My name is Kris, and I love reality television.
Last night Snookums and I caught the first episode of Australia’s newest reality TV series: The Club. It’s all about an Aussie Rules Football* team that’s being put together specifically for the show. That’s right, it’s a sports team that will actually compete (albeit in Division 2) and the viewers get to make all the important decisions, like who plays, who coaches, and what the team song will be. Seriously. Last night we got to pick the team name (the “Hammerheads”) and watch the four coach candidates narrow down 1500 hopefuls to a mere 50 possible players. (The final team will probably have only fifteen or so.) And get this – three of them are female! One was a sexy black chick, one was a tearful mother-of-three, and the last was a young, tough, athletic girl. Her name was Debbie Lee, and she’s amazing. We watched her drop kick the ball through the uprights from forty yards out while running full-speed. She was better than most of the guys on the field. The show then explained that the AFL league hasn’t decided yet whether women will be allowed to play in the games. They feel it could create a dangerous precedent. Personally, I think it would be the greatest thing for them to do. If Debbie Lee plays, I’ll watch every game I can. Heck, I’ll buy a T-shirt. They’ve got a potential marketing bonanza on their hands, here. And what a fantastic idea for a show! Everybody likes to bitch about how their favorite team is run, and now you can have an actual say in things. It’s got me watching, and I don’t even understand the damn sport.

* Aussie Rules Football, in case you don’t know, is this really insane sport they play down here. It’s kinda like rugby crossed with ultimate frisbee crossed with soccer. You’re not allowed to pass the ball forwards; you have to kick it or bump it off your fist (like a serve in volleyball). And if you’re running with it, you have to tap it on the ground every 10 yards. To score you have to get it through the uprights. The players don’t wear padding, and they smash the hell out of each other. It’s huge in South Australia and Victoria. I don’t really understand it.

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  1. Did you know that the game was derived from some sort of Aboriginal version of football that was then modified to be played by cricketers during the off-season? It was supposed to help with overall fitness and hand-eye coordination and ball handling. Or something.

    I’d never heard of a football-rugby type game being played on a round pitch (well, I suppose it’s an oval) before.

    We went to watch the Sydney Swans play last year, and I had a blast. I had almost no idea what was going on on the pitch, but it was great fun anyway.

  2. well kris, i no u wrote this along time ago but hopefully u will still read this.i think your right about women playing with men because i got kicked out of my team and now i reallised that the girls play much better then the boys. right now i am playing with a womens team and i no they could kick my old boys team asses!!

    i think u might want to no that debbie lee dose still play football in the vwfl league. i also play in that league. or i forgot to add she also made the ALL-australian womens team. hopefully one day i will get to play against her.

    ps i dont think u no what football is.

  3. Niki: I don’t think you know what spellcheck is. But good job on the football…

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