# Can someone ID this Brit sport I recently saw on television? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191 "2005-12-05T16:38:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/1 "2005-12-05T16:38:13Z")
Sorry for the lame clues, but I caught just a few seconds of this sport the other day. I’m not sure if it was rugby or not. The “ball” was definitely larger than an American football and more round-ish. (No, not a soccer ball.) The players were running up and down the field, as they do in rugby, but the were mainly **kicking** the ball and trying to get it to fly through goals posts at each end of the field, IIRC. Again, lots and lots of running–and equal amounts of kicking. I don’t recall seeing any scrum or pile-ons, which is what I think of when rugby comes to mind. Didn’t get any team names. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/2 "2005-12-05T16:41:08Z")
Sounds like Aussie football. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/3 "2005-12-05T16:56:26Z")
Or Gaelic football, which is similar to Aussie Rules. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/4 "2005-12-05T17:01:32Z")
Did they have sleeves on their shirts? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/5 "2005-12-05T17:03:55Z")
Certainly sounds like Gaelic football to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/6 "2005-12-05T17:04:21Z")
To elaborate - if the ball was round and there were only two goalposts at each end, it was Gaelic football. If the sun was shining ( 😉 ), or they had an oval ball and a large oval field with four posts, it was Aussie Rules. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/7 "2005-12-05T17:09:59Z")
One way or the other it wasn’t a British Game. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic\_football](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football) or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie\_rules](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie_rules) Gaelic footbal the ball is round and heavier than a soccer ball. Aussie rules balls are oval but slighly rounder than a rugby ball ([http://www.universalsportsinds.com/651fc.jpg](http://www.universalsportsinds.com/651fc.jpg)) ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/8 "2005-12-05T17:45:16Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > To elaborate - if the ball was round and there were only two goalposts at each end, it was Gaelic football. If the sun was shining ( 😉 ), or they had an oval ball and a large oval field with four posts, it was Aussie Rules. The ball was neither round nor quite so oblong as an American football. Definitely larger than an American ball. Lots of running and drop-kicking at the same time. Action-wise, looked like a cross between soccer and rugby. I don’t recall any tackling. Can’t recall sleeve length. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/9 "2005-12-05T17:58:57Z")
If it wasn’t round then you were watching Aussie Rules. Good fast physical game. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/10 "2005-12-05T19:45:38Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > If it wasn’t round then you were watching Aussie Rules. > > Good fast physical game. It definitely looked like this ball… ([http://www.universalsportsinds.com/651fc.jpg](http://www.universalsportsinds.com/651fc.jpg)) \>\> So, I take it that Aussie ball is noticeably different than rugby or Gaelic ball? What commonalities do these games have? Do they share a same history? Do the Brits have the equivalent of Aussie ball? ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/11 "2005-12-05T20:11:33Z")
How many players were on the field? (It could be 7s rugby, which is like the ordinary kind but with way fewer players, so there is much less scrumming and tackling and a lot more running and kicking.) Can you throw the ball forward in Aussie or Gaelic football? If so, then this would distinguish them from rugby (where it can only ever be thrown backward - but kicking it forward is acceptable.) What happened when the ball was kicked through the posts? If there was a striped referee who points straight ahead with both hands to indicate a goal, it might be Aussie Rules (I love the refs, they’re the best part of the game). ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/12 "2005-12-05T21:01:16Z")
**Carnac** , [this](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/114/1660/640/sherrin.1.jpg) should be the ball you saw - a Sherrin. It’s used for all high-level Aussie Rules games (with a yellow version for night games). I don’t believe the British have an equivalent of Australian Rules Football (Aussie Rules, or in my area, just “footy”). The closest thing in the world is Gaelic Football, which is still quite different. Aussie Rules is the dominant code in 4 of the 6 states of Australia - Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, whereas in NSW (especially northern NSW) and Queensland, Rugby’s the more popular game. Even so, Aussie Rules is making inroads around the country. There are 18 players for each side on the field at any time, plus a few on a small interchange bench. The aim is to send the ball to your team’s end of the field by kicking, handballing or simply carrying it. You can’t throw the ball, you can’t run with it without regularly bouncing it (like dribbling in basketball, only less often), thus you don’t see long runs like in American football. You can tackle people with the ball, but not if they don’t have it - so the “blockers” etc employed in American football don’t get a look-in. Your aim, once you’ve reached your end of the field, is to kick it through the larger of the four posts arranged like this: I I I I Kick it between the bigger two, you get a goal, which is worth 6 points. Kick it between the smaller two, hit a post, touch it with your hand before it goes through, and it’s only worth 1 point. The game lasts 4 quarters of roughly 30 minutes each, by the time the ball is brought back in after being knocked out of bounds, kicked through the goals etc. The referee (umpire) doesn’t wear stripes, traditionally all-white, though nowadays they sometimes wear bright neon colours. They do signal with two hands for a goal and one hand for a behind (single point) though. