One of the only things that will give me pangs of homesickness when I am away is missing the footy season, particularly when the Hawks are doing well. When my Toronto plans were coming together, I discovered that one of the teams playing in the Ontario AFL was the Broadview Hawks. And sure enough, they wear our beloved brown and yellow striped guernseys.
This morning Kylie and I grabbed a streetcar down Queen Street West to Humber College, and managed to find the match between the Broadview Hawks, and the Toronto Dingos, who were wearing Essendon colours.It was pretty cool to see our amazing fast paced game live, and enjoying to sounds of the match - the contact, the calling out to teammates, the whistle. The handheld siren made me jump every time, with the horn at half time finding the Hawks up by quite a lot, as the scoreboard here reads.
We delighted in the Aussie accents, and nicknames floating out of the match, as orders, encouragement and congratulations were dished out on field. There was also a bunch of hybrid and mixed up accents running around out there, which added to the unique feel of the game.We overheard a discussion about the need to have a set amount of Aussie players in each team, which means that this league is sharing our great game with all sorts of Internationals here in Canada.
The game got fairly spirited, with a variety of skill level across both teams. We were even treated to a hint of biffo, as is expected in a match between these two jumpers!The Hawks ran away with a 61 point win for the day, maintaining their stake in the top 2 of the Division 1 season ladder, and gathered to sing the song....which was the Richmond song with substitution!
The match was totally accessible to anyone who wanted to watch, and I read that getting involved in a team is possible for anyone who wants to play. There is also a women's league. Getting to a match is a treat for Aussies who are missing some real football!
A few of my mates played for the Central Blues in Toronto and playing footy over there is something I would definitely do if we try a Canadian working holiday. Now just to get the hammies right!
ReplyDeleteA great way to keep fit, and grow your social circle. Great community feel, and you would meet people from all over! A great idea for an expat!
DeleteWhen we were in Toronto (in the late 80s, as I've said before), they were juuuuust starting to spread AFL outside Australia. And while we were there, Geelong played Melbourne at the Skydome. (Collingwood also played Hawthorn a few days earlier at a different stadium, but being Cats supporters the former was of more importance to us!) I'm pretty sure it was the most excited my dad got the WHOLE TIME we were in Toronto - after a year and a half of not being able to watch footy, and to then have HIS team come to Toronto? I'm pretty sure his head exploded. We have almost a full roll of film worth of photos - presumably to keep him going through the other two years we were there??
ReplyDeleteI half wanted to go and watch the Denver AFL team training while I was there last year, but never got around to it... :(
Ha ha, what a great story!
DeleteI remember being very keen to see the exhibition match when I was living in London, but would have been overjoyed like your Dad if it was my team!
The OAFL has been around since 1989, I think, and theirs is a very very good competition. They sent a representative team down here to Philadelphia to play in a tournament we were having, and they won both games. I think it's great that the game has spread out to North America and become rather sizable.
ReplyDeleteIn October, the US National championships are being held in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati. It's the largest carnival outside of Australia. We have 40 mens and women's teams and over a thousand players.
Ohh, thanks heaps for the insight, Brian! It is very cool to see AFL getting out and gaining some following outside of Aus!
DeleteSo does anyone know where to watch the Grand Final in Toronto? It looks like Scallywags might be showing it, but they might not be either...
ReplyDeleteHey - Brian in the comments above has directed me to this site http://www.afana.com/drupal5/parties/2012/na/toronto where you can find that the Toronto Dingos are putting the AFL Grand Final on. Have fun - Go Hawks!
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