Horseracing and Football—what could these two sports possibly have in common?
How and why are these two sports part an Australian love affair?
Well then…
Grab that bridle and swing a leg over that saddle and let’s see where this ride—or read—will take us in this week’s adventure into procrastination…
It All Started…
On the first Tuesday in November for the race that stops a nation.
It’s true—most Australian do stop to watch!!
Many offices buildings are abuzz with the excitement (probably from the champagne chicken lunch), where some co-workers wear fancy hats while putting on bets at bookie joints they never normally enter. They’ll even throw in the few dollars for the Office Sweep and the lucky draw prize of maybe picking a winner.
Then It’s Race-Time…
They all crowd around the lunchroom table. Hands in dips. Fingers slippery from chicken bones with their noses inside empty champagne glasses.
They’ll shout at the small screen hoping their horse—a name they can’t remember, but picked it for the lucky numbers and colours—wins!
AAAAand that’s a typical Melbourne Cup lunch for you at the office. It’s the Queen of the horseracing calendar in the sport of Kings!
AFL Football is the sport of Princes, and their Grand Final Days are where a bunch of people do pretty much the same style of shouting at the small screen but on the weekend.
The Melbourne Cup is the Queen of the horseracing calendar in the sport of Kings, & AFL Football is the sport of Princes… (Tweet This)
The similarities between these two sports are uncanny where both, Aussie Rules Football (AFL) and Horseracing, are much loved Australian wide sports.
How?
Why?
Besides football being played in almost every school, there are racetracks found in small country towns everywhere.
In the Northern Territory, there are the Adelaide River Races — that don’t even race horses on their track. Other iconic outback horse-free races are the foot-racing boats, the Henley on Todd, or the Camel Cup in Alice Springs. There’s even an annual frog races at the Noonamah Pub held on Melbourne Cup Day.
Now, for those living outside of Australia, you’ll no doubt be asking, what is the Melbourne Cup?
The Melbourne Cup (simplified)
It’s Australia’s richest and most famous horserace, ran on a track that is 3,200 metres in length. Meaning, it’s a loooong race, taking over three minutes to watch; held at the Flemington race track where the carpark parties are legendary!
(But that’s another story for another day.)
So, What Does Aussie Rules Football and Horseracing have in common?
Both have traditional play dates! I’m serious.
Both sports end in Spring.
The AFL Grand Final is on the last weekend of September or the first weekend in October.
The Melbourne Cup runs on the first Tuesday of November.
Here’s Some Sports History In An Eyeblink!
Horseracing is ancient and dates back to nomadic tribes before Romans did their thing in colosseums. The organised horse racing we see today didn’t start until the 16th century.
Aussie Rules Football is only a baby and was invented in the late 1850s to keep its cricketer’s fit for summer.
The Melbourne Cup tradition began in 1861.
The AFL Premiership Cup tradition began in 1898.
The Uniform
Both sports codes wear a uniform made up of registered colours that are part of their brand, made of specialised synthetic sporting materials. Both sports groups wear boots (jockey’s riding boots, horses’ shoes, and footy boots) and helmets.
In Horseracing—jockeys wear shiny colours, also known as Silks and or Colours and there are thousands of colour variations, with polka dots, stripes, or chequered variations chosen by the racehorse owners. They register their Colours before they choose a design. It’s a big thing for those owners where they can name and sell those Colours onto others. Some racing Colours are worth a fortune.
For Football- Players only get all shiny from their perspiration or rain, but they do wear team colours. There are only 18 types of AFL team colours, and some are so cringe-worthy you can tell men in the 1800s created them. No player has a choice of colour or the player number they’re supplied.
Sponsorships & Merchandise
What sport isn’t heavily merchandised to entice their fans to buy up big or small, starting from drink-coolers, water bottles, tie pins and hats! Both sports even sell humble pairs of thongs!! Talk about being tailored to their market crowd!
Sponsors advertise their stuff trackside, sidelines, stadium side. It’s on the name of races or game day events, and it’s endless—and huge. Yet, somehow both Sports have these huge snore-fest-lists of rules for sponsorship restrictions…
In Horseracing–unlike overseas, they still restrict sponsorship on the jockeys in Australia as to what they can advertise. However, horses can display their sponsors on their saddlecloths.
For Football—What restrictions? It’s everywhere! It’s even on the big boards behind the coaches who give their speeches to the media. If there is a way to show their sponsor’s brands in AFL they’ll shamelessly do it.
Historic Memorabilia
These items are an investment, and it’s like owning a part of history from their sport’s special event.
