‘Roughest sport in the world’: Americans are still baffled by AFL

The unlikeliest footballer in the history of the AFL has opened America’s eyes to the sport in an interview with 60 Minutes.

Mason Cox in his interview with Jon Wertheim for CBS' 60 Minutes.

Collingwood star Mason Cox has opened up on his journey from the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, to heaving, roaring Australian crowds of 90,000.

The former college basketballer was interviewed by sports journalist Jon Wertheim on American current affairs show 60 Minutes on Monday morning (AEDT) about his unusual journey to the AFL and how he came to learn the particular skills that Australians have grown up learning.

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Wertheim, a senior tennis commentator who has made regular trips to Australia, struggled to explain the intricacies and quirks of the game to Americans.

Mason Cox announced himself to the league in 2018 with one of the greatest preliminary final performances of all time. (Photo by Michael Dodge/AFL Media/Getty Images)

“It’s a game of almost cartoonishly violent collisions – without the benefit of pads … it features non-stop trash talk and is played on a field practically the size of a speedway,” the interview begins.

“Footy entails players running about 10 miles a game … juking, tackling, passing by punching the ball, and scoring by kicking the ball through goalposts.”

Cox described it as completely unique.

“It’s unlike anything else you’ve ever seen,” he said.

“It’s probably the roughest sport in the world I’d say.

“It’s a mix of basketball, football. It’s a mix of soccer, cricket, even.

“There’s really no rules.”

Wertheim compared the speccy to getting dunked on, with Cox describing it as “insanity”.

For all of the various American-isms in the interview, Wertheim got one thing correct – Cox is one of the most “unlikely player(s) in the history of the sport”.

“At 6’11 (211cm), he’s the tallest player ever to suit up,” he said.

“He lived the first 23 years of his life without even knowing that the sport of footy even existed.”

Cox was first introduced to the sport after being invited to the 2014 US International Combine after graduating from Oklahoma State University, where, like his future captain Scott Pendlebury, he had a basketball background.

Mason Cox (second right) with Collingwood teammates Jack Crisp (second left) and Tom Mitchell (left) in a 60 Minutes episode.

He remains the only male American in the league, only the third born-and-raised American to play competitive games at VFL/AFL level.

He is joined in the women’s ranks by Danielle Marshall at Essendon, who is the first player recruited to play professional from the few AFL clubs that exist outside Australia, hailing from the USAFL competition (where Cox’s two brothers now play).

Cox’s heritage means he brings a harsh Southern twang to a game played with a broad, typically Victorian drawl, and this is picked up in an interview with Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.

“He’s kinda this weird fusion between southern drawl and Aussie accent,” Moore says.

“He definitely loves putting it on for us.”

Why is tomorrows episode on @60Minutes such a big deal?
Their audience is 13 million.
Australian population is 25 million.

This exposure for @AFL has never been seen by a bigger audience.
That is why I encourage Australia to get around it. Let the world know how good AFL is

— Mason Cox AFL (@masonsixtencox) April 30, 2023

Asked what he thought Cox’s chances of success were in the league, Moore is unequivocal.

“Oh, you could comfortably say one in a million,” he says.

“Because there’s so many talented players all around the country that just never make it. And the odds of succeeding are just so — it’s so difficult.

“Like any professional sport, there are so many things seen and unseen that make it really hard to succeed.

“No knowledge … Living, you know, thousands of miles from home by himself. It’s an extraordinary thing.”

The distinction between Cox’s previous home and his adopted home is made starkly clear when Wertheim interviews one of Cox’s high school classmates (and college teammate), Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart.

“There's no way that he’s not on the basketball team at 7 foot,” Smart said.

“What else could you possibly do at 7 feet tall other than play basketball, right? And Mason is a prime example of that there’s a whole possibility of things you can do at 7 foot.”

Cox played soccer in his youth, winning a state championship in high school in 2008.

“The old saying (is) … all his height is wasted on this tall dude for nothing,” Smart said.

“But as we’ve seen, it’s not wasted at all.”

Marcus Smart in his interview with Jon Wertheim for CBS' 60 Minutes.

Cox walked onto the basketball team at Oklahoma State, eventually playing three seasons at power forward and once shutting down now six-time NBA All-Star and two-time scoring champion Joel Embiid in a Big 12 conference game.

After college, Cox was offered a six-figure engineering job at ExxonMobil when the call about the AFL international combine came from professional scout Jonathan Givony.

When he arrived in Australia and signed with Collingwood, it was now-head coach Craig McRae that was tasked with his development.

“We get the initial taste of what he’s capable of,” McRae said.

“Can’t kick, can’t handball, but 7-foot tall.

“We grew up, you know, sleeping with little footballs. We slept and breathed it and idolised the game. Mason had none of that.”

Asked about what gave McRae belief that Cox had what it took to succeed in the league, McRae spoke to Cox’s tenacity.

“He’s got that chip, that ‘Hey, I’m gonna prove a lot of people wrong’.”

Craig McRae in his interview with Jon Wertheim for CBS' 60 Minutes.

Cox, now an Australian citizen, speaks about the adversity he faced on the journey to being a stalwart of Collingwood’s best 22.

In 2019, Cox tore two retinas, temporarily blinding him, leaving him with light sensitivity that required six surgeries, and eventually for him to wear prescription protective goggles.

“I’d lost one of my senses, all within 48 hours. And had to figure out if I was ever gonna see again.”

Despite the challenges and quirks of his story, Cox says he has no regrets, and would want to see more Americans in the league.

“I would love an American to break every single record I’ve done because it means I’ve left a mark,” he said.

“I’m gonna look back and think, you had the most ridiculous life you could possibly think of that makes no sense.

“And I took it by the horns, and I made the most of it.”

Cox now has a YouTube channel where he promotes the game internationally, taking to Twitter to say he “couldn’t be more excited to share this sport to so many that do not know it exists.”