The Australian Football League – All You Need To Know About AFL

Are you an Australian football fan? Does the Australian Football League (AFL) excite you? Do you know all about AFL?  Getting to know the game rules and background can help one understand its nuances better. Here is what you need to know about the game. 

A Little Bit of AFL Background

Though the name AFL (Australian Football League) came into existence only in 1990, the game has been around since 1858. This body contact sport is the only game technically invented in Australia and was predominantly played to keep the Australian cricketers fit in every sense.

18 teams participate in this league. Two of the first-ever established teams forming this league are the Melbourne (1858) and Geelong Football Clubs (1859). The Greater Western Sydney Giants joined the league in 2012, while the Gold Coast Suns joined in 2011.

These 18 teams play a total of 22 home and away season games in a year. The top 8 teams at the end of these home and away season games qualify for finals. Next, these 8 teams have a play-off over 4 rounds before the grand finale.

The final match is usually played on the last Saturday of September every year. At times, this can be pushed to the first Saturday of October too.

The Goal of the Game

The AFL is a full-body contact sport that requires the players to pass on a ball. They can use both their foot and hands to pass the ball from one spot to another. The aim of the game is to score against your opponent by passing the ball through their goal posts. The team scoring the most is declared a winner at the end of four quarters.

Rules of AFL

Many rules came into existence to ensure the safety of the players without compromising the competitiveness of AFL. It is a good idea to get yourself familiarized with the rules to get a better understanding of the game. With good knowledge about the game rules, you can also increase your chances of making a successful bet on the best betting sites Australia has available for AFL fans. While some rules made the sport less “physical,” it streamlined the game to make it safe for everyone playing it. 

Here are some of the important rules of the game that every viewer should know:

• • The flipping of the coin as a toss to choose the sides for each team began only in 1972
  • Playtime for each quarter was reduced from 25 minutes to 20 minutes only since 1994.
  • The goal-line technology that is currently used to assist the umpires was introduced only in 2012
  • The scoreline was aligned to the back of the goalpost only since 2009.
  • The football size was brought down to a size 4 in 2017, from a size 5, which was the initial law.
  • The size of the center square was increased to the current 50m, from 45m, only in 2004
  • The ball had to travel a minimum distance of just 10m till the year 2002, compared to the current 15m
  • The free-kick against a team that interfered with the gameplay was introduced only in 2000
  • The rule where the player can choose to kick or handpass the ball when he gets a free again was introduced only in 1990
  • A player can carry or kick the ball through the entire field, but the ball has to touch the ground every 15 meters. Until 1991 this was just 10 meters.

The Field

Since this game was invented to keep the cricketers fit in winter, the football games are played in the cricket grounds/stadiums. The fields are oval in shape with a grass surface. The fields can range anywhere between 135-185 meters in length and 110-155 meters in breadth.

The far ends of the fields have the goalposts. There are 2 tall goal posts, accompanied by 2 behind posts that are slightly shorter. While the goalposts are located at the intersection of the goal square lines and the boundary lines, the behind posts are positioned 6.4mts outside the goalposts.

Apart from the size and location of the goalposts, the AFL field has several markings such as:

• • Centre circle – This is an outer circle of 10m, which tells the ruckmen’s position at a center bounce.
  • Center Square – This is 50m in dimensions and limits the total number of players to 4 per team at a center bounce
  • Goal Square – This measures 6.4m x 9m on both ends. When the ball returns from a minor score, this goal square indicates the space from where the ball must be kicked.
  • 2 arcs of 50mts each are marked on the ground to indicate the distance from the goal line. These are marked from wing to wing.

Players & Umpires

• • Each playing team has 22 players, of which only 18 can enter the ground at a time. The other 4 remain “on the bench” and can be interchanged with players in the field during an injury or other causes that require a player to step out.
  • You can spot a total of 9 officials on the fields. 3 centre umpires move around with the players to keep a close watch on the ball in play and to ensure no rules are broken. Only one of these 3 has the power to call time-off.
  • As the name suggests, the boundary umpire is in charge of keeping a watch over the boundary, including throwing the ball back in for a “throw-in” when the ball crosses the boundary, etc. There are 4 such boundary umpires.
  • 2 goal umpires are responsible for everything related to the goals. They use both their hands and the flags to show the score. 1 flag denotes a behind, while 2 flags denote a goal.
  • When it is a close call, and the human umpires are not too sure, they use the video replays, and an adjudicator helps them with the final decision by relaying what the video shows.
  • There is an emergency umpire on stand-by. He can step in during fights or when an umpire is hurt.

Scoring

• • A team scores a goal by kicking the ball through the 2 goalposts on their opponent’s side. The ball can touch the ground but not the post for it to be declared a goal. Every goal earns the team 6 points.  
  • When the ball touches any player on the ground or the goal post itself, it will be declared as a “behind” before crossing the post. Even when the ball goes between the goal post and the behind post, it is declared as a behind. A behind earns the team 1 point.
  • If the ball hits the behind post, then the ball is declared as out-of-bounds. If the ball had been touched or if it had touched the ground first, it was thrown in. On the other hand, if the ball hits the behind post full-on, a free kick is awarded to the defensive team.

Duration 

• • The game is split into four equal quarters of twenty minutes each.
  • The half time (between second and third quarter) usually lasts twenty minutes long.
  • The players can step out of the field during halftime, for a maximum of fifteen minutes only.
  • Along with the time-offs called by the umpires for injuries, the ball going out of bounds, or players stagnating an umpire’s calls, causes the quarter to mostly extend up to 30 minutes.

The AFL is a widely loved sport in Australia. While a part of Australia sees a number of ardent followers of the game, a part of the country is yet to accept this as a major sport.