In Horseracing–saddle blankets that the winning horse wore in their race, gets signed by the jockey and goes to Auction.
For Football – Game Day Guernsey’s get autographed by winning players and also sent to Auction.
The Fans & Memberships
Both sports have fans who can bet on their favourites to win. Come on, this is Australia, where they’ll bet on cane-toads racing! Those sports fans all exhibit a high or low emotion when watching either sport, and they both have Clubhouses that charge an annual membership fee and are usually found hovering by the various playing fields.
In Horseracing—fans are also called punters. However, I was unable to find a registered fan clubs for this sport. But I did find fans of racehorses that get together to find homes for retiring racehorses. Fans of racehorses can join Syndicates.
For Football— fans are also called fanatics with millions of members who pay an annual membership fee.
But wait, there’s more…
The Watchers & The Stalkers…
Both sports get over 100,000 spectators attending their big day.
In Horseracing—at the Melbourne Cup over 100,000 people attend the race at Flemington (and that’s not including those partying in the carpark!). It’s broadcasted to 650 million viewers, worldwide and is the second most popular sport watched in Australia.
For Football— just over 1000,000 people attended the 2018 AFL Grand Final. An estimated 8 million people watched the 2018 AFL Grand Final, with over 4 million on Free-To-Air. They get over 6.5 million attending their games per season and it is the most popular sport watched in Australia.
Ownership & Worth
There’re more differences than similarities between these sports. But here are a few: I bet you didn’t know moments…
In Horseracing— Racehorses are owned privately or part of a syndicate, which is buying shares of a horse that allows for a share of the winnings. Racehorses are worth $8k through to $800k+!
For Football— No AFL Football Club is privately owned, they belong to the AFL Commission. The exceptions are the West Coast Eagles and Freemantle Football Club that is owned by the Western Australia Football Commission. The individual player earns a salary-capped average of $370k per season.
The End of Season Finale’s
Both fight/race/win a cup! Yep, it’s a cup. But it’s a really big cup that many can guzzle champagne from at once.
In Horseracing—There is the Melbourne Cup, Darwin Cup, Cairns Cup, Adelaide River beermugcup…
For Football—There is the AFL Premiership Cup.
How Do You Qualify For That Cup?
Besides the obvious at being good at the sport to win, here are some differences in getting to that endgame…
What are the similarities & differences for getting to that endgame… (Tweet this)
In Horseracing—For the Melbourne Cup they nominate the field of racers, based on the wins or top three placings of highly recognised races over the racing season. They nominate hundreds of hopefuls who then pay an entry fee for the privilege to race. It’s $6k for the early bird special price and for those late-getters it’s $45k entry fee. (Pays to be early huh!) Nominations start in September, ending in the final 24 horses drawn (yep, it’s a lucky-dip) on that special first Monday night in November before the race day. That’s 2 months’ notice to get in to win!
For Football—To qualify for the AFL Premiership Cup, the team must beat all other teams and accumulate points to be on top of the Premiership ladder to qualify for the Grand Final. No one knows who is going to be in the Grand Final until they complete the semi-final seven days prior.
How Much Are Those End-Of-Season Cups’ Worth?
In Horseracing—the 2018 Melbourne Cup’s prize money is worth $7.2 million for the win, in 2019 it rose to $8million. The Cup itself is made from 18 carat hand-spun gold worth $150,000. They also present miniature gold cups (how cute) to the Jockey and Trainer worth $10k each. A medal is also given to the Strapper worth $5,000. Aww! They also receive cash bonuses starting with $500k to the coach trainer. An average 5-10% of the prize money goes to the Trainer and Jockey—how’s that for an incentive!
For Football – The AFL Premiership Cup is worth $7000. It is silver-plated on the outside with 24-carat gold plated on the inside. They also get a Premiership Flag and each player wins a gold medal. There is no mention of any cash bonuses or prizes to players because they’re all on salary caps.
So Why The Comparison?
The above was all part of my rabbit-hole-ride in the name of research for my novel, THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER. It’s the story about an injured AFL player who seeks aid from the local racetrack’s fabled, horse whisperer. In THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER, our heroes discover the similarities in these two sports as well as dishing out healthy doses of humour and healing, that go hand in hand in this heartfelt story of two different people, from two different worlds, who face their fears together for love.
For more fun on and off the field, grab your copy of THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER today.
**All still images relating to this post’s topic are via the talented & fabulous photographers at https://unsplash.com/ Thanks guys.
#Escape2HEA | #FootballWhisperer
