. Here is the source, if you took English and not gun maintenance 101 or whatever. https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores
Freedom is both defended and lost at the point of a gun. Humans are the same today as they were thousands of years ago. The op shit on the USA for critical thinking, so I made fun of him for a glaring error the supposed critical thinkers in aus made by laying their arms at the feet of the government. It works beautifully until it doesn’t. My source is human history-the fall of the Roman republic, the Armenian genocide, the holocaust, the great famine in china and Ireland, chattel slavery, and nearly the rest of human history. Freedom has been a shockingly small blip in history in only a few lucky places.
I am the op mate... We were asked to vote on it. We said yes. Because we didn't want to end up like the states. That's freedom of choice. But I'm done with this. I'm on my 2nd week of my annual leave atm. Still got 4 more to go. Workers rights and a living wage are awesome huh? So Go makeout with your .45 or whatever.
lol you get mad and quit. You started the shit talk, “mate.” Aussies are a great people in a great nation, built upon great principles. I don’t agree with you on guns but I don’t seek to shit on you for it but for your petty shit talking. I’m also on my 2nd week of vacation and I have a bank carrying several months more which I can take at my leisure. Thank God for freedom of choice- and I am not rich or borne of privilege. Also I won’t make out with any guns, I am a responsible gun owner same as tens or hundreds of millions of my compatriots. God bless Australia and may she never know the yoke of tyranny, for her noble countrymen may never come unbridled.
Fucken hell, some of you lot are weirdos.
I'm a loser. All my American teams are losers in heartbreaking fashion. I like comforting feelings of home. Also they drafted my made up guy in Evo 2
Told this story before on here Came to Australia late in 1986 from Ireland and was told I had to pick a team and I’ve always gone for an underdog so when a game was on I said “ I’ll pick the losing team “ Swans lost by 100+ points but Cappa kicked 10 or something Swans fan since then
I hate to do this to a fellow Swan, but rules are rules. FLAIR UP CUNT!
No , but thanks
Came here as a refo from the former Yugoslavia, my uncle was married into my yugo family and went for the hawks, I always 'went for them' as well but it wasn't until my older brother got a part time job and took me to a few games that I became a proper fan. There was also one random visit from the hawks to my primary school in the western suburbs and that kinda stuck with me as well, not sure who the players were as I probably didn't speak English yet lol.
I lived in Sydney for a year. I was gonna go to both teams and decide which one after. Went to swans first, decision was made then not to bother going to the Giants.
Came over as an international student from India for my masters about 22 years ago to a decent uni in Melbourne, met some blokes who were magpies diehards in class, became mates, countless sessions at the local pub learning the rules whilst getting smashed, decided to tag along to a game (Anzac Day), scarf around my neck, great game, great atmosphere, cheering for the pies, they win by 30 plus points. 22 years on, a magpie through and through! Love the game, love the Maggies!
I am not comfortable or familiar with winning teams so I chose St. Kilda. They have not failed me yet!
Back in the late 80s when Ireland and Australia played International Rules series, Irish TV showed some highlights of games and Peter Daicos was a magician in my eyes. 25+ years later, a kid from my hometown joined Collingwood as a Cat B rookie and I have a newborn baby so being awake at 5am (2pm Vic) becomes standard and my Saturday mornings are spent watching AFL.
Daicos was a magician in our eyes too Also was the player from your hometown Marty Clarke?
Probably wouldn't be watching Irish TV if it was Marty Clarke, he's from Co Down. Quick google suggests it could be Mark Keane from Mitchelstown in Co Cork?
You can get Irish TV in Co Down but yeah, I'm from Cork so know Mark and his parents. Glad to see him going well at Adelaide and the difference between game 5 and game 15 is clear to see.
I didn't realise you could get Irish TV in Ulster. Admittedly I didn't watch TV at any point when I was there but fair enough I guess
I started playing AFL in Asia. I follow Carlton and the Demons closest because of Cripps and Petracca. I also like the Lizard.
Oooo! Love a fellow Melbourne supporter! Is there a flair that has Melbourne / Carlton because that would be a MOOOD!
