Hello from Scotland.

[ScottishRoos]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Linton all the way from sunny Scotland, I started playing and following Aussie Rules just last year and this year my friends and team mates have formed Fife's first and only Aussie Rules team, the Kingdom Kangaroos. We will be playing in the Scottish national league next year against the mighty Edinburgh Bloods, Aberdeen Eagles and the Glasgow Sharks. We would love for you guys to follow our progress on our website and Facebook page, out of respect for the forum I wont spam it with links but we are easy to find. Its great to be a part of the Aussie Rules fraternity.

To give you a better insight personally to myself...

Real Name: Iain McGarry AKA Linton.

Age: 33.

Location: Burntisland, Fife, Scotland.

Occupation: Watch Manager, Blue Watch, Lochgelly Fire Station, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service.

Transport: Anything on four wheels.

Team: North Melbourne.

Other Sports: Football (Soccer) Dundee United, Ice Hockey Calgary Flames, Basketball.

Favourite Foods: Deep fried Mars Bar!

Favourite Drinks: Pepsi Max.

Best/Worst Radio Stations: Best Talksport, Worst BBC Radio One.

TV Shows I'd Never Miss: Match of the Day and Aussie Rules on Eurosport.

Best

Holiday Spot: Disney World Florida.

3 Things ALWAYS in my Shopping Trolley: With two girl toddlers, nappies, baby wipes and baby milk.

Which Supermarket Chain Do You Prefer...Why? The cheapest one!

Favourite Cartoon Character: Spongebob Squarepants, just for the kids obviously

Most amazing thing I've done or seen: Most amazing thing I have seen is the birth of my two girls.

Bad Habits: Picking my nose when driving.

Have You Any Piercings Or Tattoos? Nope.

Hobbies: Running.

3 Famous People I've Met: (Outside Football...) Being near St. Andrews just a lot of golfers.

Dream Job: Not having one.

Favourite Board/Video Games: Super Mario World.

Top 5 Songs In No Particular Order...​

Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run​

Smashing Pumpkins: 1979​

Jimmy Eat World: the Middle​

Yellowcard: Ocean Avenue​

Smashing Pumpkins: Tonight, Tonight.​

Thanks everyone. ​

​

 

[GreenMoonRising]

Hello there from sunny Elgin! Great to see a fellow new Scotsman on here, and especially one with a love of the Smashing Pumpkins (Today trumps those two though).

 

[ScottishRoos]

Hello there from sunny Elgin! Great to see a fellow new Scotsman on here, and especially one with a love of the Smashing Pumpkins (Today trumps those two though).

I was just at the Pumpkins concert in Glasgow on Tuesday at the Carling Academy! 4th time seeing them and they were awesome.

 

[GreenMoonRising]

I was just at the Pumpkins concert in Glasgow on Tuesday at the Carling Academy! 4th time seeing them and they were awesome.

Jammy! Wish I could've gone but I'm not back home in good old Glasgow 'til the week after next. Still, c'est la vie.

How'd you get into this fine sport then?

 

[ScottishRoos]

Jammy! Wish I could've gone but I'm not back home in good old Glasgow 'til the week after next. Still, c'est la vie.

How'd you get into this fine sport then?

Just through a friend on facebook, he responded to a guy who used to play for the Glasgow Sharks ad on gumtree about trying to start a new team in Scotland called the Central Magpies to cater for Central Scotland. At the start it was just myself, Rab (my friend) and Dougie (the ex shark now our coach) running about in an empty piece of grass just going over kicking and hand drills. After a bit of stop start we managed to get some momentum with the majority of the players coming from the Kingdom of Fife we decided to reach out to North Melbourne and they provided us with some kit and a few other things, so we decided to change our name to the Kingdom Kangaroos. It worked out great for me as that was the club I followed anyway, but the good thing is we have a hardcore team of 14 Scots and 2 Aussie's with us and they are all as passionate as each other about the sport.

 

[GreenMoonRising]

Just through a friend on facebook, he responded to a guy who used to play for the Glasgow Sharks ad on gumtree about trying to start a new team in Scotland called the Central Magpies to cater for Central Scotland. At the start it was just myself, Rab (my friend) and Dougie (the ex shark now our coach) running about in an empty piece of grass just going over kicking and hand drills. After a bit of stop start we managed to get some momentum with the majority of the players coming from the Kingdom of Fife we decided to reach out to North Melbourne and they provided us with some kit and a few other things, so we decided to change our name to the Kingdom Kangaroos. It worked out great for me as that was the club I followed anyway, but the good thing is we have a hardcore team of 14 Scots and 2 Aussie's with us and they are all as passionate as each other about the sport.

Pretty awesome that you got support from the Kangaroos for your effort - will definitely be keeping an eye out on the Scottish League in the future anyway so it'll be interesting to see how you get on against the more established sides.

And if what I've learned about certain teams so far is true, at least you're no longer the Magpies (I kid of course)!

