At 69, I see AFL, or SEEN IN PASSING

One of the delights of getting older is the realisation that there is always something new to learn. I realised, at about age 43, that although I had lived in England at age 21, I had never been north of Newcastle in Australia. And I was 45 before I found out what a "bolter" was.

In case there are any ignorant people subscribing to le random Rant, which I doubt, a "bolter" is a horse with no chance that bolts out of the blocks and runs flat out in the hope that everyone else falls over. after a few furlongs it wears out or collapses, as the art of racing is apparently to restrain your horse to reserve its strength, then sprint to the finish. My boss made me watch the Melbourne Cup and silly me asked why the commentator had not even mentioned the bolter, who was so far ahead that he was out of sight. Reason? He had no hope, and no-one even paid attention to him, even when he came in last, after the day was over, and everyone had gone home.

Anyway, we are in Melbourne watching the kids play in the park when I saw some some AFL players practicing and went and watched.

Now I have learned that you do not actually WATCH AFL, in the sense that you are present at the game. You can only be present at PART of the game, because it is more like standing next to a horse race. these two guys suddenly appear `running opposite each other, one cattches a ballwhich falls out of the sky, and punches it to the other. Second player kicks it back into the sky and they both disappear downwind out of sight, like galloping horses. It is some minutes later before they re-appear, panting like dogs, when the ball falls out of the sky again. The crowd is reading the paper.

It is hard to imagine the concept of an "away" game in AFL, because the ground seems to cover several suburbs, so the home ground must be covered in any game. I think I heard one player asked the other if he had his passport with him, and toothbrush.

Uncle Joel was right when he said it was best watched on TV. Saves bus fares between goals for the spectators.