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| Johan Lantz, Captain of the Swedish Elks |
Australian Rules Football is probably one of the last things you'd expect to find in Sweden. But all over Sweden, in Stockholm, Karlstad, Skåne, Malmö, right here in Göteborg and even into Oslo in Norway, the great Aussie game is played with passion.
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| Nic, Joel, Kalle and Christoffer from the Göteborg Berserkers |
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When I came to Sweden a number of years ago, I brought an Aussie football with me. A pretty distinctive signifier of meat-pie eatin', VB drinkin', fair dinkum oi-oi-oi shouter. Or in 'strine (Aussie-speak), we'd probably say it was an indicator that I was a "bloody bogan". But the thing was, holding my footy in a Malmö train station led to an Aussie ex-pat coming up to me and asking if I wanted to play footy for the local side. A bit astounded, I explained I was just on holidays,but this guy was insistent that I play even as I was jumping on my train to Gothenburg.
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| Berserkers Joel, Lars and Alan come off the field following a game. |
So when I came back here for the best part of 2010, I got in touch with the local team, the Gothenburg Berserkers via their website. My inquiry was met with a very enthusiastic response from a guy named Joel Språng (Yoo-el Sprawng) who invited me down to training. From the first night I was made to feel part of it and after a season in which we won the Sweden-West Championship and had a huge end of season trip to Dublin (which included playing Aussie Rules Football and International Rules Football for Oxford University), I made some amazing friends.
So it was a no-brainer that I wanted to catch up with the boys again this year, but due to the ankle surgery I had in December that has curtailed my career, this year I've been handed the coaching clipboard.
The thing that you have to get used to in coaching here is the need for bilingual addresses or having guys translate what you're saying after you've said it. The first time I ever explained Aussie footy in Swedish I made a bit of a blue. I was describing the large goal posts and using my forearm to visually demonstrate the tall vertical posts in our game.
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| Skåne, Stockholm and Göteborg combined sides after a closely fought game, won by a kick on the siren |
"
Vi har två stora stomparna..." I said, explaining that we had two large goal posts.
"
...och två lite stomparna." adding that we have two little posts.
After my talk, I asked one of the more outgoing Swedes if my Swedish had been comprehensible, as the blank, expressionless faces of a Swedish audience gives little away.
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Yes, it was very interesting, but we didn't quite understand one bit. You said you kick the ball through two big amputated limbs?"
Apparently the word I was looking for was
stolperna, not
stomperna.
From such things we learn.
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| A BBQ between hosts Karlstad and Göteborg players |
Well the games I've coached over here have unfortunately not gone our way, with the most recent game on the weekend being lost by less than a goal with the opposition scoring a goal on the final siren. They have however been terrific to watch, with the physicality very impressive, particularly from some recent ice-hockey converts who won't let the Aussie ex-pats side step them.
And of course Aussie rules is as much about the comradery off the field as on it. It's been great to enjoy BBQs and beers with teammates and oppositions alike following the games. Next games aren't til August, any coaching advice would be appreciated!
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| After match celebrations at Push : From left - Ylva, Trav, Jamie, Suzanne, Cam and a typically enthusiastic Joel |
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