 

[ScottishRoos]

Pretty awesome that you got support from the Kangaroos for your effort - will definitely be keeping an eye out on the Scottish League in the future anyway so it'll be interesting to see how you get on against the more established sides.

And if what I've learned about certain teams so far is true, at least you're no longer the Magpies (I kid of course)![/quote

Your not the first to say that! lol. We are farming some of our guys out to other teams for this season to gain experience for our maiden season in 2014. We have 5 playing for the Aberdeen Eagles so far and myself and one other is playing for the Edinburgh Bloods. Looks like its a fight between Glasgow and Edinburgh for the title this year!

Good to talk to you and look us up on facebook to see our progress.

Take care buddy!

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Hi ScottishRoos

 

[Ktrain]

Much respect to crossing over the Forth River Bridge into the Kingdom of Fife. 6 months living in Edinburgh and experiencing Scotland easily some of the best times so far. Aussie rules + single malts = winning all round. Good luck with the team.

 

[ScottishRoos]

Much respect to crossing over the Forth River Bridge into the Kingdom of Fife. 6 months living in Edinburgh and experiencing Scotland easily some of the best times so far. Aussie rules + single malts = winning all round. Good luck with the team.

Thanks mate

 

[OrdinaryJoel]

Welcome to BigFooty mate!

 

[CLFC23x]

hello mate welcome! how did you come across footy in scotland?

 

[ScottishRoos]

Hey buddy, it was through a friend who wanted to try something a bit different than football (soccer) over here. We met up with a coach who wanted to start up a new team in Scotland and here we are almost a year later with a squad 16 strong and 14 of them are from Scotland. Footy is on in the graveyard shift on Eurosport but we all record it so we can have banter between the different teams we support. I think the game is grossly under rated over here as they only see the so called roughness (I dont get it!) of it and dont appreciate the true skill set involved. Its a magnificent game!

 

[GreenMoonRising]

Hey buddy, it was through a friend who wanted to try something a bit different than football (soccer) over here. We met up with a coach who wanted to start up a new team in Scotland and here we are almost a year later with a squad 16 strong and 14 of them are from Scotland. Footy is on in the graveyard shift on Eurosport but we all record it so we can have banter between the different teams we support. I think the game is grossly under rated over here as they only see the so called roughness (I dont get it!) of it and dont appreciate the true skill set involved. Its a magnificent game!

Awfully under-rated. Hell, it almost seems like the ideal sport for many Scots who like a bit of physicality in their football (soccer)! Not to overlook the skill level - that Geelong-Hawthorn game was a great exhibition of it.

If only there were more interest in the sport. Even from the Glasgow Herald - that usually focuses on some minority sports. It'd be a damn sight more interesting to read about than cricket for sure.

 

[ScottishRoos]

Definitely, being from the east coast and non old firm fan I find all the sporting press too narrow minded and too focused on soccer. Thats why along with my team mates we hope to spread the word of this great game to Scotland.

 

[brett15]

Welcome to big footy Iain

Sunny scotland? hehe well you learn new things everyday, never heard it being called that

Hope you enjoy watching AFL!! Soccer is growing here btw, we have our A-League competition in summer (Dec-Feb for us) and Melbourne, along with our other big city in Sydney, host 2 local teams.

Great to have you on board

 

[Steve11]

Welcome friend, good to have another North Melb. supporter here, especially from scotland

 

[lethal03]

Welcome to the great game, awesome that your playing as it would give you an appreciation for the skills involved and how much fun it is.

 

[ScottishRoos]

Welcome to big footy Iain

Sunny scotland? hehe well you learn new things everyday, never heard it being called that

Hope you enjoy watching AFL!! Soccer is growing here btw, we have our A-League competition in summer (Dec-Feb for us) and Melbourne, along with our other big city in Sydney, host 2 local teams.

Great to have you on board

Thanks for the welcome guys, I am still a newbie but the more I learn and play about the game the more I love it. We launched our Facebook team page last week and in seven days we have got over 250 likes which proves that there is fan base growing in Scotland and we want to help spread the word of this great game.

 

[Chief]

Belated welcome

 

[Ogopogo]

Welcome! As a foreign AFL fan, I recommend two things: BigFooty and AFLTV. There are other great AFL resources out there but, the two aforementioned are essential.

I hope you got to see the 'roos smash the Demons this weekend.

 

[ScottishRoos]

Welcome! As a foreign AFL fan, I recommend two things: BigFooty and AFLTV. There are other great AFL resources out there but, the two aforementioned are essential.

I hope you got to see the 'roos smash the Demons this weekend.

Yea, I will see the highlights of the game this Wednesday on Eurosport. I really need to get AFLTV on my computer! I have been watching a lot of the Roos this year, some of the plays they do are breathtaking but they seem to hit a psychological wall in a game and cant seem to finish the other team off. The more I watch them the more I cant help but love them! My personal favourite player so far is Brent Harvey, I think Boomer is brilliant, just his attitude and spirit is something to admire and aspire to.

