[Randy Van Vliet]

I've been scanning some Australian news sources (by
the way, what's the deal with the detention centers
that people keep breaking out of?  Are they holding
immagrants under armed guard?  and if so, for what
purpose and how long?)  

Anyway, I naturally tend to scan the sports pages even
though I don't know squat about Australian sports. 
I've looked up some references to Cricket and Rugby
and the AFL.  So here's my question:  Are there
national professional sports in Australia?  Besides
the national Cricket team, it seems that most of it is
either local or regional.  I've seen a little bit of
Australian Rules Football on late night ESPN and sort
expected there to be a national presence (I'm from the
US and our professional sports leagues are very much
national based rather that regional).  But most of the
AFL teams are based in and around Melbourne.  I sort
of expected Sydney to be more represented.  Or is
Melbourne more of a "National Capitol" than Sydney?  

I don't want to waste too much of your time, but I am
sort of a sports junkie (at least US sports) and I'm
sort of fascinated by how it's structured in
Austarlia.  I've decided that I want to follow the AFL
this season and I clearly don't have any rooting
interest in any team.  Does anyone outside of
Melbourne and the few other teams care that much about
it?  I'm just wondering.  

Randy

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