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/13 "2005-12-06T00:45:02Z")
Aussie rules ROCKS! 😃 The real question: was the field striped at all like an American field is? If so, it’s not Aussie rules. That game is played on a cricket oval, and has very few markings on the field, most notably the arcs that show the 50 meter distance to the goal. Aussie rules allows hand passes, but you have to bump the ball to the next person with a closed fist. You also have to have the ball touch the ground every 15 meters when running with it. I like to think of it as what English football would have become had the people from Rugby School been able to agree with the people from Eton School about a compromise set of rules on carrying the ball and “hacking” (what we would today call tackling). ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/14 "2005-12-06T01:43:52Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > Can you throw the ball forward in Aussie or Gaelic football? If so, then this would distinguish them from rugby (where it can only ever be thrown backward - but kicking it forward is acceptable.) Yep. Not thrown though. In Gaelic football the ball can be palmed forward or kicked forward. The ball has to be juggled from foot to hand every 3 steps when moving forward. The scoring system is quite different. In Gaelic football the post is a H. Put the ball over the crossbar between the post and you score a point. Put it below the crossbar and you score a goal(3 points) There is a goalkeeper though so a goal is harder. There’s actually a [Compromised Rules](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/special_events/gaelic_sports/newsid_3204000/3204631.stm) series held between Irish Gaelic footballers and Aussie Rules players. Gaelic football is the most popular spectator game in Ireland ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/15 "2005-12-06T02:29:37Z")
There used to be a Guinness commerical on TV that had some sport being played in the rain. I can’t remember now if it looked like a football variant or if there was a stick involved. Anyone remember what game that was? ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/16 "2005-12-06T02:38:41Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > There used to be a Guinness commerical on TV that had some sport being played in the rain. I can’t remember now if it looked like a football variant or if there was a stick involved. Anyone remember what game that was? Asterion, I REALLY resent your barging in with a stupid, clueless question when I posed my own stupid, clueless question first! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/17 "2005-12-06T02:43:15Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Asterion, I REALLY resent your barging in with a stupid, clueless question when I posed my own stupid, clueless question first! 😉 Well, it is a Brit sport I (fairly) recently saw on television. And I really can’t remember what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/18 "2005-12-06T03:36:38Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Well, it is a Brit sport I (fairly) recently saw on television. And I really can’t remember what it was. Maybe hurling? Played with sticks and a ball on a football field. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/19 "2005-12-06T03:50:38Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Maybe hurling? Played with sticks and a ball on a football field. I think so. That’s the term that came to mind five minutes after **Carnac** ’s post. To get this back on track, Gaelic rules is really the most popular sport in Ireland? What are the numbers like compared to other sports? ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-id-this-brit-sport-i-recently-saw-on-television/334191/20 "2005-12-06T10:27:25Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Well, it is a Brit sport I (fairly) recently saw on television. And I really can’t remember what it was. OI! It’s not a Brit sport it’s an Irish sport. Ireland is NOT part of Britain. It’s like saying Basketball is a Brit sport. 😉 Don’t have numbers to hand but when I have a bit of time I’ll have a look around. > [@](#): > > Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland, attendance at matches in the senior championship in the summer can reach 70,000 or more. The game is played at underage, minor and senior levels. Unlike in soccer, where the biggest crowd drawers are club matches, Gaelic football’s biggest drawers are always county matches. All players are amateur (they are not paid to participate) but they often train just as hard and as frequently as professionals in other sports. There is great pride associated with playing for a county team in Ireland. The main national competitions are the Senior All-Ireland Football Championships and the Senior All-Ireland Football League [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport\_in\_Ireland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Ireland) Oh and the sport you are talking about is hurling ([http://www.gaa.ie/page/all\_about\_hurling.html](http://www.gaa.ie/page/all_about_hurling.html))