The funniest things we’ve seen on the footy field

Watching footy can bring up just about every kind of emotion imaginable. A single game can cause sheer joy, heartbreak, nerves, anger and relief all within a half an hour! But something that’s a bit rarer on the field is humour. While we all appreciate the lighter side of the game off field and in the media, it’s not every day you see a genuinely funny thing happening when you’re watching an intense game of footy. That’s what makes them so enjoyable! Here we count down some of the more memorable hilarious moments you might remember.

1.Corey Enright running around in his jocks

This is truly one of the classic moments in recent times and has simply got to be at the top of the list. In a relatively one-sided matchup against the Brisbane Lions, Corey Enright side stepped a tackle on the forward flank, but the defender did manage to rip of his shorts before he got the kick away. This is something that happens from time to time, but what happened next was a bit out of the ordinary. There was no break in the play so Enright had to man his position or risk giving a kick or even a goal away to his opponent. When the ball came back into Geelong’s backline, the Cats regained possession and Enright received a handball before getting a kick in his jocks! Unfortunately it resulted in a turnover but the kick still brought a smile to the face of coach Bomber Thompson.

2. Umpire marking the ball

 

Peter Carey umpired 307 matches at the senior VFL/AFL level, including 4 grand finals. But the game we’ll always remember him for was played between Fremantle and St Kilda at Subiaco in 1997. The then-veteran ump marked a kick from Adrian Fletcher on his chest, before promptly blowing the whistle and calling a ball up. Most put this down to a moment of confusion for Carey, a mental blank where he acted impulsively. Some might even say it shows that he wished he could be playing at the professional level! We can’t even imagine what the consequences would be from the AFL today, but at the time it was more or less laughed off. Although Carey went on to umpire just 8 more senior matches.

3. Mcnarmara going the wrong way 

This is a classic funny moment that can happen in just about every ball sport. We’ve seen it in basketball, soccer and many times in AFL. Jamie McNamara’s time came in 2009. Against the Cats, the West Coast youngster broke through getting a clearance out of a throw in on the wing, before taking off at lightning speed towards the Geelong goal. He even managed to get a kick away before pulling it (obviously realising what he’d done). This resulted in the kick more or less directly going to an opponent in the forward line and resulted in a goal for them. No doubt McNamara got a spray from his coach.

4. Cale Morton picking a fight

There’s plenty of players in the AFL that you might not describe as big and burly, you’ve got to admire a player that can stand his ground and defend his teammates regardless of his size. Melbourne’s Cale Morton however, may have got a bit ahead of himself when he picked a fight with Port Adelaide big man Brendan Lade. Lade tackled Morton as he got a handball off and gave him a shove for good measure, so Morton pushed him right back. Lade then gave chase and Morton was off the races – really it looked like a scene from a school playground more than an AFL football match, but we can’t say we haven’t thoroughly enjoyed it!

There are many other funny moments that have happened on field. Any you can think of?

4 Trading Blunders in the AFL

The AFL truly is a special kind of a game – it’s the best sport in the world to watch because it can be thrilling, intense and it’s tougher than any other ball sport in the world. It combines skill and strength, finesse and brawn and people of all shapes and sizes are suited to it.

But another of the great things about the game of football is in the way that it’s governed. If you look at the soccer in Europe (and all over the world), you could argue that the sport is governed completely by money. In the English Premier League for instance, the richest clubs are the most competitive clubs, and the small market teams really can’t compete. Superstars that establish themselves at small clubs are almost immediately lured to bigger clubs for bigger wages. The NBA and NFL are also dominated by what might be considered overtrading – each team is so very different season to season.

Footy, on the other hand, is a very even competition in comparison, and trades take place at an ideal frequency. We’ve certainly seen a number of questionable ones throughout the history of the game. Here are some of the more dubious decisions that footy clubs probably wish they could take back, many of which involve picks (which does blur the lines somewhat).

 

Brendan Fevola to Brisbane (2009)

Arguably one of the biggest trades of the last 5 or so years, Brisbane acquired Fevola and pick 27 in exchange for promising youngster Lachie Henderson and pick 12.  The Lions couldn’t resist the thought of having two of the then premier key position forwards in the competition. Unfortunately, this is one move that simply didn’t turn work out in the long term. A problem player with a string of off-field issues, Fevola went down with injury 11 rounds into the 2010 season, which was quite unfortunate. However, the offseason that followed was filled with indiscretions from the wayward forward, which ultimately took their toll on the Lions team and led to Fevola’s eventual sacking at the beginning of 2011. Meanwhile, Henderson has developed into a solid swing player for the Blue baggers and looks like he could kit up for many more matches.

 

Trent Croad/McFarlane to Fremantle (2001) 

 

This one’s is a little tricky because it involves a number of picks that were already highly touted and turned into exceptional players. As we’ve heard many times before, hindsight’s 20-20 but if there was one draft class the Dockers didn’t want to miss out on, it was this one. Freo had picks 1, 4, 20 and 36 in what could be described as the superdraft of the last 15 years. However, when Hawthorn offered a duo of versatile swingmen in Luke McPharlin and Trent Croad, the Dockers jumped at the chance, throwing in their pick 1, as well as their second and third round picks. While Croad only lasted in Freo for 2 years, McPharlin has had a long and prosperous career. But when you think of what could have been, you realise how good an opportunity the Dockers had. The first 3 picks of the draft were Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd, who have all been a part of premiership sides and have had fabulous careers. Further, Steve Johnson, Sam Mitchell Leigh Montagna wou ld have been up for grabs with Freo’s later picks. Meanwhile, they walked away with Graham Polak at pick 4, who retired after just 111 games.

 

Jason Mooney to Geelong (1998)

Another one of those poor-in-hindsight decisions that came about from a team’s need for a key position player. Geelong were after a big forward to replace Gary Ablett (always a tall task). They went for Jason Mooney, a middle of the road marking full forward – hardly worth a selection as early as pick 8. Mooney had a nice 33-goal season in his first year with the Cats, but was soon overcome buy injuries and retired 2 years later. With pick 8, Sydney got their hands on a future 325 gamer in Jude Bolton, who ended up recording the highest number of tackles of any player in the history of the game

 

Chris Groom to Fremantle (1994)

Another one of Fremantle’s biggest trading blunders was sending a young Andrew McLeod and the lesser know Matthew Collins to the Crows in exchange for injury-prone forward Chris Groom. Again, the Dockers and their fans will be imagining what could have been for many years. Groom played just 8 games in his sole year with the club, while McLeod went on to play 340 games, win 2 Norm Smith Medals and 5 All Australians and 3 Best and Fairest Medals for Adelaide.