When most people consider transferring to another college, they base their decision on things such as a school's academics. However, for 26-year-old freshman Peter Fardon, his decision to move to the U.S. and enroll at Buffalo stems from another reason.
Football.
Fardon loved sports growing up in Australia and would watch NFL games and Super Bowls as much as he could. Growing up, he idolized some of the Australian NFL pros, and watching them gave him the desire to play himself. The problem was that Australia didn't have an American-style football team, so Fardon joined the Australian Football League (AFL).
The AFL, more commonly referred to as Aussie rules, is a kicking game where two teams continuously kick the ball in the air to each other. The team must keep the ball in the air until it is hit into a goal. To make the kicking more accurate, the ball is spun end-over-end with every hit. Fardon said that all Australian punters in the NFL know this kick, which helps them hit longer and stronger punts.
Fardon played five seasons in the AFL after graduating from high school, but wanted to move on from the sport. He wanted a new challenge.
With eagerness to continue his education and a possibility for an athletic scholarship, he decided to transfer to an American college to play football.
"Football and studies come together," Fardon said. "I treat both as my first importance."
When he made it clear that he wanted to enroll in a college on the East Coast to play football, he was bombarded by offers from colleges up and down the entire seaboard. Buffalo was one of the teams that wanted Fardon, so they offered a walk-on position that Fardon accepted.
Fardon never visited any of the colleges that offered him positions prior to making his decision.
"I received offers from a lot of other colleges," Fardon said. "I could not have chosen better then this. I am 100 percent happy in choosing Buffalo."
Fardon had to leave his parents and two older brothers when he moved to America, but he said they are still able to visit him. His parents were able to watch him in his first game of football when the Bulls played against UTEP. That was something that he was very happy about.
"I was glad they were able to be in the stands for my first ever football game," Fardon said. "It meant a lot to me to share the experience with them."
When asked about his age affecting his performance and how he was able to interact with the other players, Fardon merely laughed. The size and experience of the other players made him constantly feel that it was actually himself who was the younger member on the team, although Fardon is almost eight years older then some of the players.
While attending school in Buffalo, Fardon was able to do more than take advantage of playing football; he was also able absorb the different cultural aspects of the U.S.
He enjoys striking up conversations with anyone he runs into and encourages others to come up and talk to him. He says that his accent is usually the topic of conversation when he talks to someone new.
"I wanted to move to the East Coast because I truly wanted a real American experience," Fardon commented. "I'm always up to meet new people."
