Julia Gillard, is Australia's newest Prime Minister .

Julia , a 48 year old,red haired, unmarried ,Welsh born woman , from Melbourne's working class,  western suburbs , is a  keen,  Western Bulldogs supporter.

This , is a history making decision , in Australia's political landscape .

Will ,the AFL team , the Western Bulldogs , ( aka Footscray to diehard fans ) win the Flag , breaking a 55 year drought ?

Anything is possible .

Stranger things have happened .

Just ask their number one fan .!

Is Julia the Western Bulldogs No 1 Fan!

The AFL competition,  are having a split round of matches this weekend .

Five games are being played, 2 interstate, and 3,  in Melbourne .

The other three games , will be played next weekend .

Its called a mid season break.

One angst ridden fan,  was heard to mutter, "  how will I go the whole weekend ,without watching the Saints "!  The're not even on TV.

A game was played , on friday night in Melbourne,  with another on saturday night , and one today .

Fans , will either go to the matches in their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys , or watch the games on TV.

Many , will watch from the comfort of their lounge room , and many , will wear their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys , even,  if not at the match.

Nic Naitanui ' s Jumper will play today

Melbourne Football Club ,(aka , the Demons ), are the oldest football club, playing in the current AFL competition .

Established in 1859 , they celebrated their 150 year anniversary, last year in 2009.

In 1859 ,two months after Melbourne , the Geelong Football Club, joined the competition .

Called the Victorian Football League, or VFL, it was based in Victoria .

Carlton joined the League in 1864 , North Melbourne in 1869 and Essendon , St Kilda and Hawthorn all joined in 1873.

Carlton Blues Original Vintage Jumper ?

These clubs have been kicking the Sherrin for a long time.

All, have pursued the ultimate trophy , of a Premiership ,with varying degrees of success.

All , have a proud history , of playing AFL football.

Fans , love their club , their support is tribal ,and will come to watch them play , win , lose , or draw.

Perhaps the only difference between the 1800's crowds, and today's, apart from numbers , is that modern fans, wear their  football jumpers, jerseys ,guernseys to the Game.

Melbourne Demons Jumper Celebrating 150 years anniversary

Its a rare occurrence , in an AFL football match , when the result is a draw ,  between the two rival teams.

This is what resulted, from the Melbourne Demons and Collingwood Magpies Game, on Monday at the MCG.

Fans witnessed a titanic struggle , between the two sides . Last time they played , earlier in the year , the struggling Demons , beat the premiership contenders Collingwood .

Hoping to do it again , the young Demons , put up a good fight .

Fans , barracking, in their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys ,were thrilled ,on their public holiday Monday , to witness an exciting conflict .

Neither team , ultimately , was able to prevail over the other to eke out a victory . Tired players failed , to kick an elusive score, in the dying minutes of the game .

Fittingly, both teams were rewarded , with an even distribution of the premiership points , two each .

Collingwood's inaccurate kicking, and the young demons tenacious spirit ,resulted in a rare conclusion to the match , a draw, nothing separating either side .

Disappointed players , but excited fans , have indelible memories , of this historic game .

Melbourne Demons

Collingwood Magpies

International rules football, is played between Australia, and Ireland ,each October .

It' s a team sport, made up of gaellic ,and afl football codes ,developed so players of both codes ,can play together.

It showcases the players skills ,and attracts fans at an international level .
Begun in 1967, it is now an important part ,of the AFL's development plans,
who use these games, to attract fans ,ultimately ,to afl football.

International rules football, does not have any dedicated clubs ,or leagues and is played only , in tournaments ,or once-off test matches.

When played in Melbourne ,football fans, come to watch the game ,in their football jumpers , jerseys , guernseys.

Australia Jumper

Friday Night Football celebrated its 25th anniversary last night .

Almost 44,000 fans turned out , on a wintry Melbourne night,  to watch North Melb Kangaroos beat the Carlton Blues.

It was an appropriate tribute to Bob Ansett , former North Melbourne Football Club Committee Member , who was instrumental in establishing AFL, friday night games .

Originally established to get more fans to the game , specifically office workers after work , friday night games evoke memories for players , coaches, fans, and club administration alike.

Fans will always go to Games wearing their football jumpers, jerseys, guernseys , whatever night of the week they are played

The main difference between last night's game, and those of 25 years ago,is that fans watched the Roos demolish the Blues in the comfort of Etihad Stadium , with comfortable seats , under a roof closed against the wet, cold , dark , winter night .

25 years of Blues

Melbourne's, Saturday Age newspaper , reported a news story of three young Somalia men who were playing AFL football, in the amateur AFL affiliated EDFL.

Proud to wear their football jumper , jersey , guernsey , they talked of how much the sport had given them .

Two brothers and a cousin , who all were united in their love of AFL football.

They felt it was a great sport , which had provided them with many opportunities.

They saw it an opening to assimilate into Australian society , and gave them a chance to excel at a sport they have grown to love.

Playing football has helped them recover from bad memories of a war torn homeland .

As superior athletes , they are providing the AFL with a home grown success story of converts to the code .

AFL football was not a game they played in Somalia before migrating to Australia as 12 year olds.

Currently glamour and money are being used by the AFL to attract the signing of high profile recruits ,eg. Folau and Hunt .

Both are untried converts to AFL.

Its heartening to see that grass roots AFL football is still flourishing and has a lot to offer young people everywhere.

It is with pride that these young people wear their football jumper , jersey , guernsey every match day .

Proud to wear their Lions themed Football Jumper

White Football Jumpers are
popular
visible
look striking
generate revenue
attract fans to AFL Games
differentiate between two teams whose club colours are similar
Make for easy viewing
Help umpires

A good example of this is in the Demons versus Blues clash , today ,at the MCG.

TV Viewers and fans at the Game are able to tell the Demons and Blues players apart easily.

Melbourne is wearing predominantly white and Carlton are wearing navy blue .

The white Jumper , Jersey , Guernsey looks good , provides a viewing spectacle and there is no confusion for umpires , fans and players alike .

This Demons jumper , jersey , guernsey will become a collectible with its distinctive styling and striking colour combination .

Long live the red , blue and the WHITE.

Whiter than White Saints Jumper

More " Football Jumpers" are imminent with the defection from NRL and Rugby Union to AFL by high profile players Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt .

AFL Coaches Mick Malthouse and Brad Scott believe it will be a successful transition and will encourage other players to change codes.

Former AFL player Sydney Swan Nick Davis who thought about converting to NRL from AFL in 2006 states that Rugby players train as hard as the AFL .

Supporters of both codes are confident the kicking skills needed in AFL can be learnt over a six month period.

To be a good kick you need a good technique, which can be taught.

All AFL players need to hone their skills in this area , and practice constantly

With the switch of players from NRL to AFL it poses the question will the switch work the other way ?

Can we expect to see AFL players convert to play NRL ?

Some things don't change . All players , whatever code , will wear their football jumper , jersey , guernsey to play the game in their team's colours.

A new " Melbourne " team ?

Melbourne Demons , the new dream team of the AFL, beat Port Adelaide Power at the weekend’s exhibition football match in Darwin .

Fans came out in their thousands dressed in their football jumpers , jerseys, guernseys . They  supported their team and were rewarded with a very entertaining game of football.

A one point victory to the previously struggling Demons thrilled and entertained a footy starved crowd in the NT.

Melbourne held off a fast finishing Port Power team .

A titanic struggle created scintillating footy as the Vics prevailed over the South Australians.

Is the stage set for the NT to provide their own AFL team to join the national competition?

Victorious Melbourne Demons