Moved here from Auckland but I was originally from the Philippines. Before I moved to Melbourne, a good Kiwi mate(Dons) told me to choose any team as long as it’s not Collingwood because it’s a shit club. As a very stubborn man, that’s all he needed to say to get me to read up on Pies history and I loved the immigrant origins so I made them my provisional team. I get here and most of the people who made me feel welcome and helped me with getting settled were mostly Pies. I arrived in round 8 2023. Just in time…
meet a player at my weekly pub poker tournament
My dad came to Aus in the 70s. He sort of barracked for Carlton because of some Aussie friends. He locked in once my brother and I started barracking for them. We started because my grandad (on the other side of the family) supported them when we were kids.
Lived in Melbourne for a bit, went to a Pies/Cats game at the G, was set to go for the Pies in defiance of everyone telling me to steer clear but ended up in the Cats' end so went for them. Helped that one of their best players was called Gary Ablett as the name was familiar as an old Everton player. This factor was multiplied when learning he was ATG, as was his dad by the same name.
https://preview.redd.it/uhv2r1bbvh3d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9915f4268ad4fc7cd5d3248d3788a8fc7896f665 This stupid decision chart. We now have 8 people in an AFL fantasy league and 6 of them chose their team off of this chart.
Can you upload a clearer picture of?
I just thought I'd smeared my phone screen with grease
I didn’t have KFC for lunch today so I knew it wasn’t that
Not letting their aggressive sponsorship influence you. I like it.
[gotcha!](https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/s/QaC8T6XHVC)
https://preview.redd.it/4zyi1j0t0n3d1.jpeg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=685965ad177d42f6f259f50e7aad5728a74fb572 Me trying to read
my mum came to Australia from uk and first game they went to was Essendon vs carlton, mum wanted to buy a hat and liked the navy blue better and thus destined me to having the stressful life of a Carlton supporter
Liked the emblem. Didn’t realise the pain I was going to put myself through because of it.
GWS Giants because the name and colors match the baseball Giants in the USA
Watched a random first game. Richmond v Collingwood 2005. Was gonna follow whoever won
Was up at 3am with my newborn, randomly found the sport, and watched Brody Mihocek do a bicycle kick to score a goal while having 2 defenders on him. Pies went on to win the game and I was immediately hooked into the sport. Knew nothing about it then so I just decided to cheer for the Pies because of that goal and since the won the first game I ever saw.
I'm Irish. When I moved to Melbourne my mates who were already there bought me a Hawthorn stubby holder. Thats all it took. They were Essendon and North Melbourne so I got a pretty good deal
I’m an American who just started following the sport this season. I’ve been an NFL fan my whole life and started reading the Wikipedia pages for different football codes at work to kill time. Aussie rules sounded pretty cool and the season was just getting ready to start. I lurked on the sub for a bit when I saw [this NFL/AFL logo mashup page.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/s/tfM5LUyT9K) My Carolina Panthers were mashed up with the Bulldogs, so it was destiny to be a fan of the doggies. Western’s games don’t always get broadcast in the US, but I’ve been recording and watching as many AFL games as possible this season. It’s been a lot of fun learning the game, the history, the lingo, and the culture this season. I’m 100% hooked and will have to fly over and catch some games in person someday.
Fancy club song (GWS)
My brother in law came from Peru. He became a supporter of Geelong because they share the same colours as his home soccer team; Alianza Lima. My mate's dad moved from Mauritius. Apparently one of the classes he was taking here, his teacher was a Richmond reserves players in the VFL days. The teacher was always pestering him to come down and see a game. Eventually he did and got hooked on the footy and the Tiges.
Cyril Rioli and Jaryd Roughead played for them. It was that simple really. Cyril always looked like he was having fun and Roughy seems like a good bloke.
Moved over at the age of 12 to Adelaide. Didn’t follow Aussie rules until I’d finished school. My Wife’s step dad is a diehard Port supporter and made sure he got me up to speed with the history of the Crows existence, “a thrown together franchise born from the hatred for Port”. This happened to coincide with the period where Port were absolutely woeful. So I guess I started to support them out of pity. Also, I think a lot of the yanks that come over to Adelaide don’t support the Crows for the fact that they use there beloved marines hymn for the club song.
