Australian Football

Australian Football : Going to the Footy
By David Thompson

A trip to Australia offers visitors the chance to experience the unique sport of Australian Rules Football. The Australian Football league (AFL) season is played from March to September and with 16 teams based throughout Australia, there are plenty of opportunities to go to the footy.



Matches are played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in family-friendly stadiums where opposing supporters mix freely and exchange generally good-natured banter.

The West Coast Eagles and Fremantle are based at Subiaco Oval in Perth, Western Australia. With two AFL teams based in Perth there is an Aussie Rules game each week. Generally tickets are available at the ground on the day of the game except for ‘the western derby’ when West Coast play Freo and designated ‘blockbuster’ games against top of the ladder opposition.

The South Australian capital of Adelaide also hosts two AFL teams so there is a game in Adelaide each weekend of the season. Both the Adelaide Crows and the Port Adelaide Power play their games at AAMI Stadium. It is often difficult to get tickets for Crows games, especially if they are near the top of the ladder. The ‘showdowns’ against Port are always tense games and always sold-out.

The Sydney Swans play most of their home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) although a few games each year are played at Telstra Stadium which was used as the host stadium for the 2000 Olympic Games. The Swans won the Premiership in 2005 and attract good crowds to their games but the capacity of the Sydney stadiums means there are usually tickets available for all games.

The Brisbane Lions also play their home games at a cricket ground, in their case, at Wollengabba in Brisbane although the ground is universally known simply as The Gabba. The Lions have been successful in recent years and attract large crowds. Games against top opposition are generally fully-ticketed however it is worth checking with the club as ‘walk-up’ tickets are often available on the day of the game.

Melbourne offers the best opportunity to see an Aussie Rules match. With Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, the Kangaroos, Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs based in Melbourne and Geelong just an hour’s drive down the highway there can be as many as five matches played each week.

Geelong, also known as The Cats, play 7 or 8 home matches at Skilled Stadium in Kardinia Park. These matches are very popular with Cats fans and are often sold-out weeks in advance. Geelong’s remaining home games are played in Melbourne at either Telstra Dome or the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The Melbourne teams also share these two major stadiums as their home grounds.

Telstra Dome holds about 50,000 people. Games designated as ‘blockbuster’ games require tickets to be pre-purchased but otherwise there are usually plenty of allocated seats on levels 1 & 2 and unreserved seats on level 3 available for sale on match day.

The MCG holds almost 100,000 people. There are a few ‘blockbuster’ games played at the ‘G’ which require pre-purchased tickets, particularly the Anzac Day game (25th April) between Collingwood and Essendon. For other games, spectators can purchase an allocated seat on the day of the game or pay for general admission and find a seat in one of the unreserved areas.

Several Melbourne teams play ‘home’ games in other states partly to promote the game in those areas but also to boost revenue. The Kangaroos play a few games each year at Manaka Oval in Canberra; the Western Bulldogs play a game or two at Mararra in Darwin; Melbourne plays a game in Brisbane or on the Gold Coast; while St Kilda and Hawthorn play two games each per season at Launceston in Tasmania.

Australian Rules Football offers an unforgettable experience for every visitor to Australia. It is a fast, exciting and popular sport yet remains remarkably accessible for an elite level sport especially compared to NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA in the USA and English Premier League in the UK. So when planning your trip Down Under, make sure you set aside some time for a colourful, family-friendly day at the footy.