Australian Football

Contents

• Australian Football
• What is Australian Rules Football?
• Starting and Restarting Play

Australian Football

Australian Football, colloquially called “footy”, is a fast moving, physical sport that is completely unique from American football, soccer, or rugby. The game is played between two teams of 18 players on a large oval field. In Australia, professional teams play on cricket ovals, meaning that the playing field can be as large as 500 feet long and 450 feet wide, sometimes larger! The primary aim of the game is to score goals by kicking a ball through a set of goalposts on either end of the field. An Australian Rules football is shaped similarly to an American football with rounded ends. Players advance the ball by kicking or handballing (hitting with a clenched fist) it to teammates or running with the ball. Players cannot throw the ball, and must touch the ball to the ground once for every 15 meters they run with it. There is no offside rule, and the ball can be advanced in any direction.

What is Australian Rules Football?

Australian Rules Football (also "Aussie Rules" or " footy") is a physical contact sport. It is a form of football with roots traceable from early forms of Rugby and Gaelic football, but it is uniquely Australian. Its rules were codified in 1858, and probably predate all other modern forms of football, such as American, Canadian, Rugby Union and League, Association (Soccer) and Gaelic football. Today it is a multi-million dollar business, with a National Competition and numerous smaller leagues. Interest in the game is generally at an all time high within and outside Australia, yet despite this, some parts of Australia are still lukewarm in support of their team in the AFL, and the game has yet to take a firm hold overseas.

Starting and Restarting Play

Teams determine the initial choice of goal by coin toss. The field umpire starts play by blowing his whistle and bouncing the ball in the center circle so that it rebounds vertically to be contested by the players in the center square. If ground conditions won't allow the ball to bounce, the umpire simply tosses the ball into the air as if it were a "jump ball." At a center bounce, no player may enter the center circle or cross the center line into the opponent's side of the ground, and only four players from each team are permitted in the center square, until after the ball has been bounced.

After a goal is scored, play is restarted in the center of the ground in the manner described above.

The other common situations when play is restarted are:

• After a behind has scored. Any player of the defending team kicks the ball from within the kick-off 'square' in front of goal, but only after the goal umpire has finished waving his flags.  그래프토토
• The player must kick the ball out to restart play. You may observe, however, that there is no rule preventing him from kicking the ball to himself. 
• After the ball has gone out of bounds (outside the boundary line). If the ball bounced, then the boundary umpire restarts play by throwing it backwards over his head towards the center of the ground. If the ball did not bounce and went over the boundary line as a result of a kick that was not touched, it is "out on the full" (on the fly), and the opposing team receives a free-kick from the spot at which the ball went out. The closest player from the opposing team takes the free kick. 
• When a pack of players prevents either team from gaining clear possession, or a player being tackled or held fails to dispose of the ball ("holding the ball;" see "Possession" below). The umpire bounces the ball at the spot where play came to a halt.

Each quarter runs for 20 minutes of playing time -- when the ball is in play. The ball is considered out of play in the following situations:

• A goal is scored. Time is stopped from when the goal umpire finishes waving his flags to when the ball is bounced. 
• A behind is scored. Time is stopped from when the goal umpire finishes waving his flag to when the ball is kicked in. 
• The ball goes out of bounds. Time is stopped from when the ball goes over the boundary line until the boundary umpire throws the ball back into play. 
• Whenever the field umpire signals to the time-keeper that time is to be stopped by raising his arm and blowing his whistle.
  
  

Tip
“Marks Up” is a great game to learn the basics. It can be played almost anywhere. One player kicks the ball to a group of people and whoever successfully catches it becomes the new kicker while the previous kicker joins the group trying to catch it.