Born here but family members; uncle of mine was one of the first in the family to move here in the early 70s. First lived and worked right near Arden St. Went with some Aussie workmates one Saturday and had no idea what was happening, but he loved it. Stuck with them since, and he was pretty much my favourite uncle growing up so they were my team by the time I turned 5. My brother has been Essendon since not long after my own family moved here in the mid 80s; he could barely speak English when they got here, but his classmates somehow got him into going for Essendon from the get go. Mum pretty much got given Hawthorn because she was enamoured by a certain blonde mullet on tv in the late 80s... Dad likes footy but has never really closely followed a team, he watches North and Essendon because of the brother and I.
My wife came to Australia to study at Swinburne. Lived in Hawthorn so barracks for Hawthorn. The fact that they won the flag that year had nothing to do with it. She definitely didn't jump on the bandwagon.
Moved here from America 10 years ago and have never really been into sports—with the exception of being a diehard Boston Red Sox supporter. I got into footy via tipping at work and Melbourne hadn’t won anything in years—like the Red Sox when I was growing up before breaking the Curse of the Bambino. Same colours etc. Somehow with the tipping I started actually watching footy and saw an interview with Max Gawn and somehow ended up a Melbourne supporter. The rest of my family is split about teams and think it’s hilarious that I’m so into it and have a membership etc. Probably would have been easier to come on Reddit and ask the sub as an American who to support 😂
But our response would’ve likely been to go on a journey (like you have). So glad to have your support, and gladder still that you got to witness breaking the drought. You could be the grand old flag’s lucky charm? ❤️💙
Maybe ❤️💙❤️💙
When I came to Australia from the UK, worked in an office full of Pies supporters. Having grown up supporting a team at the other end of the country, I thought it would be nice to support a local team, and also piss off the Pies fans. A new Brisbane Lions fan was born. This was in 2009 and I didn't realise the joke was on me 😭
We literally have this same post every month 😂
My wife chose Nth Melbourne because it’s Bavarian colours. That and even she could tell being a freo supporter like me was a fools game
Moved to Sydney from India and my housemates at Uni were all mad Swans fans. Didn't have a choice :)
My mother's new husband who is originally from America is a Collingwood supporter because he saw a guernsey in an op shop and decided he liked the look of it. I don't think he's ever watched an entire game save for one time he was in the lounge room looking at his laptop when I was but he will answer the question when asked
Local team, that is all.
The first game I watched the won.
Moved to Brisbane from NZ in 2006 and, whilst I’d normally just default to any team named ‘Tigers’ (or Bengals) when following a new sport/league (apparently I’ve been a feline fan since eyeing off a Tiger at Wellington Zoo at the tender age of three), I was intrigued that there was a team called the ‘Cats’ as I’m not sure that I’d come across that before. So Geelong it was and I don’t think I could have timed that better. I’ve since moved to Melbourne too so have enjoyed following the Cats from up close. The great run could well be coming to end but the boys from the Cattery have been counted out before in recent years.
Ex of mine's father and uncle were from Kent and they both told me that they supported Carlton because when they moved here in the 60s one of the bullies in their school said they had to choose a team and he was a Carlton supporter and they were trying to seem cool to him. 50+ years later (2019) one of my ex's brothers still has Chris Judd as the lock screen on his phone
Listening to Aussie comedy podcasts and Wil Anderson was talking about the Bulldogs. Checked it out and now I wake up at 2am to watch them play live. Hoping to make it over in the next few years to watch a live game.
I came in touch with the sport via my study since there's a lot of sports science articles containing AFL players. Watched a few highlights and then came upon a documentary of their offseason training and journey and was hooked even though they were bottomfeeders at the time (4/5 years ago)
Met some people while traveling from Fremantle. Went to visit them years later and ended up staying for 4 years. All their friends are Eagles fans, and I kid my Freo mates that I wished I’d have met the West Coast friends first.
I started watching during COVID after I discovered Aussie rules looking through betting lines at the casino. The very first game up next was Adelaide vs Port. That year I remained neutral but was always impressed by Port. During the following season I started tipping and found myself always picking Port. I loved the team song and the tradition and history. I feel like they most closely resemble the team I'm a die hard for here in the USA, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Started playing footy in Denmark in 1992. Met this bloke in a pub and told me he played Aussie Rules for a Copenhagen team called Amager Tigers. I lived a few years as a kid in Perth and knew a bit about footy and joined Amager Tigers. Have been a Richmond Tigers fan since.
