For Official Local Rules see DAFL
website. For official global rules see AFL
website.
THE BASICS
Let's start with the basics. No guns, knives, chains or
baseball bats. Biting and kicking is punished. No tackling
below the waist or above the shoulders. Other than that
... go for it!
Well, not quite. In fact, while football is an unashamedly
physical game, the laws are pretty strict on how contact
can be made. It is okay to use a shoulder to bump an opponent
out of the way while the ball is within range, however,
any use of elbows or fists, and any misdirected blows are
penalized with a free kick. Illegal contact that is considered
to be malicious by the umpire can see a player reported,
meaning he has to face the AFL Tribunal to defend the action.
HANDBALLING, KICKING
AND MARKING
Most of the laws of the game relate to how the ball is moved
around the field. Players cannot throw the ball, but must
"handball," which means holding the ball with
one hand while punching it with a closed fist, preferably
to a team mate. Players can also kick the ball, although
a "Mark" (or a catch) is not considered to have
been taken if the ball has traveled less than 15 meters.
Naturally, a "mark" can only be taken when the
ball has not touched anything - the ground, somebody's fingers,
low-flying UFO - while in flight. High-leaping marks can
be taken by climbing onto another player's back before catching
the ball. If a player drops such a mark, a free kick is
often paid to the player who was climbed upon. Basically
this is to compensate for the inconvenience of having a
90-100 kg man jumping all over your back.
RUN TOO FAR, HOLDING THE BALL, DROPPING
THE BALL, PUSHED IN THE BACK
Players running with the ball must touch it to the ground,
either physically or by bouncing the ball, within 15 meters
or they are penalized for running too far. If a player is
tackled while running with the ball, he can be penalized
for "Holding the ball" or "Dropping the ball".
You'll know when this might happen because half the crowd
(barracking for the player laying the tackle) will yell:
"BALL!" Alternately, if the player laying the
tackle pushes him in the back, the tackled player may win
a free kick. You'll know this is a chance because half the
crowd will scream: "BACK!"
OUT OF BOUNDS
The boundary line is the white chalk line running around
the circumference of the playing area. If the ball is kicked
and travels untouched over this line, it is called Out of
Bounds On The Full, which awards a free kick to the other
team. If the ball is touched or bounces before going Out
of Bounds then a boundary umpire (they're the ones who run
up and down the wings, sometimes running backwards) stands
with his or her back to play and throws the ball high into
the air, so that the ruckmen can contest the throw-in.
If a player is considered to have deliberately sent the
ball Out of Bounds then a free kick can be awarded to the
other team. This is most likely to happen when a defender
is surrounded and can't see any option but to look for the
boundary line. One of Australian Rules' most important defensive
skills is the ability to knock the ball deliberately over
the line with just enough subtlety, plus a convincing look
of complete innocence, to win a throw-in, not give away
a free kick.
50 METER PENALTIES
These are awarded as an extra penalty after a free kick
if the player giving away the free kick behaves in a churlish,
unsporting or particularly violent manner. Sometimes players
will throw the player awarded a free kick to the ground
or refuse to pass the ball to them or some such thing, at
which point the field umpire can impose a 50 meter penalty.
These can deliver a Goal on a plate if awarded within 70
or 80 meters of goal so players need to tread carefully,
even when frustrated.
SCORING AND STRANGE PEOPLE IN WHITE HATS
AND COATS
The object of footy is to kick the ball through the big
white sticks at either end of the ground. As in all team
sports, teams kick in opposite directions (the teams change
direction every quarter).
The goalposts in Australian Rules consist of two long sticks
in the middle with shorter sticks on the outside. The posts
are all exactly 6.4 meters apart and at least 6 meters high.
