I’ve been watching a lot of Aussie Rules Football on ESPN3 lately. I’ve watched Aussie Rules from time to time, especially in the early days of ESPN. How would someone familiar with the game explain it to a total newcomer?
There’s a wiki entry that has the basics. I’ve watched a fair bit, but have never read a rule book.
I’m pretty sure the rules are.
- See rules for Calvinball
1.a Drink a buttload of beer while doing number 1
In simple terms, the idea is to get the ball between the opposing goalposts - there is a “near miss” zone marked with shorter posts, it scores fewer points. You cannot throw the ball but you can carry it (but must bounce it on the ground every few yards), kick it or punch it. If you make a fair catch you can take a free kick without opposition interference. No offside AFAIK and no interference (which is pretty much unique to the American code anyway).
I’m far from an expert, but the thing that’s least intuitively obvious from watching is that you can either punch or kick the ball to a teammate. If you kick the ball to a teammate and they catch it on the fly, then all of a sudden no one can tackle them if they want to try to kick the ball through the uprights. So the game is free flowing and not stopping and people running and tackling… except for when that happens, when the guy gets to try to get it unmolested. At least, I think that’s how it works.
Aside from that, run with the ball, tackle people, have to dribble every once in a while, etc.
I love Aussie Rules Football. Here’s a guide to rules.
Yes, I’ve watched a few games in real life, and that’s the big difference from other codes of football. There’s no off-side rule (i.e., you can play anywhere in the field, regardless of the position of the ball, and the ball can be passed foward by throwing or kicking, though kicking is more common). If you catch the ball from a kick without the ball touching the ground, you can in turn kick the without interference. This means that players have to be good at both kicking accurately and at catching, often jumping in the air to catch the ball.
There are four goal posts at each end: you score 6 points (a goal) for kicking the ball between the two centre posts on the full, and 1 point (a behind) for getting the ball between the two outer posts. The ball moves fast, and scoring can be fast: it’s not unusual for a team to score 50 points in a quarter game.
Personal anecdote: The first Aussie Rules game that I watched was between Richmond and Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 9 August 1969. Both teams had the MCG as their home ground: going into the game, Richmond was coming 5th in the competition, and needed to be in 4th position to get into the final rounds. Melbourne was ahead at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Richmond scored well (about 6 goals) to win the game. They went on from being in 5th position 3 rounds away from the finals to win the VFL grand final in 1969. Ever since then, I’ve counted myself as a Richmond supporter (though I’m not from Melbourne).
I’ve been using the Sydney Herald and Perth Now websites for coverage of Aussie Rules football the past couple of weeks. Any other good websites to read?
I know practically nothing about it, but I’d hazard a guess that the websites of the Melbourne-based papers (The Age; Herald Sun) would be more informative than the Sydney-based paper.
BigFooty is probably biggest discussion forum.
Is it a rule that the team with the tightest shorts gets extra points??
Heh Heh Heh. Your humorous observation is a very common one, or more accurately was. To be fair however, in the past 8 years or so, sports science has won the day and the pros wear shorts much more similar to Rugby shorts nowadays - that is, more free flowing etc - similar to track and field sprinter shorts in the mid 1970’s before lycra came in.
There was a time in basketball, the Wilt Chamberlain era comes to mind, that pro basketballers used to wear very short shorts too and with hindsight, it was never that “great” a look, but hey, your opinion might vary and that’s cool.
It’s a tough game - especially if you’re contesting the ball in crowded quarters. I’m from a Rugby League background and even though that’s the case, I am very proud of Australian Football. It’s a very tough game with spectacular muscular athletes playing the game. And most AFL followers are pretty proud of our national Rugby teams too - both League and Union. Tough is tough, any way you come at it.