 

[bunsen burner]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Linton all the way from sunny Scotland, I started playing and following Aussie Rules just last year and this year my friends and team mates have formed Fife's first and only Aussie Rules team, the Kingdom Kangaroos. We will be playing in the Scottish national league next year against the mighty Edinburgh Bloods, Aberdeen Eagles and the Glasgow Sharks. We would love for you guys to follow our progress on our website and Facebook page, out of respect for the forum I wont spam it with links but we are easy to find. Its great to be a part of the Aussie Rules fraternity.

To give you a better insight personally to myself...

Real Name: Iain McGarry AKA Linton.

​

​

Hi Linton,

I'll give you a heads up about all the AFL clubs:


The AFL is by far the biggest football code in Australia. It is manily played in the southern states (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania). Rugby League is the dominant sport in NSW and QLD.

Up until 1982 there were 3 separate leagues - the VFL (Victorian Football League) out of Melbourne, the WAFL (Western Australian Football League) out of perth, and the SANFL (South Australian National Football League) out of Adelaide. In 1982 South Melbourne relocated to Sydney and became the Sydney Swans and played in the VFL which was the best comp out of the three. In 1987 a Perth team enter the VFL called the West Coast Eagles and a team out of Brisbane called the Brisbane Bears entered the comp. In 1991 the Adelaide Crows joined the VFL and around this time the VFL changed to the AFL. In 1995 the fremantle Dockers (sub city of Perth) and Port Adelaide Power (sub city of Adelaide) joined the AFL. The Gold Coast Suns joined in 2011 and Greater Western Sydney joined in 2012. At some stage maybe in the 90s Fitzroy (Melbourne) merger with Brisbane Bears and became the brisbane Lions.

10 teams out of Melbourne (Geelong is 45 min out of Melbourne, the rest are suburban teams)
2 out of Perth
2 out of Adelaide
2 out of SE QLD (Brisbane Lions + Gold Coast Suns)

Most premierships
Carlton 16
Essendon 16
Collingwood 16

Least Premierships
St Kilda 1
Western Bulldogs (formerly Footscray) 1

Port have only won 1, whilst Fremantle, Gold Coast, and GWS are yet to win but they have only been in the comp for a short time

Biggest Clubs (Revenue + Supporter base)

1. Collingwood. The biggest club in the country but their supporters are responsible for 28% of crime in Melbourne
2. West Coast.
3. Carlton
4. Essendon
5. Adelaide
6. Hawthorn

Smallest Clubs
North Melbourne
Western Bulldogs
Port Adelaide
Gold Coast + GWS (new clubs intraditional Rugby League territory)

Traditional Club Cultures

Working class - North Melbourne, Bulldogs,Port Adelaide

Elitist clubs - Carlton, West Coast, Hawthorn

Party animals and off field problems - St Kilda

Play tough football always - Sydney Swans, North Melbourne

Biggest Rivalries

1. Carlton v Collingwood. Our version of Rangers v Celtic
2. Collingwood v Essendon
2. Carlton v Essendon
4. West Coast v Fremantle (Perth Derby)
5. Adelaide v Port (Adelaide Showdown)

Best Club Songs

1. Richmond
2. Sydney Swans
3. Collingwood

Best Jumpers

1. Carlton
2. Richmond
3. Melbourne
4. Essendon
5. Collingwood

 

[bunsen burner]

Elitist clubs - Carlton, West Coast, Hawthorn

I probably should clarify this:

Carlton and Collingwood are traditional working class areas. Both have working class roots, but both are elitist in the way they carry themselves. Both believe they have a birth right to success. Both do not accept failure.

West Coast is also like this but don't have working class roots as it's a club made up of supporters from the range of socio economic background.

Hawthorn is a moneyed area and the most successful on field club in the lest 30 years.

Melbourne are true silver spoons (I imagine their supporter come from the MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club) crowd) and to be an MCC/MCG member there is a 30 years waiting list and usually such patrons are moneyed. That cash up but they are a diabolical club. They just plain shit.

 

[ScottishRoos]

I probably should clarify this:

Carlton and Collingwood are traditional working class areas. Both have working class roots, but both are elitist in the way they carry themselves. Both believe they have a birth right to success. Both do not accept failure.

West Coast is also like this but don't have working class roots as it's a club made up of supporters from the range of socio economic background.

Hawthorn is a moneyed area and the most successful on field club in the lest 30 years.

Melbourne are true silver spoons (I imagine their supporter come from the MCC (Melbourne Cricket Club) crowd) and to be an MCC/MCG member there is a 30 years waiting list and usually such patrons are moneyed. That cash up but they are a diabolical club. They just plain shit.

Brilliant! Thats spot on mate. Loving the Melbourne silver spoons overview. Nailed it!