Far away, so close

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

 

Training begins when the team is called to gather in the golden light of a small, rectangular field.

 

Players jog to a spot on the wing and assemble in a semi-circle. An able young man stands before them and speaks for a bit, with confident ease. His authority is obvious; when the young man talks, his teammates listen.

 

The team is sent on a warm-up lap. They jog along the boundary line, talking ceaselessly as they go, four or five footballs flying between them.

 

Approaching the posts under which I stand, a handful of players emerge from the pack and take running shots at goal. Footballs fly like shooting stars in the vacant sky above me.

 

I am a man from Melbourne, Australia, at the Burnage Rugby Football Club, in a suburb south of Manchester.

 

 

Here on a field, far from the club rooms, the Manchester Mosquitoes Australian Rules football club is granted a small green pitch on which to hold a training session, every Thursday evening.

 

For the next 90 minutes, 20-plus players (pictured) will bring the ground to life with short, sharp bursts of effort and noise: handball practice, kicking drills, stoppage work and tackling.

 

I will drift to the sound of exuberant voices and the pleasing thump of footballs.

 

The Manchester ‘Mozzies’ are one of four Australian Rules teams in the AFL Wales & England League, a modified, 9-a-side competition that also includes teams from Cardiff, Nottingham and Oxford.

 

The club fields a men’s and women’s team – though for now, to ensure the numbers, the women are compelled to partner on game day with the Oxford women’s team.

 

In the nation’s capital, the larger and better-resourced AFL London league attracts hundreds of members to its 18-a-side competition.

 

 

The broader UK league took a huge hit in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whole seasons were suspended. Entire teams fell apart. Even today, players come and go with the frequency of seasonal farmhand workers.

 

The Mozzies lost three Irishmen last year, when the trio departed after a brief but brilliant stint with the club.

 

“We miss their pace,” says a current player, mournfully.

 

Games are played from April to August on any available field, typically on a rugby pitch.

 

Temporary point posts are placed on either side of the rugby posts to create the four-post configuration that defines Australian Rules football.

 

As best they can, players ignore the crossbar that dissects the upright rugby posts and adapt their style of play to smaller, rectangular grounds.

 

Australian expats and travellers make up more than half of the players on each Mozzies team – but anyone, from anywhere, can learn the game and join the club.

 

The captain of the Mozzies men’s team is a Manchester lad, known by the nickname ‘Libba’.

 

Why that name? Because once, when he wore a Bulldogs AFL football jumper, a teammate compared him favourably to Western Bulldogs Premiership player Tom ‘Libba’ Liberatore, and the name stuck.

 

Such is the Australian way.

 

Libba lived in Australia, a few years ago, where he learned to play the local game. Back home, he wandered down to training one night and found himself a place on the Mozzies team.

 

 

When I suggest to one of his Australian teammates that Libba’s achievement is remarkable – an Australian Rules football team led by an Englishman – the teammate replies without hesitation: “Libba’s good.”

 

Among the Australians that I meet at training are men and women from Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. When I say hello, and they hear my accent, everyone is keen for a chat.

 

The men are laconic, friendly and direct. The women are authentic, down-to-earth and bright. I like them all.

 

Some play Aussie Rules in England because they love the competition or want to keep fit. Many are travellers, far from home, who play for companionship.

 

I have followed the team on social media for years. There may come a day when I live in this country, in a town not far from Manchester, where my wife was born. If that ever happens, you’ll find me here, hugging a Sherrin on a Thursday night.

 

I want this evening to last forever, but I have a train to catch.

 

The Mozzies are spread from end to end, running at pace through the midfield, moving the football with fluid force. A leading forward breaks to his left and charges into open space, pointing at the northern sky.

 

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click HERE

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.

 

Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE