I'm probably the opposite to everyone here in that I played Aussie rules a s kid from 6 up till around 16, and every now and then since. Being brought up in Adelaide, everyone played it and rugby league or union for that matter was almost unheard of.
It just so happened that my dad was a big league fan in England and we use to watch the games on ABC or tape them if we were at a local SANFL game. I also had a mate in year 8 who was from Canberra and had played Union there, and had caught on with a local club here. In year 9 I was only playing school footy which was oin tuesday afternoons, so had saturdays free. AFL was getting kinda tedious so decided ot have a year off of club games so had free time. Went and saw a union game and decided that I would give it a go. 6 weeks later was in the state under 14's (no big deal in SA) and was hooked. My school got a league side my last two years there which I captained and it was like I never played AFL at all.
Up until last year, I was still getting calls from mates that now coach country teams or other city sides to come play for them. I did play a season when I was 18, afl saturdays, league on sundays. Thing was, if my league coach asked me not to play a saturday, I would have listened to him, my afl coach had no chance!
I watch it every now and then now, but for me it doesn't compare with rugby league or even union for physicality and hardness. Thats what gets me in.
