The Baton Rouge Tigers are Louisiana’s first and—thus far—only Australian rules football team (as of January 2007). The team was first founded by expatriate Australians Patrick Muller, Robert Montanaro, and Mick Coyne. Armed with a fervent wish to once again play their native land’s national sport, the trio recruited friends and coworkers and, over the course of the spring and summer of 2004, taught their American comrades the game of “footy” (as Aussie-rules football is known).

In August of 2004, the Tigers were invited to join the Dallas Magpies and the Austin Crows for the Texas Australian Football League (TXAFL) tournament. Baton Rouge fielded a team of eight players for its first road trip and—bolstered by four players from Austin—they walked away with one win and one loss. This inaugural showing garnered an invitation to compete in the U.S. Australian Football League (USAFL) national competition in Atlanta in October ’04. The Tigers accepted and competed ably for a freshman team, moving up to the semi-finals in Division III before being defeated by a combined Kansas City-Louisville team (34-17).

The 2005 and 2006 seasons were ones of growth for the Tigers with several veteran Australian expatriates returning home to Australia and more American players stepping up to accept the challenge of competition. The Tigers have routinely competed against neighboring teams the Dallas Magpies, the Nashville Kangaroos, and the Atlanta Kookaburras — all Division I and Division II competitors — both on the road and at home throughout the season. The team is recognized for its tough competitive spirit, even when going up against teams outside of its own division. In both years, Baton Rouge fought their way through to the Division III finals in post-season play at Nationals only to be defeated by the Minnesota Freeze by one goal (27-21) in the final seconds in Milwaukee in 2005 and by the Las Vegas Gamblers (47-31) in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006.

The team derives their name from both the “Fighting Tigers” of Louisiana State University and the Richmond Tigers, a professional Aussie-rules team back in Australia. The Richmond team has been very generous in its support of the fledgling Baton Rouge group. Were it not for the generosity of Richmond, the USAFL, and several other U.S. teams, Baton Rouge would never have been capable of making the trip to Nationals in October 2005 following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

As of January 2007, the Tigers hold regular weekly practice throughout the season (February-October) at BREC’s Highland Road Park in south Baton Rouge. Home games are played at BREC’s Clark Park in north Baton Rouge.