A "Goal" is scored when a player kicks the ball
through the two central large sticks, without anybody else
touching the ball. A goal is worth six points. A "Behind"
is scored when the ball misses the "goals", instead
passing between one of the taller goalposts and the shorter
point- posts. Therefore, missing the actual goal, either
to the left or the right. A Behind is worth one point. Any
kicks that travel further to the left or right, therefore
passing to the outside of the point-posts are considered
to have been Out-Of-Bounds on the full, awarding a free
kick to the opposition.
If the ball is touched before traveling through the goalposts,
it is only counted as a Behind, not a Goal, and if the ball
is run through the goalposts or the point-posts, it is also
a Behind. A Goal must be kicked. Handballing through the
goalposts is only worth a Behind.
After a goal, the ball is carried back to the center circle
and is bounced or thrown into the air to recommence play
from the most neutral point on the ground. After a behind
is scored, the opposition team kicks the ball back into
play from the goal square, which is the chalked box leading
from the goalposts to 9 meters into the playing area.
One big question from newcomers to Aussie Rules is: why
does somebody stand behind the goals wearing a baggy white
coat, as worn by housepainters, and the kind of white porkpie
hat usually seen on lawn bowlers. This comical figure is
called the goal umpire. He, or she, judges whether the ball
sailed through for a goal or a behind. Or out of bounds
on the full. Goal umpires signal a Goal by standing straight
between the goalposts, bending both arms at the elbow and
extending the index finger of both hands. They then wave
two flags to their counterpart at the other end. That goal
umpire waves two flags back to acknowledge that the goal
has been recognized and counted (the goal umpires compare
notes at the end of each quarter to confirm the exact score
of the match). A Behind is signaled by the raising of one
arm and one index finger, then a single flag is waved to
the other end.
Watch for the particularly skilled Goal Umpire work, as
often practiced at an AFL level, where the Goal Umpire positions
him or herself right under the path of the ball then arches
the back outrageously to watch the ball pass overhead and
well behind the goals. This is usually followed by "The
hang", when a goal umpire waits for a few needless
moments to keep the crowd in suspense before signaling the
goal.
THE LADDER
The 16 teams are competing each week for Premiership Points.
Winning an AFL match is worth 4 points. A drawn game (scores
level) is split into 2 points each. A loss is worth the
Big Zero in points.
The AFL ladder is calculated according to which teams have
the most Premiership Points (usually the column on the far
right), as well as percentage, which is too complicated
to go into but is worked out according to the size of winning
or losing margins. The team with the better percentage is
placed above another team with the same number of Premiership
points but a lesser percentage. Got that? Good.
The top 8 teams on the ladder after the 22 home-and-away
rounds continue on to play in the Finals, throughout September
and leading to the Grand Final (see below). The 8 teams
that finish from 9th to 16th go into mothballs until the
next season.
The worst-performed team in the competition sits in 16th
place on the ladder. The team that finds itself there after
the 22 home-and-away rounds of the season is awarded the
dubious honor of The Wooden Spoon. Why the raspberry award
of the AFL is a wooden spoon is anybody's guess (it's not
even real, just a figure of speech) but, then again, this
is a sport that has terms like "Holding The Man"
and "White Maggot" so go figure.
The up-side of your team winning the Wooden Spoon is that
you get first choice in the national draft in November,
when the new, up-and-coming, available talent is divided
up between the 16 clubs.
THE PREMIERSHIP
Also referred to as "winning the flag", the silver
Premiership trophy is awarded to the team that wins the
Grand Final, usually on the last Saturday in September (2000
Olympics permitting).
As mentioned above, the top 8 teams after the home-and-away
rounds contest the finals, using a system of matches known
as the McIntyre Final Eight, which is only marginally less
complicated than the calculation systems used by NASA in
building the Mars Pathfinder or used by the Australian Taxation
Office to assess how much money tax-payers get back.
The guts of the whole system is this: win the first week,
and definitely win the last week.
