As many of you know, on Feb 4th, 2018 Philadelphia Eagles took home the title of Super Bowl LII winners. It was a pretty amazing moment for the city of Philadelphia as we were labeled “the underdogs” since the beginning of the season. But when the time had come, we all had to be prepared.
Many turned down Super Bowl parties invitations just so they could be in their own home, fully focused on this moment, while others jumped on the Eagles bandwagon and headed to Broad Street for the after party. It was a magically night, filled with laughter, tears and drunks.
Now the really anticipated event was the march down Broad Street, that took place Feb 8th. Fans stood in the freezing cold to see all of the players go by on floats, as they showed off there victory. Of course the parade was the exact same day I had to leave to go to Australia. I saw all of my friends and family Snapchat and Facebook posts of them downtown, cheering on the team, as I sat in the JFK airport with my eagles shirt on, which bought just days prior.
As I landed in Aussie, I made it a point to introduce myself as a proud Philadelphian, I actually live in Drexel Hill, but I’m still going to rep. I had read earlier that month that there were several Eagles Fans in Australia. I thought after a while I would be able to bond with someone who was as proud of the Eagles as I was…I did not. I met a total of 2 people who recognized that the Eagles had won the Super Bowl, one was from Germany who did not even watch the game, and the other Louisiana who only wanted to ask about the “crazy after party downtown” which I did not go to because I was flying to Sydney at the time.
All the Australians here only cared about the Aussie Football League, no not rugby, AFL. I know, I was confused as well, I thought rugby was an Australian/ New Zealand made sport. Apparently Victorians, the state Melbourne is in, love AFL because it is an Victorian made sport. Now after I got pass the idea that rugby isn’t a thing here, I was invited to a AFL women’s game. Fun fact AFL women’s league was only started about a year ago, before that girls didn’t even play AFL in school, unless it was footy.
Now AFL is a mix between basketball, rugby, volleyball and soccer, yup soccer, I was confused as well when I found out they had to kick the ball. Here is best way I can explain the rules to AFL:
1- The ball is about the same size as a rugby ball
2- To pass the ball you have to punch it up like a serve in volley ball, or kick it
3- There are only a certain amount of steps you can take before you have to bounce the ball, like in basketball
4- If you are tackled, you must dispose of the ball by anyway possible
5-You can make a mark-which is when you basically can use your knee to jump up on someones (teammate or opponent) back and catch the ball.
6- To make a goal, you kick the ball in between 2 post. Many Aussie football players become NFL kickers because they can kick from far distances with high accuracy.
7- The field is an oval
I only went to one AFL game, and I skipped learning how to play footy during the orientation trip and went to the pool so I am sure there are way more rules then just these few. I guess I have to tuck my Eagles shirt away for a while.