American pies & Australian football

Anne here.
The other day I took time out from my writing frenzy (deadline looming) and went to my annual Aussie Rules Football Grand Final barbecue. Friends of mine have held it for the last 20+ years, and I never miss. It's spring here, and every year their garden provides a wonderful welcome.

The barbie (barbecue) starts at lunch time, then the footie (football) starts at 2.30. It finishes some time around 5, and then there's more nibbling and grazing and then around 8 or 9, more snags (sausages — yes, you're getting a crash course in Australian slang) come out and the leftovers are polished off and the party continues on into the night.

It's always a good night — even though our team, Collingwood, lost by a whisker when the other team scored a goal in the last few minutes of the game. 

We were sad about the loss, but there's always a big fire in the back yard, over which we barbecue, and into which we stare, and around which we talk and that's always a wonderful part of the night — for me, anyway. I do love a good fire. And I get to catch up with people I only see once a year.

There are always musicians and live music (generally Irish) and good company and good food — everyone brings salads or desserts or whatever to share. I bring the same thing every year — two big cheese and leek pies — sort of Greek — and get into trouble if I try to vary it. (And no, that's not the American pie in the heading. Read on . . . )

I don't really follow the football, but I always like the stories that go with it. This year one of the stories I liked was about Mason Cox, a player a couple of people at the party were calling "the giant" — he's really tall. Just under 7 ft. And since a lot of AFL football is  about men leaping high to take a mark (catch the ball and get a free kick) his height gives him an advantage. (click on this link to see some amazing photos.) 

Turns out Mason Cox is from Texas. He used to play basketball but now he's here playing AFL (aussie rules) football. And playing it really well — he was a star in the finals.

One of the guys at the party, Colin, is a mad keen Collingwood supporter and a very friendly guy who talks to everyone, and always has. Anyway, at some stage he ran into an American couple who were visiting Australia, and being Colin, he started to talk to them. It turned out they were Mason Cox's parents and had come over to watch him play. 

Of course they got an enthusiastic rave from Colin. They seemed amazed that their son was so beloved. Apparently they knew nothing about aussie rules football, had never even heard of it until their son started playing it. And he'd only heard of it and played his first match a few years ago.

The Collingwood fans love him, and he already has a nickname — "American Pie."  
That's a play on words.

The Collingwood Football team symbol is the magpie — black and white are their team colours — and because Australians have a penchant for giving nicknames to everything, the team is also called the maggies, or the pies, pies being short for magpies.

Supporters will yell "Carn the pies" meaning "Come on the Magpies." 
So Mason Cox is an American "pie." Cute, eh?

You can see him in action here.

I blogged some years ago about Aussie rules football, and concluded it with some quotes from an affectionately satirical poem about Aussie rules football called Life Cycle, by Bruce Dawe. It starts:

When children are born in Victoria
they are wrapped in club-colours, laid in beribboned cots,
having already begun a lifetime's barracking.  

Carn, they cry, Carn … feebly at first
while parents playfully tussle with them
for possession of a rusk: Ah, he's a little Tiger! 

(A few explanations: Victoria (my state) is the home of Aussie Rules. Barracking means 'rooting for' (a term that means something different in Australia. 'Carn' is a corruption of "come on" so "Carn the Tigers" is cheering on the team of Richmond, whose colors are black and yellow and whose symbol is the tiger.)
The poem continues...

They will not grow old as those from the more northern States grow old,
for them it will always be three-quarter-time
with the scores level and the wind advantage in the final term,

But the dance forever the same - the elderly still
loyally crying Carn … Carn … (if feebly) unto the very end,
having seen in the six-foot recruit from Eaglehawk their hope of salvation.

Only now it's no longer a six-foot recruit from a small country town (Eaglehawk), but a seven footer from Texas. Nice story, eh? More about the "American Pie" here with some good pics. 

So what about you? Do you follow football or any other sport? Do you have an annual get-together with friends? For a sporting event or some other occasion? What's your favorite kind of party?

 

Comments

[Mary T]

I don't care much about sports, but I do love me a good party. And the one you describe sounds fantastic. It's been a while since I've been to one, but Superbowl parties are the big thing here. And even though I don't care for sports, any reason to get together with friends and relatives is a good thing.

The world has gotten smaller as I have gotten older. When I was a child (back in the 50s) I had and aunt and uncle who used to travel to Australia every couple of years. Back then, Australia seemed so far away, that they might as well have been going to the moon (smile). Blogs like this one make you seem so much closer now.

[Sue McCormick]

Your annual barbie sounds like out annual science fiction party — convention (which is also held in October).

Alas, we cannot go this year. And we had thought it would be our last year. I have gotten to be too deaf to enjoy the panels or to contribute to them from the audience.

And both of us have lost our stamina. So farewell to Archon and the loss of the chance to celebrate finishing up 50 years of fandom.

[Faith Freewoman]

American Pie and the Aussie rules football were such fun to explore, Ann. I even watched The Pie's video interview...fine-looking young fella with wonderful Southern manners. Love how he handled the hat gift, too.

[Quantum]

Anne, Thanks for the introduction. The ball looked familiar --- like a rugby ball --- but I have never watched an Australian football game. Does the game have international interest?

For me cricket is the summer game to watch and the Aussies excel at it. The ashes series (England against Australia) always raises huge interest here in the UK. I used to love listening to Richie Benaud commenting and often wished I could have seen him play as I used to bowl leg spinners myself.

Australian tennis is also of great interest in the Wimbledon context, though it seems to have declined somewhat since the heady days of Pat Cash in the 1987 Wimbledon final ... He still crosses rackets with Boris Becker in the TV commentary roundups!

