I wanted to share a story from yesterday, as it is footy related and in the end also Collingwood related.
I am not Australian nor have I ever been to Australia. AFL is a game that exists only on TV for me, and that's just how it is. I have some Australian friends from Queensland, so if I want rugby league I need only ask. Alas, no AFL.
A couple of weeks ago the Finnish AFL announced an open house game day 200km from my town, so yesterday I woke up at 5:30 and hopped on a train to go try it out.
Once in my destination city I hopped on a bus where a proper Aussie was also going. He was a Melbourne supporter and we talked a good deal about everything from football to what we were both doing in Finland. Great guy.
Got to the ground and got dressed and after a brief warm-up the 30-odd people were assembled into 2 9-a-side teams with interchange, and we commenced to playing a game on a modified soccer field.
I was surprised at how hard kicking was, how hard handballing was, how hard tackling was. We played full-contact, with the regulars going about 75-80%. That was enough for me, and I took some knocks, as one does.
Now during one of the breaks I wandered over to an older bloke who was having a kick with his kids who were playing in the game. I talked to him about the difficulty I was having, and he told me to slow up a bit before kicking and get the ball out further when kicking on the run. I also asked how to kick a torpedo, which he was more than happy enough to show me.
Later on I had some marks, some hitouts, a smother, and, in a miracle passage of play never to be repeated, a run from full back onto a bouncing ball, which a teammate scooped up and handballed to me, and I snapped through from 25, with my own commentary in my head about "The first gamer! He can't do that! But he has and they come from everywhere!"
But in reality, I was glad the ball hit my foot more than anything, and it was just a goal.
So we played on a couple hours and then went back to the bar, as one does, and someone told me the older dad I had spoken to was none other than Carl Steinfort, who wore the black and white in 2001 amd 2002. Not a legend of the club or anything, and perhaps more of a Geelong player, but he was in the team for the 2002 finals run, and a goal apiece against Port and Adelaide.
Anyway after all was said and done, pretty cool to be able to say an AFLer taught me how to kick, and I am extremely jealous that you all got to grow up playing this game. I don't think my body could really withstand playing it regularly, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.
I am not Australian nor have I ever been to Australia. AFL is a game that exists only on TV for me, and that's just how it is. I have some Australian friends from Queensland, so if I want rugby league I need only ask. Alas, no AFL.
A couple of weeks ago the Finnish AFL announced an open house game day 200km from my town, so yesterday I woke up at 5:30 and hopped on a train to go try it out.
Once in my destination city I hopped on a bus where a proper Aussie was also going. He was a Melbourne supporter and we talked a good deal about everything from football to what we were both doing in Finland. Great guy.
Got to the ground and got dressed and after a brief warm-up the 30-odd people were assembled into 2 9-a-side teams with interchange, and we commenced to playing a game on a modified soccer field.
I was surprised at how hard kicking was, how hard handballing was, how hard tackling was. We played full-contact, with the regulars going about 75-80%. That was enough for me, and I took some knocks, as one does.
Now during one of the breaks I wandered over to an older bloke who was having a kick with his kids who were playing in the game. I talked to him about the difficulty I was having, and he told me to slow up a bit before kicking and get the ball out further when kicking on the run. I also asked how to kick a torpedo, which he was more than happy enough to show me.
Later on I had some marks, some hitouts, a smother, and, in a miracle passage of play never to be repeated, a run from full back onto a bouncing ball, which a teammate scooped up and handballed to me, and I snapped through from 25, with my own commentary in my head about "The first gamer! He can't do that! But he has and they come from everywhere!"
But in reality, I was glad the ball hit my foot more than anything, and it was just a goal.
So we played on a couple hours and then went back to the bar, as one does, and someone told me the older dad I had spoken to was none other than Carl Steinfort, who wore the black and white in 2001 amd 2002. Not a legend of the club or anything, and perhaps more of a Geelong player, but he was in the team for the 2002 finals run, and a goal apiece against Port and Adelaide.
Anyway after all was said and done, pretty cool to be able to say an AFLer taught me how to kick, and I am extremely jealous that you all got to grow up playing this game. I don't think my body could really withstand playing it regularly, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.