Um Guia Brasileiro Para O Futebol Australiano

Sempre que tenho uma conversa com um brasileiro sobre esportes, fica claro que a maioria das pessoas acha que o maior esporte na Austrália é Rugby. Muitos nem estão conscientes de que existem dois tipos diferentes de Rugby, e muito menos um outro esporte que é ainda maior em todo o país.

Embora ambas as formas de Rugby sejam definitivamente grandes na Austrália, o maior esporte no país é futebol Australiano.

Futebol Australiano explicado

Como quase todos os outros países que já estive, a maioria das pessoas aqui no Brasil nem sequer tinha ouvido falar de "Aussie Rules" (regras australianas) como um esporte, muito menos visto um jogo. Muitos querem saber se ele é mais parecido com o futebol, Rugby ou futebol americano. Na realidade, enquanto os elementos são semelhantes entre todos os três, também é bastante único.

Com a final da Liga de Futebol Australiano (Australian Football League ou AFL) deste sábado, eu achei que era um bom momento para que os brasileiros conhecessem algumas noções básicas do grande jogo australiano.

As Regras do Futebol Australiano

Futebol australiano é jogado entre duas equipes de 18 jogadores em campo e quatro jogadores para substituição. O campo é uma forma oval e aproximadamente duas vezes o tamanho geral de um campo de futebol ou de rugby. A bola é muito semelhante a uma bola de rugby ou de futebol americano.

A partida é jogada por 4 quartos de tempo de 20 minutos cada.

O estádio MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground)

Os jogadores passam a bola para outros jogadores chutando-a ou por "handball". O handball é quando um jogador segura a bola com uma mão e dá um soco em seu outro lado para que a bola seja passada para um jogador perto. O handball é geralmente usado para passar a bola para um companheiro de equipe próximo ou quando o jogador está sob pressão de defensores.

Defensores estão autorizados a atacar o jogador com a bola, agarrando-o pela camisa ou pelo tronco. Se o jogador não é capaz de passar a bola por chute ou por passe de mão (handball) enquanto ele está sendo agarrado, o defensor é premiado com um chute livre (free kick).

Os jogadores estão autorizados a correr com a bola, mas devem tocar a bola no chão pelo menos a cada 15 metros que eles correm. A maioria dos jogadores consegue isto quicando a bola enquanto correm.

Se você chute a bola para um companheiro que pega a bola sem ninguém tocá-la (ou bater no chão), é conhecido como um "mark" e o jogador ganha um chute livre e não pode ser agarrado, se ficar parado. Se o jogador começa a correr, no entanto, eles podem então agarrá-lo.

Futebol australiano é um esporte de contato e os jogadores não podem ser expulsos do campo por jogo duro. Os jogadores precisam ser fortes, porque é um jogo de contato, e também precisam ser rápidos. Não é incomum para um jogador correr 25 quilômetros em uma partida.

Pontuação

Em cada extremidade do campo estão quatro postes verticais. Os dois postes centrais são mais altos do que os postes de cada lado. O objetivo do futebol é marcar um "gol", que é quando você chuta a bola entre os dois grandes postes centrais. A bola deve vir do pé e não deve ser tocada por qualquer outra pessoa antes de ir para o gol. Cada gol vale 6 pontos.

Se a bola cruza a linha sem ser chutada, tocada por uma mão ou se for chutada entre um dos postes mais altos e um dos postes menores ao lado, isso é conhecido como um "behind" e vale apenas 1 ponto. Da mesma forma, se a bola toca o poste de gol, isso também vale apenas 1 ponto.

Australian Football League (AFL)

O AFL era originalmente um campeonato de futebol estadual conhecido como a Liga de Futebol de Victoria (Victorian Football League). Desde os anos 1980, o campeonato se expandiu de 12 para 18 equipes, no entanto, 9 das 18 equipes ainda se baseiam na capital do Estado de Victoria, em Melbourne.

Futebol australiano está atualmente sendo jogado em dezenas de países em todo o mundo, e o AFL agora tem jogadores da Irlanda, do Canadá, da Nova Zelândia e dos EUA, embora a maioria dos jogadores ainda sejam australianos. Há pelo menos um jogador australiano na liga que tem origem brasileira, Heritier Lumumba.