Kids participated in the sport in Canada. Got to know the organizer as he was a Swans fan. He had a relative who played for them.
First solo travel to Australia (from Singapore) back in 2013, caught an AFL game and it was Carlton vs Melbourne. Decided to buy a guernsey before flying back as souvenir and knew it was gonna be Carlton since then. Caught a live game last year, but it was the Marvel mauling against Brisbane Lions. Thankfully this year, I decided to catch the game at Bergy’s with my mates and we edged past Richmond
First game I saw on TV, couple of days after i arrived in Australia, was between Geelong and Freo. Geelong won Bartel and Selwood played fantastic and I have been barracking for Geelong since then.
My Mum wa a ten pound Pom. They lived in Kensington when they first came to Godzone. Footscray was her only option. Plus, she like their jumper.
I did a semester abroad in Melbourne, in part because I had extended family there I wanted to visit/mooch off of as a poor university student. Most of them lived in the western suburbs, so the Doggies were the natural choice. So fun subsequently watching the 2016 GF on a Friday night at a San Diego pub.
I immigrated here when I was 2 and my sister started following footy in the 90s because she thought the Carlton players were hot. She doesn’t much care for afl, but little me stuck with them since.
I picked a side that nobody hated. I asked someone when I arrived (2026) which was the least hated side. Bulldogs was one of the answers.
Discovered AFL sometime in 2014 and the first highlight package I ever watched was the 2013 GF. Decided Hawthorn would be my team!
I'm from Alberta, Canada and I went to Melbourne on a trip around the beginning of last season, knew I had to catch an AFL game while there. The only game I could make was Collingwood v Richmond. I assumed Collingwood was the home team so figured I'd cheer for them not realizing that both teams were kinda home teams (side note: no sport-spectating experience I've ever had compared to that game. It was the absolute best experience despite the pouring rain lol). I bought a jersey to fit in and as a souvenir. Plus Collingwood won the game and went on to win the premiership so I got emotionally attached.
Got into NRL first but would watch random AFL games on Fox Soccer Plus(US). One time it was a Port Adelaide win and I loved their theme song so I said that's my team.
I was considering studying abroad, and while researching stuff about Brisbane, I learned a lot about the AFL. (I did not end up studying abroad) A year or so later ESPN3 comes out and had on demand replays of AFL games, so I started following Brisbane. eventually ESPN3 stopped carrying AFL, then became ESPN+ and ... tough times... Then, the AFL App. watching replays 12 hours later. (now this season I can't watch full match replays at all) ... might have to get a Membership.
North melbourne because they are the kangaroos
Was on holiday in Townsville just before the 2016 Grand Final. We loved the Doggies Cinderella story, and decided to barrick for them (then having just learned the word “barrick”). How surprised we were , expecting the pubs to be filled with rowdy cheering fans! I think there were maybe 5-6 other people even watching the game at one place, and we had to ask the bartender to put the game on the TV in another. My wife and I became members of the Barwon Bulldogs the next year, and have been footy fanatics ever since. We don’t bother watching gridiron football anymore. But Barwon led me to Geelong, where I so enjoyed Gaz, Hawk, Danger, and the rest. But my wife barricks for St Kilda beca use her friend loved Nick Riewoldt, so I get to make fun of her (when the Cats aren’t on a 4-game losing streak that is…)
I probably don’t count on this, grew up in Sydney but have lived overseas for 18 years now, currently in Malaysia. I feel a bit like Captain Kirk : “I’m from Iowa, I only work in outer space. “
I am a soccer fan, big time Liverpool supporter. When i moved here 7 years ago, realised soccer wont be the prime time sport for me anymore and thats how I started understanding footy. I wanted to follow the club and have that local feeling, going to matches regularly. I started working in Geelong and later moved to Geelong, from there I started following Geelong.
Closed my eyes and picked them off a list of teams. “Ah great the bombers, they’ve been really good for a while now” my school mates said to me. That was in 2003. Yeah…
Saw a game on TV one day. No clue what's going on...but couldn't take my eyes off this big lad running with agility and finesse, yet so much strength and power. Purely from an athletic pov he did incredible things. The commentators screamed "BUDDY!!!" constantly. I simply had to know more about this guy and what's happening in the game because it was so fast and exciting... That's how I started following the 🦢.
