Essendon Is on Brink of Sporting History : Bombers Bid to Exorcise The Melbourne Demons (original) (raw)
Sports|Essendon Is on Brink of Sporting History : Bombers Bid to Exorcise The Melbourne Demons
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Huw Richards, International Herald Tribune
- Sept. 1, 2000
AUSTRALIAN football stands on the edge of history this Saturday when the Essendon plays Melbourne in the sport's Grand Final. Essendon is bidding to complete the greatest single season in the AFL's 103-year history.
Australian football is a sport-fixated nation's most popular spectator sport, pulling in large audiences not only in its
traditional heartland in Melbourne, but in every other major city following expansion over the past 15 years. The sport is played by 18-man teams on vast fields — the recommended dimensions are 165 meters (540 feet) by 145 meters — and fans say it is the fastest, most athletic team game there is. The best players have the ability to run, jump and catch and kick long distances accurately and to do all of these things at high speed and under intense physical pressure.
The Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the last weekend in September is normally a fixed point in Australia's sporting calendar, along with the rugby league Grand Final, played on the same weekend in Sydney. This year both moved forward, a reflection of the priority given to the Olympics. The rugby league final was played last Saturday in Sydney at Stadium Australia which will be the main Olympic stadium. The venerable MCG — which hosted the 1956 Olympics — is one of the venues of the Olympic soccer tournament.
No team has ever completed a perfect season in the Australian Football League. Usually the top team in the regular-season standings loses three or four of its 22 games. This year the Essendon Bombers won 20 straight, and was already assured of first place in the standings when it lost narrowly to the Western Bulldogs. The Bombers recovered to win their last regular-season game, then started the playoffs (known as finals) by massacring the reigning champion North Melbourne, 198-73, the highest score in a final.
In its 23 victories, Essendon has won by an average of 53 points, a huge margin when the average team-score is around 100 points. Matthew Lloyd, a 22-year-old forward, leads the league with 105 goals (worth six points each).
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