Aussie Rules Football

Aussie Rules Football, an interesting combination of Soccer and Gaelic Football. Brandished by most other nations and sport lovers as a sport with no rules, and is absolutely and utterly violent. This couldn't be any more incorrect than possible. Loved by the nation it was created in with over 500,000 people showing up to games across the country on a weekend basis. It’s a sport that is fast paced with high scores, full of rivalries and a proud history. Teams ultimately play September glory (when the finals are held) and all of them play to win the Premiership Flag on Grand Final day.

Brief History:

Started in the late 1800's as a sport for cricketers in Melbourne (Capital of the state of Victoria) to play during the long winters off season, it grew from there into a sport played and watched by most Australians in the southern, eastern and western states. Originally starting as the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1896 it has steadily grown and is now known as the Australian Football League or AFL. Played by 16 teams, most of which are based in Victoria.

Teams:

Adelaide Crows

Brisbane Lions

Collingwood Magpies

Carlton Blues

Essendon Bombers

Fremantle Dockers

Geelong Cats

Hawthorn Hawks

Melbourne Demons

North (Melbourne) Kangaroos

Port Adelaide Power

Richmond Tigers

St. Kilda Saints

Sydney Swans

West Coast Eagles

Western (Footscray) Bulldogs

With Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon and Richmond normally the big power houses in the league with the most Premiership Flags going equally to Carlton and Essendon.

Rules:

The Rules of the game are somewhat simple yet in the end a bit complex, giving reason to why it is only played in Australia. Basically the idea of the game is to get a higher score than the other team by using tackles, kicking, and Handballs (where a ball is passed by punching it out of the hand with a clenched fist).


Timing: 4 Quarters each lasting approximately 20 minutes each


Teams: Each team consists of eighteen players with an extra four players on the interchange bench. These interchange players can come on and off at any stage through the match.


The Ball: The ball is shaped much like a rugby ball but smaller and more round.


The Ground: The Game is played on an oval roughly the size of a cricket pitch (135 and 185 metres in length and 110 and 155 metres in width), ironically because this game started off for cricketers who had nothing better to do during winter. At both ends of the oval there are four goal posts, two large ones in the middle with two smaller ones on either side. In the center of the ground there is a circle of 3 meters in diameter, with a large square 45m each side around that. There is also a goal square 9 metres in length from the goal posts, 6.4m width. The home of AFL football is the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).


Umpires: There are a fair few of them around so this section has been justified. For any AFL match there must be 7 umpires. 3 Field Umpires who have full control of the game. Major responsibilities of the field umpires are to start play, award marks and free kicks, and generally enforce the rules of the game. In carrying out their responsibilities, the field umpires each control roughly one third of the ground. The umpire in the third where the ball is currently being disputed is the umpire in charge at any one time, however either of the other field umpires may bring attention to infringements of the rules that occur 'behind the play'. The 2 boundary umpires judge when the ball is out of the playing area, and also return the ball to the center of the ground after a goal has been scored. The boundary umpires patrol one side of the ground each. The 2 goal umpires judge, signal, and record all scores in a match.


Scoring: If a ball is kicked between the two middle posts it is called a goal and is worth 6 points. The Goal Umpire, who normally are dressed in lab coats, will then show this by pointing with both hands towards the other end of the field, then he will grab two flags he keeps and wave them around. This has no obvious purpose, just looks good. If a ball is kicked in between the outer two posts then it is called a behind and worth only 1 point, If the ball is touched by a body part other than the foot before it goes between any of the goal posts, it is called a Rushed Behind and worth only 1 point. The Goal Umpire will then also show this by pointing with one hand and waving only one flag around. Similar process if the ball hits the posts.

E.g. 3 Goals, 2 Behinds = 20 points, or written as 3.2.20.


Gameplay: The Game is started off with the ball being bounced in the center circle by the umpire and a player from either team jumping up to bring the ball back down with the intent of giving it to their teammates. Gameplay is stopped (and subsequently the time) only on the following conditions: if the ball cannot be played on (i.e. packs on the player who has it), if a goal has been scored in which case the ball is bounced in the center again, If the ball goes out of bounds, if there is an injury and ofcourse at the end of each quarter. If a player scores a Behind, the other team will kick the ball from the goal sqaure and continue play. If the ball goes out of bounds an umpire throws the ball back into play. Players my obstruct opposing players off the ball which is called shepparding, but under no circumstances are you allowed to push or tackle a player who does not have possession of the ball.


