Aussie Rules has been around since 1841 in some form or another. Its game that is pretty much exclusively played in Australia and the only professional league of its kind, the Australian Football League (AFL) is also situated there. Many players affectionate with the sport may call it a mix of footy, football, Aussie rules and Australian rules.
Aussie rules pitches are usually played on oval sized pitches with dimensions ranging from 135 to 185 meters in length, and 110 to 155 meters in width. Many Aussie Rules pitches mix with cricket fields as they or of a similar size and proportion. 먹튀검증 The pitches are marked around the outside to highlight the out of bounds area. At either end of the pitch 4 tall posts will be apparent. These are the scoring zones and are roughly 6 meters in height. The two front posts are 6.4 meters apart and represent the main scoring area (goal). The two post behind are also 6.4 meters apart and represent the secondary scoring area (point).
The ball is made from leather and forms an oval shape (similar to a rugby ball). Other markings on the pitch include a goal square that is 9 meters wide and spanning with width of the goals posts, center square and center circle. Each team will consist of 18 players of which are all assigned to different positions. These players are allowed to move freely on the pitch. Each team may also have up to three substitutes which are rolling meaning they can come on and off as many times as they want. Once a starting player gets substituted these players then become rolling. The positions are broken down into Full Forward, Half Forward, Centre Line, Half Back and Full Back.
There are 7 umpires for Aussie Rules in total. The three main umpires are known as filed umpires and they basically oversee all the decisions on filed such as time keeping, infringements and enforcing the rules. The two line judges are there to see if the ball goes out of play or not – these judges can also intervene where on filed umpires have missed a decision. The last two umpires are goal umpires and its their job to signal if a goal has been scored successfully or not.
Codified in 1859 with written rules, the game still exists to this day and is played all across Australia, and is making small but positive inroads into other countries through television coverage or niche competitions. The rules have evolved over the years to a game with great physical presence and tactical understanding to give a thrilling game with lots of action. It is a full contact sport, played without protection or padding, though some forms of contact are now illegal as deemed dangerous, such as contact to the head. The game shows some similarity to the Gaelic Football code played in Ireland, and ‘Marn-Grook’, a ball game featuring kicking and catching, played by some Australian Indigenous groups. Discussions regularly indicate that Tom Wills may have been exposed to, and influenced by these games through to young adulthood, though no evidence exists and neither theory can be proven.
Now played by over 1.25 million players across Australia, ‘Aussie Rules’ has become the pre-eminent football code in the nation. Played through Junior, Open and Masters levels and with both male and female competitions, the game not only boasts large player numbers, but also has the highest rate of spectator attendance of all sports in the country.
Competition with Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer for players and spectators is constant, especially at the grassroots levels with underage and regional competitions. Geographically, Aussie Rules dominates the southern regions of Australia, and is growing into the northern centers where the rugby codes have traditionally held sway.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the highest level of the sport, and is a professional league with 18 teams from across the country. Teams range in history and tradition from the Melbourne and Geelong Football Clubs, formally established in 1858 and 1859 respectively, through to the Gold Coast Suns and the Greater Western Sydney Giants, who joined the league in 2011 and 2012. Geelong and Melbourne are two of the first teams ever established, and have been mainstays of the top tiers of competition ever since. Gold Coast and GWS, are the newcomers to the competition and are growing the Aussie Rules code in Rugby League heartland regions.
The competition is currently a single division of 18 teams, who play 22 home and away season games throughout the year. Teams that make up the top eight ladder positions at the end of the home and away season, qualify for finals. The top eight teams then play-off in a four-round finals series culminating in the Grand Final.
