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Who’s got it better than Michigan in Australia? (Hint: Nobody)
- Updated: June 3, 2016
1:31 PM ET
MELBOURNE, Australia — The scene couldn’t have been further from Michigan’s famed “Big House” stadium that is regularly packed with 100,000-plus screaming Wolverines fans.
No, this was a windswept, suburban Australian Rules Football oval on the outer fringes of Melbourne.
Sandwiched between a busy highway and a construction site, the oval — Heatherbrae Reserve, to be specific — was the venue for the Michigan satellite camp, the first of its kind ever held in Australia.
The Wolverines coaches arrived in Melbourne following a similar camp in Samoa, breaking new ground in the hope of unearthing a diamond in the rough (and, of course, spreading the Michigan brand).
For some 130-plus amateur gridiron players, it was as close as they would ever get to college football and the NFL. Some had flown in from different states and even New Zealand, such was their determination to be a part of it.
Australian hopefuls are all ears as @umichfootball coaches speak at the satellite training camp in Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/ivaXKLLLc4
— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) June 3, 2016
Hopefuls arrived of all shapes and sizes — men, women and juniors alike, some bringing their own pads and helmets, others arriving with nothing more than a sense of ambition and adventure.
A few looked the part in wearing NFL and college football apparel, but the amateur nature of the event was apparent in the myriad collection of sports represented — there were AFL shorts and woolen hats, NBA jerseys, NRL (National Rugby League) jumpers, and T-shirts and shorts more often seen on the street than a football field.
This was a slice of America, but it was definitely still Melbourne — Aussie-rules goalposts stood upright at each end of the oval, with a handful of oblivious local children kicking an AFL ball as the camp started.
On a bitterly cold night — well, cold for …
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