My favorite winter game has to be soccer. The English premier league currently has some of the best footballers in the world. I never miss the TV weekly roundup of the action ... again I used to play the game when younger so can really appreciate some of the stunning skills on display

It's also really interesting to see Women's soccer and cricket rapidly becoming more popular

As to parties I'm not so keen ... tend to talk shop too much and on the whole prefer smaller, more intimate gatherings.

[Anne Gracie]

Mary, the world has shrunk in so many ways, I agree. It's amazing when you think how we routinely chat with people on the other side of the world. Many of my adult students came to Australia from various parts of Europe in the days when people migrated here by ship. It took a month and they thought they'd never see their parents or homeland again. It almost was the other side of the moon back then. But now they chat on the phone and skype and pop home every few years.

[Anne Gracie]

I think our barbie is a wee bit smaller, Sue, but I take your point. Some annual events mark the passing of the years. What a pity you don't feel up to going. Perhaps you could get the panel discussions on audio. And you could invite a small group of like-minded friends around and have a mini-Archon.

[Anne Gracie]

Faith, yes, he's handled it all very well. And people made such a fuss of his parents' too. It was lovely to see.

[Anne Gracie]

Quantum, Aussie rules doesn't really have much international interest -- though it's a great spectator sport and is gaining interest. But it's not like soccer, which is truly international. Soccer is played here, too, as is rugby. AFL originated in Victoria (my state) and is big in WA and Sth Australia and Tassie, but NSW and Queensland are more rugger-oriented. Soccer was brought here by Europeans and Sth Americans and others, but it's very popular.

Soccer is international, and cricket is everywhere that once was a pink bit on the map. My father was a sportsman -- tennis, football and cricket, especially, and I remember lots of long hot trips in the car when I was a kid, sitting in enforced silence with the cricket commentary on. I wasn't much interested, but I fell in love with the sound of west Indian accents.

And last summer when the cricket was on, I jumped into a taxi to head for the airport, and my driver said to me "I don't like cricket" -- and I took one look at him, and said. "Oh no -- you love it." And he recognized the song and laughed, and admitted he was passionate about it.

[Anne Gracie]

And for anyone who doesn't know the song I was referring to, "I don't like cricket" it's here" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Ey-h-KUXA

[Kareni]

What a fun post, Anne; it sounds as though you had a wonderful time with friends.

I lived many places growing up, and one of them was Moorabbin (Melbourne). My admittedly poor memory says that I cheered for St Kilda. Now I have next to no interest in sports other than perhaps watching Olympic ice skating and gymnastics on the TV.

[Anne Gracie]

I know Moorabbin well, Kareni. And I must admit I have a soft spot for St Kilda, purely because of one my students who was a one-eyed Saints supporter — her whole family was, and they used to go to the practices and all. She also used to sneak little saint figures onto all her work. Such whole hearted love -- you gotta admire it.

[Karin]

Your friend's garden is very impressive! I don't know anything about aussie rules football, but I enjoy soccer(what the rest of the world outside the U.S. calls football). From the clip, it appears to be a cross between American football and soccer. And I always enjoy watching a good looking athletic man playing sports!

[Sonya Heaney]

I can't say I'm a fan of any type of football, but I was in England when the final was on this year, and because my father (originally from Melbourne) has been a Collingwood supporter since the 1950s, I was was watching the live scores at breakfast time in Derbyshire.

Of course, I had to tease him after those last few minutes!

In the ACT promoters have tried to push Western Sydney as our "local" Canberra team (they're "only" a 3.5 hour drive away!) to get us interested in AFL. I don't know how much success they've had with that...

[Sonya Heaney]

(Whoops - I WAS watching*...)

[Annette N]

I hate to admit my primary addiction is books. My next addiction would be most sports. There are a few sports which do not draw my attention, but most sports - I love.

When I was young, I could kick a football farther than one of my younger brothers, and he got a scholarship for kicking footballs.

I have seen AFL a few times. No expert, but I have watched it. And it sounds as though your day of football would fit right in to any Super Bowl Party. Shoot fire, on any given Saturday during college football season, you can find people glued to their TV set as the games start early and go on until far into the night. (I am not that far gone)

I believe that sports can provide people with a strong sense of belonging to a community and that is a part of the draw. The other thing is you can holler about how a game is going or someone is playing and people will not take you away.

[Jeanne Behnke]

What a great post Anne! I love American football - college & pro. Super Bowl parties are the best & all day affairs. We've lived in Wisconsin (yes, I'm a Cheesehead), Pennsylvania & now California. The different time zones really make watching a live event interesting.

[Anne Gracie]

It's a lovely garden, I agree, Karin, and it seems at its best at this time of year when the bluebells flower, just for the grand final party. AFL is probably more like rugby, but it's a home grown game. I enjoy soccer, but American football is a mystery to me. And I do prefer it that our guys are not all covered in lycra, but wear shorts and sleeveless tops.

[Anne Gracie]

Sonya you are a baaaaad daughter, teasing your father like that. I think you should decide to barrack for Collingwood, taking on your family tradition. (I did.)

[Anne Gracie]

Annette, books are my addiction too, but in my youth I was mad keen on sports. Was never much of a footballer, though, but I could toss a cricket ball far and fast and with great accuracy -- came from being the little sister who got to fetch and throw the ball from way out while the older kids and grownups did the fun stuff Half the people at this party are not huge football fans, but a good game will always suck you in and it's fun watching in a group, I agree.

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks, Jeanne -- some of my friends in the US gather for a superbowl party, and they do sound very similar. As for time zones, heaps of people here get up in the middle of the night to watch the soccer finals in the UK or Europe. It's a bonding process, too, as heavy-eyed people talk about the game at work the next day, having had no sleep.

[Sonya Heaney]

I actually did want Collingwood to win, just because of my family history. However, I still get to laugh at my father. :)