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playing footsie is a sport? Oh, I am a sports fan! dang-- read your post again-- footie? whats footie? and i guess round ball could be applied to hurling. Its played with something closer to a ball than a puck. I guess the only sport i am left really enjoying is indoor golf 
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I think that's what they call it. Have to check with the Ozzies. Australian Rules Football. Used to be big on US TV for a while. I was always confused that there were times when someone would get totally porpillated by an opposing player and the ref would just stand there whistling Waltzing Matilda and then, a moment later, someone would get a little bit too close to someone else and the ref would be blowing his whistle, jumping up and down, waving his hands around and screaming and the guy with the ball would get a free kick. Then we were watching a championship game and we had an Ozzie with us who explained it to us. It all made sense. If you catch the ball from a kick or a pass, the point at which you catch the ball is the mark. If you're behind the mark you're safe from being tackled (or whatever it's called) and if you're ahead of the mark you're fair game.
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Belligerentyouth reminded us that "Nationalism (and patriotism) is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." Einstein
Thank you for that - that is one of my favourite quotes of all time, expressing as it does an opinion very dear to me. I noticed that you inserted patriotism in parentheses. If you want a quote along similar lines that specifically mentions patriotism, try this one:
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior
to all others because you were born in it." ~ George Bernard Shaw
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Netball is another one of the those sports which has somehow passed the US of A by - in spite of the fact that from memory it was invented by an American as a "less athletic" form of basketball. Little did he know ... It's mostly played by women, although there is an increasing number of men's teams about. Social netball is often played by teams of mixed gender. Most New Zealand schoolgirls go through at least a phase of playing netball; some go on to adult teams and a select few make it to the national side. Irene van Dyk was captain of South Africa's team, but emigrated to Zild and is now playing goal shoot/goal attack for us, most recently against South Africa. We won, of course.  Anyway, from a technical perspective it's played by a team of seven on each side, has hoops as in basketball but no backboard - you have to be able to put the ball straight through the hoop. You are not allowed to dribble the ball; all ball movement is by passing. You are not allowed to "step" while you have the ball, i.e. you can't carry it and move on the court. It's highly skilled and as athletic as basketball, and although it's not meant to be a contact sport someone forgot to inform the Jamaican team of this aspect of the game. Australia are currently the world champions  but they seem to swap off with Zild and South Africa is coming up through the ranks. England, where it was first played, probably makes up number five position in the rankings worldwide. Sorry - probably more than you wanted to know, but I follow it (and play socially from time to time) so you got lumbered! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Australian Rules FootballKnown as "Aerial Ping Pong" to non-afficionados. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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In reply to:
Australian Rules Football
Known as "Aerial Ping Pong" to non-afficionados.
The funniest thing I ever read about it was back in the days when it was still called VFL, from the only place in the cosmos where the game is worshipped. A VFL history leaflet included the "information" that Gaelic Footbal was derived from VFL!
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You were pretty close to the mark , Faldage, except that the familiar diminutive for Australian Rules Football, which most fans just call football, is footy. Without getting too bogged down with the rules, here are a few comments in relation to the aspects that you mentioned. A ball may be passed from one player to another by kick or "hand-ball"; to execute the latter the player must punch the ball out of one hand with the other hand. If a player catches a kick which covers more than 10 metres and hasn't been touched by another player, he has "taken a mark" and he has the option of going back several metres behind the "man on the mark" - in which case play is suspended until he continues - or "playing on" immediately. Compared to the style of play in vogue say 30 years ago, there is much more use of the "play on" option and of hand-balls, resulting in a faster, more entertaining game. The strongholds of the sport have traditionally been the southern and western states of Australia (Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania) with the other states favouring rugby. But both sports have crossed into each other's territories of late, with Victoria's state competition having been expanded and rationalized to form the "Australian Football League", although still with a preponderance of Victorian teams.
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...that Gaelic Football was derived from VFL!
One of the strangest codes of football I have seen is that played by Australia and Ireland in several international test series over the last few years. It's a blend of Gaelic football and Australian Rules - I can't remember if it has a name - and it combines aspects of both in an attempt to ensure that neither country gets a significant advantage. It's played with a round ball that can be kicked or handballed and has a curious scoring system that involves maximum points for putting the ball in a soccer-style net guarded by a goalie, less points for over the net but between two high posts and 1 point for outside the net and high posts but inside another smaller post.
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In reply to:
It's a blend of Gaelic football and Australian Rules - I can't remember if it has a name - and it combines aspects of both in an attempt to ensure that neither country gets a significant advantage.
May I ask, must one get smashed on an esoteric blend of Guinness and VB in order understand/enjoy this mutant? 
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