so i went to an afl game last night. interesting. combination of....basketball, soccer, football, hockey, wrestling, ufc, netball, volleyball, cross country, and any other sport you can think of. it was interesting.
anyways. brisbane lions were playing the collingwood magpies. and the pies are ranked number 2 in the nation. well. we got our butts spanked...UNTIL!...the 3rd quarter (each quarter is 30 minutes long...ugh) and we pulled ahead with one goal. and then 4th quarter...we just kept winning and winning and winning. final score was 88 to 80.
and if you really want all the rules of the game...here you go:
Australian rules football
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australian Football League
Nickname(s)
Australian rules football, football, footy, Aussie rules, AFL
First played
1859, Melbourne, Australia
Australian rules football, also officially known as Australian football, is a variant of football played outdoors between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, on large oval-shaped grass fields, with a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid. The game is commonly referred to as football, Aussie rules or as footy. In New South Wales and Queensland, where it has lower popularity, it is often known as AFL, after the Australian Football League.
The primary aim of the game is to score goals by kicking the ball between the middle two posts of the opposing goal. The winner is the team with the higher total score at the end of the fourth quarter. Except for special circumstances, if the score is tied, a draw is declared.
Players may use any part of their body to advance the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled, for example players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. Unlike most similar sports, there is no offside rule, and players can roam the field freely. Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick is paid. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick, are awarded a free kick. Australian rules is a contact sport, in which players can tackle using their hands or use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as a pushing an opponent in the back), interference when marking and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties or suspension, depending on the seriousness of the infringement. Frequent physical contests, aerial marking or "speckies", fast movement of both players and the ball and high scoring are the game's main attributes.
Details of the game's origins in Australia are obscure and still the subject of much debate. Australian football became organised in Melbourne in May 1859, when the first laws of the game were published by the Melbourne Football Club.
Australian football is a major participation and spectator sport in Australia. The most prestigious national competition in Australia is the Australian Football League (AFL), which culminates in the annual AFL Grand Final, currently the highest attended club championship event in the world. The AFL has governed the sport nationally since 1993 and internationally since 2005 through the AFL Commission and the AFL Laws of the Game Committee. The game is also played at amateur level in several countries and in several variations.
The playing field, which may be approximately 150 metres (or more) long goal to goal and 135 metres (or more) wide boundary line to boundary line wing to wing. Approximately 3 to 5 metres of boundary line space from the boundary line to the fence is also required. The centre square is 50m x 50m. The curved fifty metre line is 50 m away from the centre of the goal. For professional Australian Football the 50 metre lines should not intersect the front or back edge of the centre square (which is why 150m from goal to goal is considered about regulation size (some grounds are longer)). Adjacent goal and behind posts are 6.4 metres apart. The goal square is 9m long.
Both the ball and the field of play are elliptical in shape. No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time.
Up to four interchange (reserve) players may be swapped for those on the field at any time during the game. In Australian rules terminology, these players wait for substitution "on the bench" – an area with a row of seats on the sideline.
There is no offside rule nor are there set positions in the rules; unlike many other forms of football, players from both teams disperse across the whole field before the start of play. Typically, each team consists of six "forwards", six "defenders", two "wingmen" (or "centres") and four "followers " (or "ruck rovers"), as well as four reserves who can replace any player at any time. There is a rule which stipulates that only four players from each team are allowed within the 50 m centre square before every centre bounce, which occurs at the commencement of each quarter, and to restart the game after a goal is scored. There are also other rules pertaining to allowed player positions during set plays (i.e., after a mark or free kick) and during kick-ins following the scoring of a behind.
A game consists of four quarters and a timekeeper officiates their duration. In professional Australian Football, quarters are 20 minutes plus time on. Time on refers to clock being stopped when the ball is out of play, meaning that an average quarter could last for 27 to 31 minutes. At the end of each quarter, teams change their scoring end.
Games are officiated by umpires. Australian football begins after the first siren, the umpire bounces the ball on the ground, and the two ruckmen (typically the tallest players from each team), battle for the ball in the air on its way back down.
The ball can be propelled in any direction by way of a foot, clenched fist (called a handball or handpass) or open-hand tap but it cannot be thrown under any circumstances. Throwing is defined in the rules quite broadly but is essentially any open hand disposal that causes the ball to move upward in the air.
A player may run with the ball but it must be bounced or touched on the ground at least once every 15 metres. Opposition players may bump or tackle the player to obtain the ball and, when tackled, the player must dispose of the ball cleanly or risk being penalised for holding the ball. The ball carrier may only be tackled between the shoulders and knees. If the opposition player forcefully contacts a player in the back whilst performing a tackle, the opposition player will be penalised for a push in the back. If the opposition tackles the player with possession below the knees, it is ruled as a low tackle or a trip, and the team with possession of the football gets a free kick.
If a player takes possession of the ball that has travelled more than 15 metres from another player's kick, by way of a catch, it is claimed as a mark and that player may then have a free kick (meaning that the game stops while he prepares to kick from the point at which he marked). Alternatively, he may choose to "play on:" forfeiting the set shot in the hope of pressing an advantage for his team (rather than allowing the opposition to reposition while he prepares for the free kick). Once a player has chosen to play on, normal play resumes and the player who took the mark is again able to be tackled.
