[AFL] Australian Football League

[fukachu]

Updated 2011: fixed some pictures and some info, I'm sure some of it is a bit outdated though.

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Hey all.

Being an aussie from victoria, where the game originated from it makes sense i love this game. playing it, even if at amature level is so much fun and i would always walk off the field sore :)

so for those of you who dont know what aussie rules footy is, well let me try and explain.

first of all we play on an oval so its not square like soccer, rugby, american football.

There are no set dimensions for the playing surface, although the recommended size is 150 to 185 metres (164 to 202 yards) in length and 130 to 150 metres (142 to 164 yards) in width.

There are 18 players on the ground from each team for a total of 36 players. Each team has a further 3 players on the bench and 1 substitute. The 3 players on the bench can be rotated onto the field as many times as the team wishes similar to basketball. The substitute player must sit out of the game and can be activated to join the team in exchange for one player being removed from the game. Once this player joins the ground he can be rotated on and off the ground as freely as the team wishes. The player who was substituted off the ground may not rejoin the game (similar to soccer) This new substitute position is new in 2011 and makes learning the rules even more complicated for people new to the game. For more information on the positions:

AFL Positions @ Wikipedia

now.. we dont play with a round ball, we play with a ball similar to that of rugby or american football.

how to pass to a team mate:

kicking the ball is the primary way to dispose of the ball to a team mate. this is done by dropping the ball from you hands and kicking it in mid air. seems easy enough but it takes a lot of skill to kick that shape ball 60meters onto the chest of your team mate. the ball should spin end over end and not wobble in the air.

after a player kicks the ball if another player from either team catches the ball it is called a mark. this allows the play to take his time with the kick and not worry about being tackled. here is the kind of makr u can expect to see.

hand passing (handball) the ball is where you have the ball in one hand and with a closed first hit the ball with your other hand to send it in the direction of your team mate. typically you will do this so that the ball spins end over end.

How to score:

first here is an image of the goals (obviously not real image) there is a painted line joining the sticks on the ground as well as a boundary line around the entire ground

please note these goal posts are actually very large.. this image does not do it justice, lol

Goal = 6points

A goal is scored when a player kicks the ball through the big middle 2 posts. if he can achieve this without any1 else touching the ball he will score 6 points

Behind = 1 Point

A behind is scored when i player kick the ball between a bick and small posts, that is not through the middle 2. i behind can also be scored it some1 touches the ball b4 it crosses the line after being kicked. when this happens it doesnt matter if it goes through the 2 big posts it will still register a behind. if the ball crosses the line in any way other than being kicked it will register a behind, 1 point.

how play continues after this...

when a goal is scored the ball is taken to the centre of the ground and there is a basketball like jump between the 2 teams but they run up and jump.. not stand still.

when a behind is scored the opposition team kicks it out form the goal, just like soccer but they kick the ball always from their hands.

there are many rules.. far too many to explain here.

i will point out this is a contact sport and that is what makes it great fun. if you want to find out more please visit these sites:

Official Australia Football League Website

believe it or not our code of football is played in around 61 countries.. so check out this site and get involved if you find this sport interesting. hopefully there is a developing league near where you live. remember that only australia has the professional league of this sport and other countries are at a very amature level at this stage. but still great fun

Internation Australian Football Council

Finally a HUGE mark:

any questions, comments please do reply :)

cheers

Fizical

Edited May 8, 2011 by fukachu

[oldmate15]

Im from Brisbane, and most people up here know as much about AFL as the USA does. Isnt there a rule where if you get a goal from 50m out, you get 9 points?

[kairon]

WHERES THE FOOTBALL!?!?:rolleyes:

[futb0l]

Lol - I reckon AFL suck because no one except Australia plays it.

[oldmate15]

Lol - I reckon AFL suck because no one except Australia plays it.

believe it or not our code of football is played in around 61 countries

:sleep:

Anyway, I never really gave AFL much of a chance, last year we had a comp at our high school, of course no one knew how to play. So we all did a bit of practice in our REC class, and it was a lot of fun.

I used to think it was netball crossed with tag.

[futb0l]

:sleep:

Anyway, I never really gave AFL much of a chance, last year we had a comp at our high school, of course no one knew how to play. So we all did a bit of practice in our REC class, and it was a lot of fun.

I used to think it was netball crossed with tag.

Hehe - it's similar to Rugby.

and Brisbane Lions is the champion for 3 years in a row - yet no one there plays AFL.

[sesh]

as for the 9-point thing - was an experimental rule for the pre-season comp. not an actual part of the game.

[oldmate15]

Hehe - it's similar to Rugby.

and Brisbane Lions is the champion for 3 years in a row - yet no one there plays AFL.

Yeah, I was kinda joking. Prior to learning how to play, we had an idea of what it was, but didnt really know the rules. Mostly NRL is played up here.