A final (AFL Grand Final - AFL Grande Final)

A final  vai acontecer neste sábado, primeiro de outubro na estádio MCG em Melbourne, com 100 mil espectadores. Quase todos os outros australianos vão assistir pela televisão.

Principais jogadas da semi final de Sydney Swans

As duas equipes são os Sydney Swans (Cisnes) e os Western Bulldogs (Buldogues). Os Swans têm sido um dos melhores times na liga pelos últimos 12 anos e têm o jogador mais famoso, Lance “Buddy” Franklin. Os Swans ganharam o campeonato em 2012 e jogaram a final em 2014. Os Bulldogs não têm o mesmo sucesso. A equipe fica nos bairros no oeste de Melbourne, não ganhou um campeonato desde 1954, e a última vez na final foi  em 1961.

Principais jogadas da semi final de Western Bulldogs

Pode ser difícil encontrar um lugar para assistir ao futebol australiano aqui no Brasil, mas se você tiver uma chance, você deve tentar encontrar um bar que pode estar mostrando o jogo. Infelizmente, a grande final será em torno de 04:00 da manhã no horário brasileiro.

No entanto, se você estiver em Porto Alegre, pode se juntar a mim e a outros australianos no Hooroo House para assistir a uma reprise do jogo no sábado à tarde. A partida vai começar às 12:30 da tarde. Fazer uma reserva.

Te vejo lá!

10 Things I Love About Living In Porto Alegre, Brazil

On Wednesday I will have been in Brazil for exactly one year. In that time, I've been asked about my thoughts on Brazil dozens of times and specifically people asking me why I'm here. Even when I let people know the one (obvious) major reason why I'm here, people seem to think that I must hate it here. That is far from the truth. 

There are a lot of reasons to love life in Brazil. Here's a few of the big ones.

This Is My Wife's Home

Obviously the number one thing I love about living in Porto Alegre is that this is where my wife is. She is the reason I’m here and - despite plenty of other things on this list - really the only reason I still am. Getting a chance to live in her home city, get to know her friends and family and the culture she is from has been an amazing experience. One that I wouldn’t change.

There Is Some Great Food - And Heaps Of It

If you’re hungry, Brazil - and in particular Porto Alegre - is the place to be. Everything seems to be ‘all you can eat’ with ‘buffet livres’ on just about every corner. 

Of course the best food here is Churrasco. While the rest of the world knows it as “Brazilian Barbeque, Brazilians know that Gauchos do it better than anyone. 

While variety isn’t the best for dining here, there are some very good restaurants offering Peruvian, Spanish and even Australian food. 

Craft Beer Scene

I’ve mentioned before that the standard beer sold here in Brazil is almost undrinkable. Luckily though, for the last few years the country has been going through a craft brewery boom, meaning there are heaps of places to get a good pint. It can be pretty expensive (most of the ingredients have to be imported) but the result is some genuinely great beer. Life is too short to drink bad beer!

Brazilians Are Really Friendly

Pretty much everyone I’ve met since I’ve been in Brazil has been incredibly welcoming and friendly. While in Rio recently for the Olympics a crowd of dozens of strangers gave me a round of applause for simply being Australian. While everyone was obviously happy during the Olympics, I’ve found people all over Brazil are really interested in knowing more about me and making me feel as welcome as possible.

Brazilians Love To Share

One of the truly great things about Brazilians is that they tend to do things together. So many of their traditions are done as a group, rather than as individuals or couples. Look around a park in Porto Alegre and you’ll see groups of people passing around the chimarrão. At a party they’ll be doing the same with the national alcoholic drink, Caipirinha. 

Here in Porto Alegre, friends and family of my wife couldn’t wait to invite me over to their house or to a park to enjoy a real Gaúcho churrasco. 

Open Container Laws

In most parts of Australia (and the world) it is illegal to drink alcohol on the streets or other public places. That isn’t the case in Brazil. Here, you’re allowed to drink pretty much everywhere (except for at football games…). This makes celebrating anything so much easier. Pop up street parties and festivals don’t have to worry about licensing regulations and with people selling beers pretty much everywhere during any major event, you don’t have to worry about queuing anywhere to buy overpriced beer from official vendors. 

Paçoca Is Amazing!

