Sports

Depending on the season, Melbourne pays attention to one main sport.  The summer sport of choice is Cricket, while the winter sport is Australian Rules football.  The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) hosts the cricket games.  It also is a historical building, in which the Australian National Sports Museum is housed at.  The MCG also has multiple statues of Australian Rules and Cricket players.  What also makes the MCG iconic is the Olympic plaque for the 1956 Olympics.

            Many remember the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.  Many do not know that was not the first Olympiad in Australia.  That right belongs to Melbourne, which hosted the 1956 Olympics.  The Olympic Park Stadium was under renovations, so that I could not enter that area.  The other sporting venues used for the Olympics include the Rod Laver Stadium and Hisense Arena, which is a part of the Melbourne Park.  The Rod Laver Stadium hosts the Australian Open, which kicks off the Grand Slam of Professional Tennis.

           

However, Australian Rules football reigns supreme in the winter.  I had the opportunity to see a game at the Etihad Stadium (which is also known as the Telstra Dome).  This fast paced game brings excitement and toughness in a sport.  Imagine if two no-huddle offenses in college football faced off against each other, and that exemplifies the amount of movement seen in Australian Rules football.  There are 18 players per team on an oval field, in which many of the players are tall (my height or taller) and are built for jumping and sprinting.  The goal is to advance the ball by kicking or punching the ball to teammates, so that a teammate would punt the ball through an upright.  I really enjoyed this game, especially two opposing players going up for a punted ball (for a mark, which gives the one who comes down with the ball a free kick), similar to a jump ball between a wide receiver and defensive back.