Aussie Rules Football Hits Lakeshore this Weekend

By Todd McClamroch in News on May 17, 2006 5:00PM

Earlier this year Chicagoist told you about Chicago United, Chicago's very own Australian Rules Football team. This weekend they will be hosting the St. Louis Blues at 3pm on Saturday at Waveland Field.

This is Chicago's home opener for the Mid-American Australian Football League (MAAFL) season. The MAAFL is a division of the United States Australian Football League and is made up of seven teams: Atlanta Kookaburras, Chicago United, Cincinnati Dockers, Dallas Magpies, Milwaukee Bombers, Nashville Kangaroos and St. Louis Blues.

Both the St. Louis Blues (1-0) and Chicago United (1-0) go into Saturday's match-up undefeated. St. Louis will be making their first road trip of the season after a convincing victory over the Atlanta Kookaburas 14.13.97 to 5.8.38. Chicago got their season off to a great start with their first ever victory in Nashville when they came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat the 'Roos 10.8.68 to 7.10.52.

If you are new to the sport you are probably confused by the scores above. The format for reading the score is Goal.Behind.Total. In Australian Football, if a player kicks the ball through a center set of posts they score a goal worth 6 points. If they kick it through the outer posts or if the ball goes through the center posts after being touched the team earns a behind worth 1 point. So when a team scores two goals and one behind the score will read 2.1.13.

Australian Rules Football is a fast paced wildly exciting spectator sport. Wikipedia and the Australian Football Association of North America offer great descriptions of the rules so check that out then head out Saturday to catch the action live.