Now...

Ive lived in Melbourne all my life..and i just never 'got' Australian Rules Football...now that im a little older...i still dont get it...even though im getting into some other team sports myself...to everyone else that knows of AFL...do u follow and can you have a detailed conversation about footy 'with the mates'? cause i cant talk at all about it...i keep thinking they think that that makes me less of a man or something...well im old enough to know that if i dont like it now..ill never like it..so i guess im never going to have any footy mad friends or a footy fanatic gf.

All my little plans and schemes, lost like some forgotten dream-Real Love, The Beatles

I suggest you move,no one outside of Australia understands or gives a shit about ARF.

Satisfied? You know, I really hope so because God knows you need some satisfaction in life besides shagging Captain Cardboard and I never really liked you anyway and... and you have stupid hair. Spike

except New Zealand, Britain, South Africa

I never really understood rugby either, just a bunch of guys ramming each other after a ball...

say ahhhh...

This is not rugby, mate. It's AFL.

I've been among footy-crazy folks ever since I got here and I do get AFL, but only after a lot of threats and coercing from them. I was made to finally pick a team before they'd gang up on me, and I'm now following Collingwood with St Kilda as a backup.

I'm not that knowledgable about it to the point where I know who plays for which team (except the top players) or history and stats, but I know the rules and enough about it in general to keep a conversation with the maddest footy fan. I love going to the stadium or watch it in front of TV with some mates, but not enough to watch it by myself like I can do with other sports, such as soccer.

My new social circles (the ones I've met and been hanging out with in the last couple of years - mostly Aussies of all sorts of backgrounds in their early 20s) are not at all into footy though and not much into cricket either (I love cricket). Most are into soccer or other sports. I'd joke "you're not much of an Aussie are you?" to them for not following footy or cricket, followed by "luckily you still enjoy a barbie and beers, otherwise we'd have to kick you out of Australia back to where you came from."

I don't get rugby, but mostly because of the lack of exposure to it. Find it kinda boring in the few times that I've watched it.

I think you just need to get over your insecurity because nobody really thinks all that much about another person. Defend your likes and dislikes. Initially before I got into footy, I used to give my mates shit all the time for following it. "Why do you guys enjoy men in tight shorts doing air ballet and hugging each other? You aren't swinging that way, are you?"

I follow lawn bowls, no joke.

It's not soccer, it's football! :P I'm a former Malaysian, which makes me a football fanatic. Pity I can't really follow the English Premier League anymore now. Go Arsenal!

Not Aussie enough because I don't follow cricket/AFL/rugby? Not 'manly' enough?? I thought Aussie men pride themselves in being blokey men? Pray tell me how watching men in faggoty white pyjamas throwing a ball around reflects that? I think cricket, apart from lawn bowling, is one of those sports where players can actually gain weight playing it. Just look at Shane Warne.

I heard once from a rugby fan that he likes the sport better because it involves more 'skills'. Wtf??? How much skill is there in ramming other grotesque musclebound (yes, I hate the rugby player body type) idiots and passing an oval ball sideways? Compare that to the sublime skills involved in dribbling a football (see Ronaldinho, Christiano Rolando), bending a ball in a freekick (see Beckham), or making defense splitting through passes (see Zidane, Kaka). I rest my case.

And AFL? Don't even get me started on that man. A bunch of men in tight shorts running around doing goal-kicks. The only skill involve in it that I can see are jumping high and catching the ball. Wow...

The 'traditional' Aussie blokes are seriously misguided in their sporting preference. Even though I'm Aussie now, there's no way I'm gonna pretend to acknowledge that their sports are 'better' than real football. Because they just simply aren't. My assimilation here has its limits, dudes.

So in conclusion to the OP's question: Don't know, don't care.

P.S. Go the Socceroos! (hate that name though). Good performance with Uruguay yesterday, even though we lost. A bit conflicted with their upcoming Asia Cup campaign though. On one hand, I want them to do well. On the other hand, I also want the Asian teams (esp South Korea, I like their attacking style the best) to do well too and show our somewhat overconfident 'white' Socceroos that the Asian teams aren't gonna be pushovers. Anybody else has this dilemma too?

I normally call it futbol. Get cable TV, and GO MANCHESTER UNITED THE CHAMPIONS! Our brand of sexy futbol is gonna get sexier next season with Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves (and probably a big name striker) joining the team. And of course I also follow Melbourne Victory the current Aussie champions too.

Have to agree with you about your other points. While I don't dislike footy or cricket to such extent (in fact I'm cool with watching or playing them occasionally), there's no competition between them and futbol. Futbol is The World's Game.

To be fair, there are more skills involved in AFL than what you just described, but they aren't at the same level as football.

Yup, tell me about it. :-/

lawn bowls is a gentlemen's game ;-p