Football season (Aussie Rules) has come around again, but now I'm in Japan and far from the action of the AFL (Australian Football League), although there are a few Aussie Rules teams in Japan and local competition comprising of Aussie expats and interested locals. However, I'm still a loyal Fremantle Dockers fan and I hope this season goes better than the last one! Knowing this my parents kindly sent me this poster from the Sunday Times (a Western Australian Sunday Newspaper). So I've proudly pinned up the poster on my wall in my dining/English class area of our house here in Nagaokakyo. Anyway in this day and age it's possible for me to catch all the action of the AFL via the internet or for a bit more atmosphere I could make my way to Murphy's Irish Pub in Osaka (less than an hour away by train) which shows all of the AFL games on their big screen satellite TV. Why does an Irish pub show the AFL games? Because Australian Rules Football (Aussie Rules) is similar to Irish Gaelic Football.
If you want to see some of my snapshot photos from a Dockers' Game check out here:- http://www.pbase.com/jameslclarke/footy20070331
If you want to see some decent professional photos of Australian Rules football (albeit at the state (WAFL) level, not the national (AFL) level) check out these galleries from Vick Soulios, a former colleague of mine:- http://vicksoulios.zenfolio.com/australianrulesfootball