Here's Your ALL-PURPOSE INTRODUCTION to the eighteen pro AUSSIE RULES football teams!

Alright, it's time to share some of my love for the ultimate sport - that manly combination (played by both genders and all ages) of soccer, rugby, American football, and basketball, played on an oval cricket pitch, called Australian Rules Football, or Aussie Rules, or just "footy" for short!

Some of the basics are described in my first post on the subject, and it and all of my Aussie Rules posts are found here, on its own page, so as not to clutter up the rest of our posts (or vice versa!).

But I'd like to share some information about the major league version today - the Australian Football League (or AFL, not to be confused with the US's "Arena Football League", another high-scoring, fast-paced version of the sport, differing dramatically from footy in that footy leagues are not bankrupt or lacking in attendance). The AFL currently contains eighteen teams, scattered from Perth to Queensland but with the lions' share in the league's origin point of Melbourne, in the state of Victoria. In fact, the league's origin was as the "Victorian Football League", which thirty years ago or so changed its name to reflect its growing footprint, and eventually swallowed up the other major leagues around the country. (Many of those, including a version of the VFL, still exist as 'minor league' football, with a similar structure to some extent as our minor league baseball does here.)

While as I noted recently, the 2016 Premier is the Western Bulldogs (a Chicago Cubs-like story, having gone 62 years since last winning the Grand Final), the recent decade or so has been dominated by three teams: the Geelong Cats, the Sydney Swans, and the three-time-defenders coming into this season, the Hawthorn Hawks. AFL isn't like the NBA, where a very few teams have a real chance to win in any season, but neither is it the NFL, where any team can win any season, almost unpredictably.


So, for your benefit as you dip your toe in this world halfway around the world, let me give you some American analogies for each team. Imperfect though they may be, I hope you'll find them enlightening and entertaining. Enjoy!

Here's a set of links showing how the teams line up with their American counterparts...

The ADELAIDE Crows = the Minnesota Vikings (of the NFL) - click here!
The BRISBANE Lions = the Los Angeles Lakers (of the NBA) - click here!
The CARLTON Blues = the Chicago Bears (of the NFL) - click here!
The COLLINGWOOD Magpies = the New York Yankees (of MLB) - click here!
The ESSENDON Bombers = the Oakland Athletics (of MLB) - click here!
The FREMANTLE Dockers = the Kansas City Royals (of MLB) - click here!
The GEELONG Cats = the New England Patriots (of the NFL) - click here!
The GOLD COAST Suns = the Cleveland Cavaliers (of the NBA) - click here!
The GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY Giants = the Los Angeles Clippers (of the NBA) - click here!
The HAWTHORN Hawks = the San Antonio Spurs (of the NBA) - click here!
The MELBOURNE Demons = the Oakland Raiders (of the NFL) - click here!
The NORTH MELBOURNE Kangaroos = The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (of MLB) - click here!
The PORT ADELAIDE Power = the Oregon Ducks (of the NCAA FBS) - click here!
The RICHMOND Tigers = the San Diego Chargers (of the NFL) - click here!
The ST. KILDA Saints = the New York Jets (of the NFL) - click here!
The SYDNEY Swans = the Boston Red Sox (of MLB) - click here!
The WEST COAST Eagles = the Dallas Cowboys (of the NFL) - click here!
The WESTERN Bulldogs = the Chicago Cubs (of MLB) - click here!

As you progress through each club and its American doppelganger, we hope you'll come to understand more about the particular teams that represent the great sport of footy in Australia and around the world. Before the season starts next March, you'll get a firm background in the sport - and we'll provide content on the AFL page to help novices understand the sport.