Aussie Rules Football
Sports
Being close to Brisbane has a couple of advantages. Besides having access to marinas, chandleries, and boatyards—the things most cruisers seek—we also enjoy awesome restaurants, food markets, a wide variety of grocery stores, and top-notch shopping. But here’s something you might not have thought about: sports.
Outside the USA, American football, baseball, and basketball are not common. The rest of the world loves football (soccer), rugby, and to some extent, cricket. Like the USA, Australia has very popular sporting events not common elsewhere. The main one is The Footie. But we’ll come back to that. Let’s talk football (soccer) first.
Cindy has never been to a local football match, having grown up in the USA. As a kid in the UK, I went to a few. Cindy is a big fan of the FIFA World Cup. Every four years, our lives come to a complete standstill, along with about two billion other people. The last final between Argentina and France captivated a global audience of nearly 1.5 billion viewers, solidifying its status as one of the most-watched live sporting events ever. That’s about seven times more than tune in for the Super Bowl and 167 times more than a single World Series game. We watched it in Tahiti, French Polynesia. We could hear the roar of the crowded bar just down the street as France did well. This was about 6am local time, and I swear the bar had been open all night for the fans.
It’s estimated that approximately five billion people interacted with the tournament across various platforms—television, digital media, and social networks—making it the most widely followed event on Earth. That’s a little over 60% of the global population. Read that last sentence again and let it sink in.
We figured it was time to experience live football ourselves. A quick search with the Google machine gave us all the info we needed. Brisbane Roar is the local team, and they play home games at Suncorp Stadium—a 52,500-capacity venue that hosts rugby and soccer matches, with a few major concerts sprinkled in.
You’ve heard me say how awesome public transportation is here. It rivals most EU cities, if not surpasses them. Here’s a screenshot of the stadium from Google Earth. Note: there is no parking.
SunCorp Stadium – Brisbane
The price of the ticket includes train, bus, or tram service from wherever you live to the event. These services use a tap card for payment (tapping on and off). A ticket holder simply walks past the tap terminals and boards whatever transport they choose. If asked by a driver or transit officer for proof of fare, just show your ticket for the event.
Driving to the stadium would take about 45 minutes. The train also takes about that long, but we don’t have to worry about the headache or cost of parking. The stadium is a short walk from the Milton Street train station, with a dedicated walkway over the main road leading to the entry gates.
The stadium is a short walk from the train station on a dedicated breezeway
Pregame – The mascot hangs with the kids. We’ve seen kids wearing Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar shirts all over the world
Cindy snags us seats close to the action
Number 10 was the sole goal scorer of the match
We even made the Jumbotron (assuming it’s still called that)
So, how was Cindy’s first game? It was fabulous. The Roar won 1–0 against Wellington, New Zealand. We had great seats. Another bonus of football here—it’s not expensive to get a ticket. We saw entire families at the game. I think we paid about AUS$100 (US$65) total for 7th-row seats. You know they’re good seats when you can see the blades of grass on the pitch.
The Footie
The Footie, or Australian Rules Football, is more than just a sport—it’s a cultural phenomenon. The atmosphere is electric, the fans are passionate, and the pace of the game keeps you on the edge of your seat. Even if you’re new to it, the infectious energy makes it easy to get swept up in the excitement.
On a per capita basis, it’s the most spectated sport in the world—meaning more people watch the Footie in Australia than any other sport anywhere else. Played on massive oval fields with teams of 18 players, it blends the physicality of rugby with the speed and agility of soccer, all wrapped up in its own unique rules. In Queensland, the Brisbane Lions are the local heroes, and attending a live match at the Gabba is said to be an unforgettable experience. So, that’s what we did.
Aussie Rules Football originated in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1850s. It was developed as a way to keep cricketers fit during the off-season—hence, the stadium doubles as a cricket arena in the summer. It was largely invented by Tom Wills, a cricketer educated in England who wanted a game better suited to local conditions. He combined elements of rugby and football (soccer), though at the time in the UK, football was not standardized—each region, school, or club played by their own rules. Wills managed to combine it all into one sport.
The rules are easy enough. We watched a YouTube video the day of the game and understood enough to follow along. Sadly, Brisbane lost to Melbourne 88–99. Brisbane led for most of the match but fell apart in the last 20 minutes. Our Aussie friends already told us we’re not allowed to attend any more matches—we might have been the jinx!
Cindy scored us great seats again. I honestly don’t know how she does it. We entered through a VIP door and ended up in the VIP section. I saw the credit card charge, and I know we didn’t pay much—especially when compared to U.S. sporting events.
Once again, Cindy scores us great seats!
We both agreed that if we lived here, we’d be AFL Footie fans and probably buy season tickets. We were surrounded by hardcore fans. The guy next to me seemed to know every player on the field and shouted at them by name when they got the ball. We also learned some new Australian swearwords.
It’s truly amazing how fast this game moves. I can see why people get into it. It’s nonstop action—the best way I can describe it is skilled chaos.
Like Suncorp Stadium, the Gabba is located in downtown Brisbane with very limited parking. Attendance at our match was just over 30,000 people. At the end, when everyone left for the buses, it was a sight to see. I’ve never seen so many buses lining the streets. We walked to our designated area and boarded within 10 minutes. Ten minutes after that, we were back at the train station heading toward the Puffster.
A Quick Tangent
Lunch with Mark and Alice
I’m going to veer off the subject of sports for a moment. When we first purchased Cream Puff, we kept her in St. Petersburg, Florida. We met some awesome people there—Mark and Alice—who also owned a boat on the same dock and became friends. The last time we saw them was when we returned to St. Pete after our year-long extravaganza up and down the U.S. East Coast. When we left St. Pete that second time, ten years ago, we knew we wouldn’t be back.
It turns out Mark and Alice were in Australia on a cruise. They had a day stop in Brisbane and reached out to meet for lunch. Their stop just happened to coincide with our day in Brisbane to see the Footie. How cool is that? It was wonderful to see them again and catch up. For a few hours, it felt like we were ten years younger and had time-traveled.
None of us could have imagined, when we said goodbye in St. Pete ten years ago, that the next time we’d meet would be in Australia.
On the way back to the boat, we stopped for tacos. A great day!
