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Recently the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran a story featuring the Atlanta Kookaburras. With an interview of Club President and coach Wayne Kraska the story ran in the Atlanta the World section of the big daily assisting to enlighten the people of Atlanta and Georgia about the great game of Aussie Rules Football. WORLD BAZAAR: Aussie 'footy' a big kick here
Jill Sabulis - For the Journal-Constitution,
Wednesday April 6, 2005
Mention American football to Wayne Kraska, head coach of the Atlanta Kookaburras Australian-rules football club, and then just sit back. The response will take awhile. "No comparison," says Kraska, a native of Melbourne, Australia. "Think 'American football' and then forget it." Kraska's team, the regional champion Kookaburras, will begin the season Saturday against the Reading (England) Kangaroos. The matchup marks the first trans-Atlantic meeting in metro Atlanta, if not the United States, Kraska says.
To the American eye, Aussie "footy" resembles rugby --- one of its ancestors. "But we hate to be referred to as rugby," Kraska says. "It's more like soccer, field hockey, basketball and a little bit of rugby." In fact, he says, footy predates American football by at least 25 years. (Scholars, however, disagree on the ages of the two sports.) The games differ widely in rules, size of field, pace of play and the balls themselves. The Aussie ball is longer, fatter and traditionally made of kangaroo hide, though Kraska says that these days most balls are ordinary cowhide or synthetic. Footy has grown in both acceptance and participation throughout the United States in the past few years. Atlanta is now home to four teams affiliated with the United States Australian Rules Football League. The teams tour the nation playing teams from Nashville, Chicago, Dallas and St. Louis, among others. Throughout their season, the Kookaburras will sell logo "footies," T-shirts and official Australian Rules Football Club jerseys in their colors of green and gold. Prices range from $15 for a T-shirt to $85 for a ball.
Kraska came to the United States in 2002 and quickly put to work his semiprofessional footy experience in Australia. His predecessor as volunteer president of the organization was Mike Powers, an American, who enlisted several members of the Australian Royal Air Force on temporary assignment at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta. "That connection [with Dobbins] still exists," Kraska says. More common on the footy field this year are Americans, he says. Only about 20 percent of the 55 Kookaburra team members are Australians. A few are from Britain, and the rest are Americans --- who sometimes are a little baffled by the rules of a game that seems so familiar but is so different. "The [footy] field is huge," Kraska notes, "about 180 yards by 140 yards, which is why we have such trouble finding fields to play on here." The only regulation-size arena in metro Atlanta is the Polo Fields in Cumming. Kookaburra practices are held at Scott Park in Decatur at 10 a.m. Saturdays. This week's season opener is at Creel Park in College Park. "You usually have 36 players on the field at a time, 18 on each side," Kraska explains. "We have to scale it down to fit the field." Players wear shorts and a jersey. There are no pads --- only a mouth guard.
The most important qualification for the men's teams, the coach says, is athletic ability and endurance. Anybody is welcome to try out. The men's team currently is made up of players from age 17 to the mid-40s. A women's league has just started, with Kraska as coach. "It's much faster than American football," he says. "Elite players can run up to half a marathon in a game. . . . The main thing is you have to sprint and jump well. . . . We can teach the rules and the skills --- kicking mainly. But it's a fairly endurance-related sport." Despite the differences and occasional confusion, Kraska says footy is definitely catching on in metro Atlanta. "Once we introduce it, especially to young Americans, it's very popular. Of course, one of the biggest aspects of the game is the social aspect. Australians do like to get together and party."
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