There are different styles of kicking depending on how the ball is held in the hand. The most common style of kicking seen in today's game, principally because of its superior accuracy, is the drop punt (the ball is dropped from the hands down, almost to the ground, to be kicked so that the ball rotates in a reverse end over end motion as it travels through the air). Other commonly used kicks are the torpedo punt (also known as the spiral, barrel, or screw punt; the ball is held at an angle and kicked, which makes the ball spiral in the air, like a rugby throw, resulting in extra distance) and the checkside punt or "banana", kicked across the ball on the outside of the foot is used to curve the ball (towards the right if kicked off the right foot) towards targets that are on an angle. There is also the "snap," which is almost the same as a checkside punt, except that it is kicked off the inside of the foot and curves in the opposite direction. It is also possible to kick the ball so that it bounces along the ground. This is known as a "grubber". Grubbers can bounce in a straight line, or curve to the left or right.
Apart from free kicks or when the ball is in the possession of an umpire for a ball up or throw in, the ball is always in dispute and any player from either side can take possession of the ball.
The two tall central posts are the goal posts, and the two shorter outer posts are the behind posts.
A goal is scored when the football is propelled through the goal posts at any height (including above the height of the posts) by way of a kick from the attacking team. It may fly through on the full or bounce through, but must not have been touched, on the way, by any player from either team. A goal cannot be scored from the foot of an opposition (defending) player.
A behind is scored when the ball passes between a goal post and a behind post at any height, or if the ball hits a goal post, or if an attacking player sends the ball between the goal posts by touching it with any part of the body other than a foot. A behind is also awarded to the attacking team if the ball touches any part of an opposition player, including his foot, before passing between the goal posts. When an opposition player deliberately scores a behind for the attacking team (generally as a last resort, because of the risk of their scoring a goal) this is termed a rushed behind. Before the start of the 2009 season, this would be the same score as a regular behind. However, because in the 2008 grand final the Hawthorn Football Club rushed 11+ behinds, a new rule was introduced stating that the behind will be counted and the player that rushed the behind will also concede a free kick in the goal square.
A goal is worth 6 points whereas a behind is worth 1 point. The goal umpire signals a goal with two hands raised at elbow height, a behind with one hand, and then confirms the signal with the other goal umpire by waving flags above his head.
The team that has scored the most points at the end of play wins the game. If the scores are level on points at the end of play, then the game is a draw; extra time applies only during finals matches in some competitions.
As an example of a score report, consider a match between St Kilda Football Club and the Sydney Swans. St Kilda's score of 15 goals and 11 behinds equates to 101 points. Sydney's score of eight goals and ten behinds equates to a 58 point tally. St Kilda wins the match by a margin of 43 points. Such a result would be written as "St Kilda 15.11 (101) defeated Sydney Swans 8.10 (58)" and said "St Kilda fifteen eleven, one hundred and one defeated Sydney Swans eight ten, fifty-eight."
Players generally wear shorts and a sleeveless shirt called a "jumper" or "Guernsey".
The football season, proper, is from March to August (early autumn to late winter in Australia) with finals being held in September. In the tropics, the game is sometimes played in the wet season (October to March). Pre-season competitions in southern Australia usually begin in late February.
The AFL is recognised by the Australian Sports Commission as being the National Sporting Organisation for Australian rules football. There are also seven state/territory-based organisations in Australia, most of which are now either owned by or affiliated to the AFL.
Most of these hold annual semi-professional club competitions while the others oversee more than one league. Local semi-professional or amateur organisations and competitions are often affiliated to their state organisations.
The AFL is the de facto world governing body for Australian rules football. There are also a number of affiliated organisations governing amateur clubs and competitions around the world.
For almost all Australian rules club competitions the aim is to win the Premiership. The premiership is always decided by a finals series. The teams that occupy the highest positions on the ladder play off in a "semi-knockout" finals series. From the 1930s the finals series was usually contested by the top four teams (3rd versus 4th (First semifinal); 1st versus 2nd (Second semifinal); winner of First versus loser of Second (Preliminary final); the winner of Second versus winner of Preliminary playing in the Grand Final for the premiership). Many leagues have adopted a final series involving 5, 6 or 8 teams with a variety of methods used to determine the winner. The AFL finals system is contested by the top 8 teams.
Unlike most soccer competitions there are usually no separate "league" and "cup" trophies. The team finishing first on the ladder is often referred to as a 'minor premier', although this bears little or no significance. In the AFL, this is the McClelland Trophy and is considered a consolation prize. The team that finishes at the bottom of the ladder at the end of the season receives 'the wooden spoon'
It is also rare for promotion and relegation to occur in Australian Rules Football competitions. Most famously, this occurred in 1997. Former South Australian National Football League side the Port Adelaide Football Club founded in 1870 and formerly known as the Magpies between 1902 and 1996 was awarded the second South Australian AFL licence to play in the national competition. It was required to change its colours, guernseys and nickname (now Power) to avoid a clash with the Collingwood Magpies. It entered the Australian Football League in 1997 after 126 years of competing locally. The Port Adelaide Football club remains the only Australian Football club to be elevated to the national competition in its own right, a true recognition of the clubs domination of the local league and its position as the oldest football club in South Australia.
well there you go. thank you wikipedia.
