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National Geographic : 1982 May
Contents
THE SOPHISTICATION of Perth has greatly diluted its down-under dia lect. Immigrants from continental Europe and Asia now join the tradi tional inflow from Britain; radio, television, and films have their leveling effect. But one place you can still hear fair dinkum Aussie spoken is the football match. I wedged into Subiaco Oval with 50,517 feverish fans for the Grand Final, the annu al Australian Rules football championship, played this year between the Claremont Tigers and the defending South Fremantle Bulldogs. I had come as a neutral observer, of course, but swayed by the presence of blue-and-gold pennants around me, I de cided to "barrack" for the Tigers. (I had learned that one never "roots" in Austra lia-at least not in polite conversation.) "Claremont, yer beauty. C'mon, rubbish 'em!" shouted a fan behind me. "C'mon, bash the bawrstards!" And the game hadn't even started yet. A sky-diving team was still floating down into center field, cheerleaders pomponned to the bleachers, and 10,000 balloons were loosed. When the band struck up the national an them, "Advance Australia Fair," I found myself the only one standing. But the next number, "Waltzing Matilda," had everyone up and singing full chorus. A blend of rugby, old Gaelic football, and soccer-with a mayhem all its own-Aussie Rules, or "footy," is played by eight semipro teams in the Perth league. A team fields 18 players, with two in reserve, on a gigantic field 180 meters long, 120 wide. Points are scored by kicking the red leather ball be tween goalposts, four at each end. At the starting kick, Claremont receives, but within seconds a donnybrook on the field has the crowd on its feet. A burly South Fremantle half-forward has flattened the Tigers' key ruckman, Barry Beecroft, who is hauled away with a concussion. More brawls follow, as many as 20 men in a knot Distant cousins of the kangaroo, quokkas get fond attention on a family outing on Rottnest Island, 18 kilometers west of Perth.The animalsplayed an importantrole in the search for a curefor muscular dystrophy. Studying these marsupials,scientistsfirst discovered that muscle tissue has the ability to regeneratewith massive doses of vitamin E. Perth-FairWinds and Full Sails 655
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