Aussie Rules continues to grow on college campuses

Aussie Rules Football tries to build its membership

Often mistaken for rugby, the Australian rules football team is building its following at N.C. State.

For those who frequent Miller Fields, it is a familiar sight -- a group of men have marked off a large section of the field and are playing an unfamiliar game with an oval-shaped ball. They are the N.C. State rugby team.

Actually, this is not necessarily true. There is another, lesser known club sports team that also inhabits these fields and uses a funny-looking ball. It is the Aussie Rules Football team.

Aussie Rules Football, also known as Australian football or simply "Footy," originated in Melbourne in 1858 as a way to keep cricket players fit during the winter months.

While to the untrained eye it may look a lot like rugby, the two sports actually have very little in common, according to Alex Klaus, the co-president of N.C. State's Aussie Rules team and a junior in nuclear engineering.

"That's about the first question you always hear," Klaus said. "If someone sees a ball or if they see us playing, it's 'Eh, you guys are rugby?' We just shake our heads a little bit and tell them no. It does look a lot like rugby, but as far as game play, the only similar thing is tackling. The rest is so completely different."

Australian football is only now beginning to bud as a sport in the United States. Lee said there are six college club teams registered nationally. The State team began as an offshoot of the North Carolina Tigers -- a men's team located in Raleigh.

Klaus said the Tigers' support for the club team is mostly through providing expertise.

"Their main support to us is they mainly provide coaching and teach the game," Klaus said. "Except for your couple foreign exchange students every semester, most people here have never seen the sport before."

In addition to providing support, the N.C. Tigers have also recruited many college club players to play for the men's league team. Both co-president Jordan Lee, a junior in biological sciences, and Klaus play for the N.C. Tigers in addition to the State Club team. The Tigers are members of the USAFL -- a national Australian Football league.

Opponents can be few and far between for the Wolfpack Aussie Rules team. The N.C. Tigers also helped start a club team at UNC-Chapel Hill, but beyond that, the next closest college club team is located at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. As a solution, the Metro League, which consists of the State team, the UNC club team and the other members of the N.C. Tigers, was formed.

Lee said although State's team plays with the Chapel Hill players on the Tigers, the games between State and Chapel Hill are still passionate.

"Even though we play with the Chapel Hill, guys on the Tigers team, the games against Chapel Hill are always the most intense," Lee said. "There is a lot of contact during those games. You can go chill with them after the game, but when we're playing, it's still State versus Chapel Hill."

The two teams have yet to meet in the 2007-2008 school year. Klaus said it has been hard for the teams to schedule games because both clubs were struggling for membership toward the beginning of the year.

"When both of us have strong programs, it's easy for us to have games almost every weekend," Klaus said. "But both of us got off to a rocky start this year."

Lee said the club has suffered a lot due to graduation, but recruiting is starting to pick back up for the team.

"We lost a lot of seniors, and we lost a lot of people in December also," Lee said. "We were down into single digits. Right now, we're in the process of growing the club again...probably in the past week, we've seen five or six people step up and commit to play with the team."

The team practices on Thursdays at 9 p.m. and on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. on Miller Field. Lee encourages anyone interested to come join in a game, regardless of experience.

"People will see us play and think it's cool, but they're real hesitant to join because they think it's going to be a lot rougher than it really is," Lee said. "Its more of a speed and finesse game."

Article courtesy of The Technician - http://www.technicianonline.com/

- Taylor Auten
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