Australian rules football

:Australian Rules redirects here. For the movie, see Australian Rules (film).

Rules of the game

The equipment needed to play the game is minimal. As in other kinds of football, players wear boots with stops (known as studs in some regions) in the soles, shorts, and a thick, strong shirt or jumper known as a guernsey.

Related Topics:
Football - Jumper - Guernsey

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Eighteen players are permitted to take the field for each team, with an additional four players on an interchange bench (although this number often varies in exhibition and practise matches).

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The game is played with an ellipsoid ball which may be caught, kicked or passed to another player by punching, but may not be thrown or handed between players. There is no offside rule and a player may run as far as he likes with the ball, provided he either bounces or touches the ball to the ground every fifteen metres. A player who cleanly catches a kicked ball that has travelled more than 15 metres without anyone else touching it — called a mark — is entitled to an unimpeded kick of the ball, to advance his team towards their goalposts.

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Four posts are erected at either end of the oval and markings are placed on the ground as shown in the diagram below. The aim for each team is to kick the ball between the two inner posts of one set, for a goal, worth six points. If the ball travels between one outer and one inner post (which includes striking an inner post), it scores a behind, worth just one point. If the ball travels outside the posts, or strikes the outer-most post, it is deemed out of bounds and is either thrown in or awarded to the opposing side as a free kick, depending on whether it bounced before going out of bounds.

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There are no set positions in the rules of the game, but traditionally the field was divided into three major sections: the forward line, back line, and midfield. The forward and back lines were comprised of six players, arranged into two lines of three players each. The midfield generally consists of the designated ruckman (i.e. player who contests the ruck) and players who either stay in the centre area of the ground (between the two 50 metre arcs) or follow the ball and are not confined to a particular area.

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The modern game, however, has largely discarded positional play in favour of a free flowing running game and attempting to have loose men in various positions on the ground. The rise in popularity of the hand-pass since the 1970s has greatly influenced this style of play, with players more willing to follow the ball and move it quickly amongst themselves rather than kicking long to a one-on-one marking contest. In the late 1990s a tactic known as flooding was devised and also shifted focus away from set positions. When a team "plays a flood", they direct two or more of their midfield or forward line players into their defence, thus out-numbering their opponent and making it difficult for any opposing forward to take an uncontested mark. Most football sides are named (and demonstrated) in the traditional set positions, but it is in fact uncommon for players to stay within the traditional areas of their position. Below is a diagram illustrating the traditional positions of Australian rules football.

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The game is controlled by a number of field umpires (at elite level, three), two boundary umpires whose main job is to conduct throw-ins when the ball leaves the field of play and two goal umpires who judge whether the ball is kicked between the goal posts without being touched by another player or the goal posts (thus scoring a goal), between a goal and point post (thus a point) or outside the goals entirely (thus becoming the boundary umpire's responsibility). The goal umpires wear distinctive uniforms (such as white, and recently brightly coloured, coats) and are equipped with two flags. After a goal is scored and indicated to the players via hand signals, the goal umpire waves the two flags such that the other goal umpire sees and records the goal. One flag is waved for a point.

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The game is a fast-paced combination of speed, athleticism, skill and physical toughness. Players are allowed to tackle the player with the ball and impede opposition players from tackling their teammates (known as shepherding), but not to deliberately strike an opponent (though pushing the margins of these rules is often a substantial part of the game). Like most team sports, tactics are based around trying to get the ball, then — through a combination of running with the ball, hand-passing and kicking — deliver it to a player who is within range of goal. Because taking a mark entitles the player to a free kick, a common tactic is to attempt to kick the ball on the full (without bouncing) to a teammate who is within kicking range of goal. In this situation, packs of players often form around the goal square, and the opportunity arises for spectacular high marks (or "speccies"), in which players launch themselves off opponents' backs to mark the ball, high in the air. This particular skill is highly regarded as a spectacle, and an annual "Mark of the Year" is awarded at the end of a season.

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Holding the ball

One of the things that causes the most confusion for people that are not familiar with the game are the Holding the Ball, Dropping the Ball, and Throwing rules. Confusion arises because a player being tackled is not allowed to hold onto the ball, but is not allowed to throw it either.

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These rules are easily summarised:

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• Players must always dispose of the ball cleanly. A disposal is either a kick or a handpass. Failure to do so results in a penalty to the opposing team, which is awarded a free kick. This is usually called either dropping or throwing.
• A handpass, also called a handball, is performed by punching the ball from one hand with the other fist.
• When a player is in possession of the ball, and moving, the ball must be bounced, or touched to the ground, at least once every 15 metres. Failure to do so results in a penalty to the opposing team, who is awarded a free kick. This is occasionally called travelling but is most often referred to as "running too far", and is signalled by the umpire in the same way as travelling is signalled in basketball. It is not referred to as holding the ball as had been previously recorded here.
• When a player is in possession of the ball, and is tackled correctly (ie., above the knees and below the shoulders), they must immediately dispose of the ball by kicking or handpassing. Failure to do so results in a penalty to the tackling team, who is awarded a free kick. This is also called holding the ball. Exceptions to this rule include:
• Being bumped, that is, hit side-on by another player or tackled in such a manner that causes the ball to be knocked free or come loose from a player's possession.
• Being swung off balance and making an attempt to dispose of the ball, but not making contact.
• The tackling player pinning the ball to the player being tackled or to the ground.

Scoring

Like many other codes of football, the way to score points is to score goals. In Australian Rules Football, there are two types of scores: a goal, or a behind. There are four goal posts at each end of the ground. The area between the middle (and taller) posts is the goal: kicking the ball between these posts constitutes six points. Kicking the ball through the gaps in between the two shorter posts is a behind, which constitutes a single point. A ball that passes through the taller posts in any manner other than a kick (ie., handpassed or run through) is a behind. A ball that is touched by any player after it is kicked and before it passes through the taller posts is a behind. A ball that is kicked over the line by a defending player is a behind. A kicked ball that strikes one of the inner posts (whether it goes through or not) is a behind.

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Therefore, when you read an AFL or any other Australian Rules Football result, you usually get something like this:

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Sydney Swans 17.10 (112) def. Brisbane Lions 13.17 (95)

Related Topics:
Sydney Swans - Brisbane Lions

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The first number is the number of goals (six points) scored, the second number is the number of behinds (one point) scored, and the third number in the brackets is the total score.

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Length of the Game

The length of a game of Australian football can vary from league to league, but is generally around 15 to 25 minutes per quarter. In the AFL, each quarter runs for 20 minutes plus time on. The term "time on" describes the additional time added to the standard 20 minute period for such stoppages as injuries, goals being kicked, when the umpire is setting the angle of a free kick at goal, etc. It can be likened to injury time in soccer, except that in Australian football, an off-field independent official keeps the official time and then sounds the siren at the start and end of each quarter. The other peculiarity (compared to most other football codes) is that the onfield umpires signal to the "time-keeper" when time is to be added on (or conversely, to stop the clock, since that is effectively what happens when the umpire signals time on). The average AFL quarter will thus run from between 27 to 33 minutes, depending on the amount of time added on.

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