It looks like a gross mismatch: the ferocious Tigers versus the flighty Crows. But the latter, who stem from Adelaide, are the favourite. This is Australian Rules Football (“footy” to the initiated), one of the stranger hybrids in the sporting codes: men in the barest excuses for shorts; singlet tops of tight matching.  But that … More Holy Days for Sports by Dr. Binoy Kampmark 2017-10-05

It is important to stress this: the word football.  A word associated with the pure use, aesthetic, skilful, or clumsy, of feet, legs and head (leaving aside arms), but which means different things to different audiences – and countries.  In Australia, it became soccer, and, as it did in the United States, assumed the status … More The Passing of Mr Football: Les Murray, Australia and the World Game by Dr. Binoy Kampmark 2017-08-04