Brazil has some very tasty treats from pão de queijo (cheese bread) to brigadeiros. But my favourite by far is the crumbly peanut butter like snacks known as paçoca. They’re amazing. They’re kind of a drier, more solid version of peanut butter, but also sweeter and make for the perfect snack. Unfortunately at times I like them a little too much. Interestingly, for a country with this as one of it’s major snacks, they don’t seem to like actual peanut butter much (and when they do, its usually too sweet and overpriced)

Cidade Baixa Feels Like Home

Porto Alegre has some nice neighborhoods. The historic downtown area has some nice colonial era buildings and Moinhos de Vento has some great bars. But by far the best neighborhood in town is Cidade Baixa. This area could easily be a suburb of Melbourne and is definitely the closest thing to home I’ve found in Brazil. It has dozens of bars, cafes and restaurants, many of which are the best in town. Within a few blocks you know there’ll be somewhere to get a good coffee, great craft beer and a good feed. 

Cheap Limes

This may seem trivial but I love limes. Paying up to a couple of dollars per lime in Australia (I’ve seen it) hurts my heart. Here you can buy limes for virtually nothing which means you can use them in everything - like you should. Overall the cost of living for an expat here is pretty good, but if you’re relying on local jobs, then all of a sudden things start to feel different. 

Brazilians Love To Party

Nobody celebrates like Brazilians. Carnaval is obviously one of the biggest parties in the world, but any time you get a bunch of Brazilians together to celebrate they're going to do it right. There'll be good food, plenty of drinks and obviously copious amounts of dancing. 

Anyone who saw the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has a good idea of how hard these people can go. Singing and dancing for hours on end is just par for the course here. 

Bonus - Top Five Things To Do In Porto Alegre

The Olympics Are Over: Back To Reality

For a while it looked as though Brazil had changed. People were excited and appeared to be genuinely happy. The biggest problems in the country were being caused by a few American swimmers and an Irish official. During the Olympics it seemed as though Brazil had become a truly great place to be.

Everyone came together....for a while

That didn't last long.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Olympics. The doom and gloom predicted by the world's media was clearly over the top. Everyone spoke about Zika, the water issues, safety concerns and whether the people of Rio would truly welcome the world. All of that seemed kind of crazy during the 16 days of the Olympic Games.

For me it was a dream. I've been wanting to go to the Games my whole life, and after missing out on Sydney in 2000 (I was poor and lazy) I'm so glad I finally got a chance to see one in person.

My wife and I went to a bunch of different events including Rugby, Hockey, Basketball, Athletics and Beach Volleyball. A lot of basketball. 

The vibe around the city was amazing. Everyone there, from the volunteers to the bus drivers to the people selling food and even the tens of thousands of military brought in to keep us safe, had smiles on their faces and were really doing their best to make sure all of the visitors enjoyed their stay.

While ticket sales were an issue the whole time, many locals went along to sports they didn't know anything about. Seeing Brazilians in the crowd at the hockey and rugby watching the gringos to see when to cheer was funny. At times the Brazilian crowds stepped over the line with regards to sportsmanship, but for the most part they were just enjoying themselves.

It was great to see the locals also embrace female athletes. We attempted to get tickets for the Brazilian women's football team's ill fated semi final at the Maracana but it was sold out.

And Brazil did well. After a slow start, Brazil won a bunch of gold medals, including some big ticket items like the men's football, volleyball and beach volleyball. There were plenty of great news stories like judo star Rafaela who came from the "City of God" to win gold. 

The biggest moment for me was getting to watch the Bronze and Gold matches in the men's basketball competition. Unfortunately, my Australian Boomers couldn't come away with their first medal, but  it was great to be there to watch them try.

All of that seems like a long time ago now though. In the mere two weeks since the end of the Olympics, Brazil has once again regressed.

President Dilma has been officially impeached, despite the majority of those doing the impeaching being under investigation for far worse crimes. Protests have sprung up all over the country causing mayhem and some scary confrontations with law enforcement. 

And athletes haven't escaped the problems now, with cuts likely to come to the women's football team as well as the athletics program within the military that provided so much success. 

Even here in Porto Alegre, a reduction in the police force due to budget issues has resulted in a spike in violent crime that has necessitated the need for federal intervention. 

It seems nothing good lasts in Brazil for very long. Hopefully the Paralympics - starting tomorrow - can at least give us another short reprieve.