In a city like Baton Rouge, when it comes to sports, you think of the loud sounds and cheers from Tiger Stadium or Alex Box, but many don’t know the sound of Australian Football.

Australian Football, also known as footy, is often confused with rugby but the two are its own separate sports. Robert Montanaro, co-founder of the Baton Rouge Tigers explains the difference.

“The flow of soccer, it’s very free flowing. It has some elements of basketball, where you have a center bounce and tap, and you have to actually dribble the ball, a ball like this which is an interesting technique,” Montanaro said. “And it has the contact of football. It is a full contact sport.”

Former LSU Australian-born football players, such as Brad Wing and Josh Growden, played footy growing up.

“Anytime you watch a broadcast with an LSU Football player and they said they were Australian, they would say they play in Australian Football, they can put those names together like Brad Wing or Josh Growden.”

The Tigers are a part of the nationwide league known as the United States Australian Football League. The USAFL was established in 1997, with the Baton Rouge Tigers starting in 2004.

“America has the biggest conjugation of Australian Football outside of Australia,” Montanaro said. “There are about 50 clubs with about 70 teams, spread over the U.S.”

The Baton Rouge Tigers are open to and for anyone to join and learn more about the sport.

“Develop a close bond with a lot of us getting to know each other and then you know playing this game week in and week out. So, it’s been definitely rewarding at least I can say for myself.”

“You meet people from different varieties. It’s a really cool opportunity to do that, that I wouldn’t have gotten, if it wasn’t for this club.”