[fukachu]

i think its a real shame this game hasnt grown more outside the country and that it is now on the decline in australia.

no offence please to all the immigrants from european countries who have come here in the last 50 years.. but i hate you!!

you have taken away football as the most played game among young people in victoria and replaced it with soccer. your reasons? well according to interviews etc because its a safer game.. god damn.. what have we turned into a bunch of whimps who cant take a hit from the other team. damn. i like this game because is physical and fast and there is more freedom in play then rugby. i really dont want to see it die. if only it could get a foothold in some big countries and be somewhat popular there. it would do a big thing for the game.

every international student at my uni i have introduced this game to has loved it. they think its very exciting and fun to watch. so why wont this game grow!! the world of this game needs to get out there more. when i move to china im gonna do my bit.. i mean the chinese suck as soccer so maybe they can play this game well, lol.

[futb0l]

i think its a real shame this game hasnt grown more outside the country and that it is now on the decline in australia.

no offence please to all the immigrants from european countries who have come here in the last 50 years.. but i hate you!!

you have taken away football as the most played game among young people in victoria and replaced it with soccer. your reasons? well according to interviews etc because its a safer game.. god damn.. what have we turned into a bunch of whimps who cant take a hit from the other team. damn. i like this game because is physical and fast and there is more freedom in play then rugby. i really dont want to see it die. if only it could get a foothold in some big countries and be somewhat popular there. it would do a big thing for the game.

every international student at my uni i have introduced this game to has loved it. they think its very exciting and fun to watch. so why wont this game grow!! the world of this game needs to get out there more. when i move to china im gonna do my bit.. i mean the chinese suck as soccer so maybe they can play this game well, lol.

hehe - i am supporting soccer.

afl is pretty good - but soccer is more fun.

[fukachu]

are you kidding me? i play both but football is much more exciting to play. and the scoring is more frequent. the only thing that is exciting about soccer to me is when a goal is kicked cause they are soooo rare. lol

[HoochieMamma]

Good to see we have some more australians here. :D

[mr.phrodo]

Yay for Australia! Up the mighty Eagles!

I think some Americans have enough trouble understanding Cricket, so I don't think they will get AFL :p

[fukachu]

yeah i dont think they'll get it either.. lol. but no harm in trying. if it gets 1 international person interested then its worth it. im doing my bit helping international students learn about our great game, lol.

"we're the eagles.. west coast eagles... "

no im not a coaster supporter :p

[beacon]

carn the dockers :D

[BOOGMaster]

Yay for Australia! Up the mighty Eagles!

I think some Americans have enough trouble understanding Cricket, so I don't think they will get AFL :p

We will stick with the real football. Your oval game reminds me of when I was a small boy in Zambia. We didn't have much money, so we played "beat the starving neighbor boy" with sticks and gourds. After a severe pummeling, we usually celebrated by sitting around and letting flies naw on us.

Your game of football vanished years ago. Join the 21st century. The NFL owns joos now.

[....]

We will stick with the real football. Your oval game reminds me of when I was a small boy in Zambia. We didn't have much money, so we played "beat the starving neighbor boy" with sticks and gourds. After a severe pummeling, we usually celebrated by sitting around and letting flies naw on us.

Your game of football vanished years ago. Join the 21st century. The NFL owns joos now.

Ignore him peoples. He hasn't had his medication.

AFL is pretty brutal.

[fukachu]

lol...

well i'll let you in on the australian peoples view of American Football (atleast 85-90% of people i have talked about it with)

most of us (from those i've met) believe american football is for pussies because of all the padding and helmets etc you all wear. when australians play rugby and aussies rules football that are both no padding no helmet and hard hitting. admittingly aussie rules football has become softer in recent years compared to the mighty 80s etc.. but thats in the professional league.. in the amatures its still brutal. the amount of times i'v been knocked out of it you wouldnt believe. i should have brain damage by now, lol. and missing a few teeth (thank you mouth gaurd)

but i know that if you guys took off all the protective stuff there would be a heap of injuries and the game would have to be totally re structured to allow such a change. but when i've seen the hard hits in NRL i can see some of those same hard hits in AFL but with no protection clothes. but as i said AFL has become softer in recent years as they punish people heavier for breaking the rules.

[beacon]

The only thing brutal about Gridiron is it's brutal boredom.

[futb0l]

I prefer AFL over NFL. More exciting to watch, fast-paced, but NFL is more strategical.

[Mike Seedleton]

AFL is definately better than NFL I agree its so much more fast paced and exciting,

And I found a great site to watch it on now so I can go anywhere and just login

http://afltv.afl.com.au/ is the link and the best thing is you can watch every AFL game and certain NAB cup games for free so its a bargain really!

[jakem1]

AFL is great to watch on the TV if you love watching an ad break every couple of minutes. Between the ad breaks you get to watch drug cheats kick balls around ;)