I've had no reason to contribute to this thread beforehand, as some sports in Australia, especially some of the football codes in Sydney, are as alien to what you are talking about on this thread as Narnia might be to Calormen. Our most usual local football competition is NRL, or National Rugby League. There are nine Sydney teams, Penrith (Panthers), Parramatta (Eels), Manly (Sea-Eagles), St George (Dragons, of course), Wests (Tigers - a long story), Easts (Roosters), Souths (Rabbito's - again a long story), Cronulla (Sharks) and Canterbury-Bankstown (Bulldogs). We also have in this competition three Queenslander teams: 1.Gold Coast (Titans), 2. North Queensland (Cowboys) and 3.Brisbane (Broncos). As well, the competition includes a Canberra team (Raiders), one from Melbourne (Storm), a Newcastle team (Knights), plus a team from Auckland in New Zealand, called the Warriors.
Sometimes players switch to other codes such as the related Rugby Union, played in UK, France, Romania and other places. But it is rare, indeed, for someone like Jarryd Haynes, a player from the Parramatta Eels, to switch to your NFL, called Gridiron here. He has just been signed up to play for the Forty Niners in San Francisco, and, it seems, wears a yellow and maroon outfit with 38 on it. I expect that now we will all have to learn a bit about Gridiron-speak.
Jarryd Haynes was one of the better and more popular players here.
Could someone please tell me why the San Francisco team is called Forty Niners? And what has this team got to do with an old song called
O my darling Clementine? Just puzzled and curious.