Its that time of year again and my beloved Collingwood Magpies are in the Grand Final! We had to play the minor premiers the Richmond Tigers, Collingwood given the underdog tag as Richmond won the grand final last year and finished on top of the comp this year... Instrumental in getting us there on Friday was TEXAN Mason Cox! - At 2.11 meters tall he out marks all opponents...He was taken on by Collingwood 3 years ago and trained intensively to get his skills up to scratch (skills that can take a decade or more to acquire) - I was lucky enough to watch live his first goal in the AFL... His parents travelled to Australia to see him play and couldn't believe the crowd (95K) the sound a cauldron stadium creates and the domination of their son! <iframe width="640" height="360" src="" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Weirdest of all for me are the American flags that Collingwood fans fly behind the gaols...and the chant of USA! USA! by Australians!! Even the commentators were astonished...
Yes, that is very unique, a Yank playing Australian Rules Football. They used to show those games here in the US during the NFL strike days, that and the Canadian Football League (American style football). Made for fairly interesting watching, but not enough to invite several dozen friends over for beer and bbq though. A similar story here, the LSU football team signed an Australian Rules Football player as a punter, and he was quite adept at running the ball instead of punting, when the situation was advantageous of course. He made several long runs for the first down, and even ran one for a touchdown against the nationally ranked Florida Gators. But all for naught. The TD was called back on a penalty flag thrown on the punter for taunting the Florida Gators who were chasing him into the end zone. It was a great run nevertheless. The Australian punter got drafted into the NFL after graduation I believe.
Read this last week... Australian punter Michael Dickson puts NFL in a spin after using rugby-style drop kick 'I don't know if it ever happened': NFL in a spin over Aussie punter's drop kick Cox - Dickson...theres a theme here... One Meme going around today...Since Collingwood are facing the West Coast Eagles... "The Eagles have small willies...But Collingwood have big Cox!"
Cox plays for the Collingwood Magpies...the most famous club sporting team in Australia (and the most hated) Its the Manchester United of AFL...and a team ive been following since I was 6...I played my first club game for the Glenorchy Magpies, a sister team to Collingwood at the time (1977) in Hobart Tasmania. So whats my point? I keep an ear to the ground with AFL growing around the world especially the US...and came across the "New York Magpies" - an AFL team in New York! Needless to say, they are my American team now... Collingwood's Logo New York Magpies Logo... AND a womens team...you go chikkas! Theres no need to worry about it encroaching onto other sports either...NRL and Union are still played in Australia too...
Marines play AFL... <iframe width="640" height="360" src="" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