Without getting into fine detail like which semi-final victor
specifically meets which qualifying final winner, here's
how it works:
THE FINALS
WEEK ONE: THE QUALIFYING FINALS
This is cut-throat for the lower clubs. During the first
week of the finals, 1st plays 8th, 2nd plays 7th, 3rd plays
6th and 4th plays 5th . The lowest ranked losers (say 7th
and 8th) drop out of the race. Thanks for coming. The highest
ranked winners this week (say 1st and 2nd) get a week's
rest, moving straight into the Preliminary Finals (see:
Week Three).
WEEK TWO: THE SEMI FINALS
The two lowest-ranked winners (say 3rd and 4th) and two
highest-ranked losers (say 5th and 6th) contest the Semi-Finals
this week. The two losers drop out and the two winners go
on to the third week.
WEEK THREE: THE PRELIMINARY FINALS
Okay, the two rested teams from the Qualifying finals each
meet a winner from the semi-finals. It's completely cut-throat
now, folks. The losers are out,. The winners move on to
the Grand Final.
WEEK FOUR: THE GRAND FINAL
This is the big one. The Saturday afternoon that stops the
majority of Australia. After a week of ceremonies, lead-up
events and pre-match parachuting displays, the two preliminary
final-winning teams run onto the MCG to compete for the
Premiership Cup. The crowd is always in the vicinity of
100,000 people and the game is watched by a vast TV audience.
The team that wins this match takes the flag, AKA the premiership
AKA the loot and hoopla. The losers weep quietly in a stark
dressing room. Oh well, there's always next year.
THE BROWNLOW MEDAL (The Sitch Medal)
Every player will tell you straight-faced that footy is
a team game. The politically correct line is that you're
just lucky to get a game and you aim to play well, week
to week.
In fact, that's true but the League also has a highly desired
individual award, for the best player of the AFL home-and-away
rounds. It's called the Brownlow Medal and named after Charles
"Chaz" Brownlow, a Geelong clubman, administrator
and all-round good guy from a long long time ago.In Denmark
it is named after the league founder Mick Sitch.
At the end of each game, the field umpires sit down and
decide who they considered to be the best player on the
field that day. This player is then awarded 3 votes. The
second best player on the ground is awarded 2 votes and
the third-best player on the ground is awarded 1 vote. These
votes are locked away in a bank vault for the rest of the
season, solemnly produced with an armed guard on Brownlow
night. The votes are then counted in one of the most tedious
television events of the year before the player with the
most votes over the season is announced the winner. There
is an asterisk, however. The award is for the AFL's best
and fairest - meaning that if the top-voting player has
been found guilty by the AFL Tribunal and suspended during
the season, he is not eligible to take the Brownlow Medal.
This happened in 1997 when the Western Bulldogs' Chris Grant
had the most votes but had been outed for a week early in
the season. He therefore missed out on the medal, which
was won by St Kilda's Robert Harvey. Nothing like a bit
of controversy.
THE CROWDS
It's not unusual to see 70,000 people turn up for a big
clash. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is one of the world's
truly great stadiums, at its best for the traditional Boxing
Day cricket Test and for the Australian Rules matches that
take place day and night throughout the winter.
The largest crowd ever recorded at a footy match was on
Grand Final Day, 1970, when Collingwood met Carlton in one
of the most memorable matches ever to decide the Premiership
(Carlton mounted an astonishing second-half comeback to
steal the game and continue a Collingwood premiership drought
that was to last all the way from 1958 to 1990). No less
than 121,696 people were there that day - more than 121,750
if you include the players and coaching staffs - and it
is a record that will probably never be broken, given all
the post-Hillsborough fire and crowd safety regulations
that now demand less tightly-packed grandstands.
Giant crowds continue to be a feature of AFL football, and
last season saw several attendance records broken. Packed
houses in Adelaide, Perth and Sydney have joined the massive
MCG crowds. Any matches between the Victorian heavyweights,
Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon and Richmond, are guaranteed
big crowds and if the Melbourne is showing any form, the
Demons can also draw a crowd.