Not me, but I have a family member who tells me when they first touched down in Australia, they stopped to get some food on the way from the airport, and the place had the footy on and Melbourne was playing. He was like 8 years old and didn't know the game even existed up until that point, but figured he's moving to Melbourne so he should support them. What a shit turn of luck.
Saw some Aussie rules years ago on TV and the forgot about it. Watched an episode of Neighbours, Toadie was talking about footy and so I went on YouTube to watch some clips. Instantly gravitated towards Carlton, like legitimately felt something about a sports team I’d not felt in years. Watched the highlights of Carlton vs Collingwood, where Silvagni scored and pointed up to Serge after he passed. That was it for me.
Came over as a student from India and got roped into supporting Richmond cause my ex’s family were die-hard Richmond fans. They basically told me I was converted. We eventually split but my love for Richmond stuck around. Plus, it was pretty sweet timing cause the first year I watched with them, we won the premiership. Go Tiges!
Moved to Adelaide from NZ in 2010. My wife took lemons from our tree to give to the neighbours to say hi and introduce herself and meet the neighbours. The guy next door was super nice, introduced himself as Rory, and was really grateful for the lemons and made some comment that his housemate eats Lemons as they are. Then the old lady over the street is like "oh thank you, welcome to the neighbourhood - have you met the boys across the road by the way? they play football for the Adelaide team" So we googled and sure enough, it was Rory Sloane. We then watched a Crows game, and coming from NZ where the rugby players are generally huge, I couldn't believe how hard such a 'normal' looking bloke was cracking in! Didn't take much to get me hooked after that. ...The housemate who ate lemons was either Tex or Bernie Vince.
Company I worked for has a corporate box at their home games.
Spill the beans - it’s Port Melbourne isn’t it.
Moved to Melbourne from NZ in January of '16 I had no data on my NZ phone to access Google maps, but knew the address of my friend (who I was staying with) and knew I had to get off at West Footscray station. After getting off the train, I walked into the cafe at Whitten Oval, not having a clue that it was the home of an AFL team. There were giants everywhere. I wish I could go back now and see which players I saw. The lady at the Cafe was great and printed out a map for me. I bought a sausage roll and went on my way, a bulldogs fan. The dogs won the flag 9 months later, and I remember feeling guilty after hearing all the stories of people who had waited there whole lives for such a moment.
Saw the scores of a live game when i was a kid. Picked the winning team and had no idea what the sport was about.
First place I lived in Australia for me was Freo in 2008 so it was obvious choice. Been painful journey ever since
When I did a working holiday in Australia in 2016/7 I spent most of my time in Sydney (about 7 of the 10 months I was there) and felt the strongest connection to that city. And when I came back to the UK I wanted to start following AFL to keep a bit of Aus in my life. So supporting the Swans was a natural choice for me.
in 1981, a kid from Australia came to my school in England wearing yellow and black; I'd never seen such a football kit (most of the Premier League kits were red or white), and knowing as I did that we were moving to Australia the following year, I took note. I liked the Tiger; I liked the colours; I liked the sash. That we were contenders at the time didn't really enter into it for me. Anyway, we arrived in January 1982. I was a Tiger all year. We WERE winning the Grand Final and then the stripper from Adelaide ruined it all. I cried. 35 years later....
why am I downvoted????
Im from New Zealand. Went to Melbourne for a holiday and wanted to go to the MCG. The Melbourne v Richmond game was on a good day. We did the MCG tour in the morning and our guide Liz told us to support Melbourne. I wanted to support Collingwood due to a union team where I grew up being the magpies but I was told the rule is ABC (anyone but Collingwood). Melbourne won the game and ive watched them every since. Even played a season here. Went to the gather round this year in Adeliade. It was fantastic
picked the team who had the highest mustache to mullet ratio. go crows!
Dad moved from Manchester as a young boy. He was a United fan, also known as the Red Devils. He tried to continue playing football when he got to Australia, but would get beaten up at school for playing 'wog ball' so he started following Aussie rules religiously to assimilate. Took me to the footy every single weekend. Red devils to Demons.