Let’s welcome Kristine Charles to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Take it away, Kristine.

The Truth About Aussies

By Kristine Charles

We’re known for being pretty sporty here Down Under, and it’s fair to say we punch above our weight in many sports on the international stage. It’s been a hardship but, while procrastinating on all the other things that I should be writing by trawling the interwebs for photos of hot sports peeps, I’ve given some thought as to why:

Aussies do it without padding

Unlike the players in American football… Aussie footballers don’t wear the equivalent of their body weight in padding.

In fact – in three of our four main Aussie football codes, the blokes (and girls – check out www.afl.com.au/women) don’t wear pads at all and deliberately barrel into each other at speed in order to stop each other from scoring. They all play in shorts and Australian Rules players generally wear jumpers without sleeves (which is excellent for those who love arm-candy… #justsaying).

Aussies do it faster

Aussies also do it faster and, while you may think that’s a bad thing, trust me, in this case it isn’t.

Games of rugby league and rugby union and Aussie rules run for 80 minutes, while soccer runs for 90 minutes (plus stoppage time). Then it’s game over. Done. I love the NFL but seriously, three to four hours to play sixty minutes of actual game… I’d like my day back please.

Aussies don’t take themselves too seriously

We Aussies do like to have a good laugh: see exhibit A – recent photo of Kurtley Beale with Prince William taken after a game while Kurtley was, of course, wearing only his ‘budgie smugglers.’ See also exhibit B – Nick Cummins a.k.a The Honey Badger. His interviews go off like a tree full of galahs (Check out his Twitter, and you can find an article on interpretation here).

Aussie men make fluorescent pink look good

Then there’s Mat Ryan – who is the goalie for the Socceroos (Aussie soccer team). His gear is usually fluorescent pink, occasionally royal purple, and, believe me, he makes those colours look GOOD. He’s tall, has big hands (for saving goals, of course), and he loves his mum. He also has one of the best sets of ‘v’ muscles I’ve ever seen. Don’t believe me? Check the photo on this article. Or check out @matyryan on Instagram (you may want to get a drink first, maybe go to the loo – you might be there a while.)

Retired now, Mick Ennis played for my Cronulla Sharks and helped win us a (veeery long-time coming) premiership in 2016. He’s also a hot cheeky jackass (as a player he was one of those guys everyone loved to hate). Check out these pics on Tumblr.

So, it’s clear we Aussies breed our sportsmen gorgeous, tough, fast and funny. Which is why they’re often inspiration for romance heroes, and why one in particular – Michael Ennis – was the inspiration for Michael in my short story (A Mutual Thing) in the Love Sabre Anthology out now.

Love Sabre Anthology

Genre Contemporary

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

Michael and Caroline had the hots for each other in high school, but they never acted on their feelings. Twenty years later they get the chance, and this time nothing is holding them back.

Where to buy Love Sabre

Publisher Boroughs Publishing Group http://boroughspublishinggroup.com/books/love-sabre

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07987LNPC

Kristine Charles Social Media

Winner of the Inaugural Romance Writers of Australia Spicy Bites sexy short story competition, Kristine loves telling sexy tales, exploring relationships between complex women and the strong men who love them, then working out how much pain to inflict before giving her characters their HEA (or, at least, their HFN). She’s also a non-practicing lawyer who now works in human resources, and writes and reads to escape into other worlds where coffee (and red wine) is abundant, designer shoes and handbags are cheap, chocolate has no calories and men always put the toilet seat down.
Website http:// www.wordsbykristinecharles.com
Twitter https://www.twitter.com/wordsbykc
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KristineCharles
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wordsbykristinecharles

Image credits
Kurtley Beale with Prince William, the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-5078905/Kurtley-Beale-offered-Prince-William-budgie-smugglers.html
Footballers courtesy of Pixabay.