Free Kicks: Free kicks are awards against players who deliberately hold the ball during a tackle (The idea here is to keep play going), a push in the back, or unfair play off the ball, Charging, Head high tackles, A Behind or Rushed Behind, Ball kicked out of bounds on the full, Throwing the ball (Not handballing it) and Deliberately pushing the ball out on the foul.


Marks: There seems to be a bit of confusion out there as to why all the mayhem will stop just because someone has caught the ball. This is very simple, If a ball is kicked more than 15m and someone catches on the full, it is called a mark and the player who caught it, is awarded a free kick. Marks can be taken in any manner as long as it does not interfere with another player (Can't push or hold onto them) and if a player gets the opportunity they can jump of the backs of others if they want.


Whistling: There seems to be alot of whistling in this game to warrant for this section. Whistles are blown whenever a free kick is awarded, whether it be for an infringement of the rules or for a mark. Whistles are also blown when a ball is out of bounds either on the full or not and they are also blown when an umpire wants to bounce the ball again.


50m Penalty: The 50m penalty is awarded against a player who has shown absolutely no care for the rules, it is awarded at an umpires discretion.

Commentators:

No point for this section but to let you the reader see what a typical game might sound like from a commentators perspective. In this case we will use players from Carlton, and from Essendon.
"And the ball is bounced starting the 1st quarter of this match, with Corey Mckernan and Paul Salmon going up for the ball, Mckernan gets it and passes it down to Plunket, Plunket kicks a long ball out of the center to left half forward, picked up by Misiti, smoking Joe Misiti takes a run for it chased closely by Houlihan through the bombers center halfback, and Oooohhh!!!! Great chase by Houlihan and a great tackle too. Umpire calls holding the ball and its a free kick to Carlton on the left center wing. Houlihan takes the kick and its a long piercing kick to Bradley who marks in center half forward, Bradley quickly hands it off to Hickmott, who then kicks a long bomb into left pocket and Ooohhh!!! What a screamer of a mark taken by Anthony Koutoutfides, right in the middle of the pack and will now line up from 15m out to score the first goal of the match. He lines up, taking his time, starts the run in and kicks it. Yep. Umpire likes it and so do the crowd, 1 minute into the first quarter and Carlton off to a promising start, scores at 1.0 (6) and Bombers (Essendon) at nothing."
Don't be too worried if you didn't understand a word of that, most citizens in Australia can't understand what is being said most of the time. The only time they can understand is when they hear the score and a cheering crowd. The commentators aren't particularly liked in this game, with some of them calling with some bias, but no-one listens to them unless its on the radio, and then again, those who have radios are the country bumpkins (Yes that is spelt correctly).

Culture:

Go to a game, have a hot pie, a beer or two, wear your footy scarf, show up wearing a footy jumper and buy the Footy Record (a magazine sold before every match to give you team details and if you are bored enough, fill out the score sheet) and yell out as many comments to umpires and players that you want. Some suggestions are "Why don't you go play for the Magoo's you f*****g clown!” "Kick it straight up the guts!" , "Awe how big is it umpire?" , "Soft call umpire!" and the list is endless. Sit with other supporters and jump for joy or cringe with embarrassment or bite your nails because those nerves are killing you. Or you could join a footy club and receive a membership entitling you to a seat at the Grand Final if your team gets there and discounted admission, if not free, to team games. Also try hanging your team scarf out the car window after a win, no real aim to this activity, but it does seem to be a good idea at the time. Ofcourse there is also the footy rivalry, Teams that have never seen eye to eye and the biggest of all rivalries would have to be that of Carlton and Collingwood. Both teams hating each other and the supporters hating each other even more, this is only because Collingwood have never been any good against Carlton and it’s just a matter of jealousy.

Memorial Moments:

1970 Grand Final, Carlton vs. Collingwood, Crowd: 121,696 at the MCG (Still to this day the biggest crowd ever at an AFL Grand Final). Carlton was losing by 44 points at half time, or more specifically 6 Goals and 2 Behinds. Carlton came back during the second half to win by 10 points. Final Score Carlton 17.9 (111) Collingwood 14.17 (101). Also on that day Football legend Alex Jesaulenko was awarded and still holds the Mark of the Century, where he literally ran up the back of a Collingwood player to grab the ball in mid flight.

Australians, young and old, rich and poor all take an interest in this game with passions and tempers flaring at wins or loses, but in the end like most other sports, its just a bunch of men chucking a ball around for points!