Are you one of many that has resorted to a strange Australian game due to a lack of live sport? Strangely intrigued despite not knowing what is going on?
Its Australian Rules Football and this is its peak professional men's version - the Australian Football League.
Well, here's a dummies guide to what you are watching.
Aim of the game?
See those big sticks at either end? The whole objective is to kick it through the middle ones without anyone touching it on the way though. That's a goal, which is worth six points, and it can only be scored by kicking it through.
If it goes through the outside sticks or it comes off hands it's a 'behind' - that's worth one point. Scoreboards then take the form of goals, behinds, total points. So when you see 13.10.88 it's not some sort of programming code, its 13 goals, 10 behinds for a total of 88 points.
The team with the most points wins the game. Games are played in four quarters.
What are the rules?
Yes, it looks like there are no rules, but there are! However, if you're watching it for the first time don't worry too much about these, it will just get in the way of the fun.
The important things to know are that a catch (a 'mark') gives a free possession where the other players can't tackle and the player can kick or handball with some free space.
Other free possessions, known as 'free kicks', come when a tackle is head high, when a player is pushed in the back or front, or when a player is tackled and drops the ball or throws it (the tackle gets the 'free kick' and the ball).
Players can run anywhere they like as there is no off-side rule or any major restrictions on where players run during general play. There are 18 players on the field for each team at one time, with four substitutes that can interchange with those on the field at any time.
There are probably 257 other intricate rules that could be explained, but let's stick to the basics for now.
Where did this game come from?
While parts of the sport's origins are debated, what is known is that a bunch of gentleman form the Melbourne Cricket Club decided to invent a game to keep cricketers physically fit during winter when cricket went into recess.
While aspects of existing sports were used (such as a ball similar to a rugby ball) the group formed rules that steered away from the English rugby many were familiar with.
One of these gentleman, Tom Wills, was said to have played a traditional Aboriginal game, 'Marngrook', with local Aboriginals in his youth. Many of the skills of that game appear to have been used in formulating these new code rules. This was 1858 and the club that was initially formed, the Melbourne Football Club, still plays in the AFL today and lays claim to be on of the oldest sporting clubs in the world.
What team should I support?
Ask your Australian friend who to support and they will each have an answer for you.
The AFL was born out of the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was the strongest of the state-based leagues that ran around the country for 100 years. Around 30 years ago, the VFL became the AFL. So when you pick a team there will be cities you recognise; Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. But there will also be peculiar names such as Carlton, Richmond, Essendon and Collingwood -- inner Melbourne suburbs that grew to be titans of the VFL and remain powerful clubs in the AFL today, much like Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham represent London.
Last night I was introduced to the @AFL.. I don't know how I've gone this long not knowing it existed.
It's INCREDIBLE. pic.twitter.com/aiYQo5tlNy
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 21, 2020
In all, there are 10 teams from Melbourne and its surrounding regions, reflecting the economic hub of the league. For reasons which we won't try to explain here, Australian Rules is the major winter sport in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the island state of Tasmania. Rugby League is the number one sport in Sydney and Brisbane, but despite this there are two AFL franchises in each of these regions, and not one in Tasmania - but that's a whole other story...
Is there an American connection?
There are some quirky American connections to this Australian game, the most obvious in the form of Collingwood forward Mason Cox. Cox was a walk-on basketballer at Oklahoma State University, who then attended an AFL talent combine in LA in 2014.
Collingwood liked what they saw and today he has become a solid player in one of the AFL's strongest teams. His five goals in the 2018 preliminary final against rival Richmond piloted the Magpies into the Grand Final. But if you decide to support Collingwood, please be aware that you will alienate all non-Collingwood supporting Australian friends.
As bizarre as it sounds, there is a USA national men's and women's Australian football team. The USA Revolution (men's) and USA Freedom (women's) compete in the International Cup every three years. Players are picked from USAFL teams across the US, you can go and watch or play for your local team, whether it be the Denver Bulldogs, Arizona Hawks, New York Magpies or the Minnesota Freeze.
Do they ever have crowds?
Yes! These games that you're watching, particularly in the opening rounds when hope is high, would usually be played in front of packed stadiums. Matches in Adelaide and Perth regularly sell out their 50,000 and 60,000 seat stadiums, while the mecca of football, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (another contradiction we won't try to explain) holds the Super Bowl of the AFL each year - 'the Grand Final'- which draws 100,000.
Have we seen this before?
Depending on your age, quite possibly. In the early days of ESPN, before the channel had many live sporting rights to fill its schedule, the-then VFL was a regular staple.
In the oral history of ESPN,Those Guys Have All the Fun, its initial position was communicated by authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.
"Eight thousand, seven hundred, and sixty hours to fill. To realize his dream of a 24/7 network, Bill Rasmussen (original ESPN chair) would need a much better recipe than the motley stew he'd prepared to air so far: Australian rules football, slow-pitch softball, Irish bicycling and Munster hurling."
Through the early-to-mid 80s there was a small cult following of the game that forever links the sport with the early days of ESPN.
Why are they playing amid the coronavirus pandemic?
That's a good question that many people in Australia are confused about. Officially the Federal Government has given its blessing for this and other professional leagues to go ahead, but many feel its incongruous given the situation and that other world sports have suspended seasons.
All football below the AFL level has been suspended. The more pointed answer may be that all professional teams in the AFL are member-owned, much like the Green Bay Packers. Clubs are not privately owned by deep pocketed business-people, cannot be sold and therefore do not have a material wealth that can deal with the financial hit of being out of action for too long.
So, given there are no players known to be infected the controversial approach has been to play in front of empty stadiums to fulfill TV obligations and lessen the financial blows the clubs and league could take.
The AFL has announced that as soon as a player is known to be infected the season will shut down for at least 30 days, but the belief is that break will be a lot longer. Already provisions have been made to reduce the season from its traditional 22 game regular season to 17 and compress games into its schedule while the season is still alive.
There has been a resignation that the season could stretch out to the end of 2020 instead of the late September season climax, if indeed it can be finished at all. Despite the controversy, football fans were collectively excited, if not surprised, that the season would officially start when the announcement was made just 24 hours before the first scheduled game.
So until a player is infected, enjoy the chaos of Australian Rules football.
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March 22, 2020 at 07:34AM
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An Aussie Rules football guide for dummies - ESPN
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