Aussie Rules Football RULES

Went to the football game last night - tons of fun! To my surprise, the Australians also use the term 'soccer' for soccer and resesrve 'football' for their version of the game. I was cheering for St. Kilda, who won 118 to 87. It was nice to be cheering for a winning team for once. Not used to that (e.g. the last two presidential elections). The game was played at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, which holds 100,000 fans. For comparison, Yankee Stadium holds 58,000.

Here are the Aussie Rules as I understand them:

-Played on a cricket pitch, which is oblong. It is as much as 185m long and 155m wide. It looked huge to me when I walked in! Cricket is played in the summer, and footy in the winter.
-There are 4 thirty minute quarters, with a twenty minute half-time.
-There are four goal posts at opposite ends, two taller ones and two shorter ones on either side. The point of the game is to get the ball between the taller two goal posts (6 points). But you can also get one point by putting the ball between a big and small post or hitting a large goal post. If the ball is going between the large goal posts, but someone touches it, it’s only worth 1 point.
-There are named positions, but they are very fluid and don’t seem to have rigidly fixed positions on the field. Each player guards a player from the opposing team like in basketball. There is no real “goalie” but there was usually a guy hanging out by the goal posts and his guard was always right on top of him. (When play at one end of the field gets really intense, the opposite posts are usually unmanned.)
-Play starts at the center of the pitch where the ref bounces the ball on the ground really hard and then the players try for a tip-off like in basketball.
-The ball looks like a rugby ball. It can be kicked or hand-balled (like an under-handed volleyball serve) to another player, but never just thrown. When the ball is kicked, it’s not kicked along the ground like in soccer (dribbling), it’s kicked through the air to another player who catches it.
-A player can run with the ball, but they have to bounce it on the ground every few meters. This seemed like a goofy rule to me, but it’s supposed to prevent players from just tucking the ball under their arm and running (as in American football). The bounce rule is not strictly enforced by the refs.
-When a player catches the ball, they can either (1) play through (run/keep passing), and other players can try to tackle them or steal the ball; or they can (2) stop play and take a few seconds to decide where to kick the ball. The second option is indicated, appropriately, by stopping. When a player stops, they can’t be tackled or the ball stolen This seems like a nuanced rule to me, since most of the guys have some pretty good momentum going when they catch the ball, but everyone on the field seems to get it. There is some kind of time limit for this that I never got a clear answer on.
-Refs will intervene for balls that go out of bounds, fouls, or deciding who gets the ball after a tackle pile-up, but I don’t know the nitty-gritty rules about that stuff.
-Overall, play is very quick and the ball really moves. The clock is stopped after a goal as every one gets back into position at the center for a new bounce, but that doesn’t take very long. The game is pretty simple and very exciting to watch. Best part? THE SHORTS. They're doing it right.

See blurry pics at my flickr photstream!

A little bit about the Australian Football League:
-It started out as the Melbourne Football League, with 16 teams from different suburbs (St. Kilda, Fitzroy, Carleton, etc). Even now, most of the teams (13/16, I think) are from Melbourne. Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide have teams now, and a lot of other cities want one.
-For some reason, there can only be 16 teams at a time, so a Melbourne suburb has to lose their team for another city to get one. As you can imagine, no one wants to lose their team, so this is very contentious. Teams with the smallest fanbases are often courted by other cities with packages of money/coaching/new stadium/etc. I think the League makes all final trading decisions, though.
-The AFL has a salary cap for all players. The young in-coming players (about 18 years old) make about $40,000/yr. From there on their salary is determined by skill. The most they can make is like $400,000. Players hit their peak about age 24-27, but they will be retained as long as they keep performing. St. Kilda has a player who is 37, which is pretty impressive. Personally, I think the salary cap is really good and serves to keep things in perspective.
-Kids have leagues, too. Up until age 13, they are co-ed.


Having a BLT at the Empire right now. They have very different ideas about bacon down under, as in it should be served in large slabs. I don't think it's wombat, but I didn't ask. I managed to eat the first half of the sandwich with my hands, but gave up and used knife and fork for the second half. :d

The actual work I came here to do has not been going so hot this week. Everything goes so slow it drives me nuts. Hopefully things will pick up next week. I have to give a short talk to the lab group on Wednesday. There are two other Americans here right now, a couple from UConn, and they will be talking as well. To celebrate, there is going to be a potluck lunch with an Aussie Food theme. All the Aussies have been wondering, "what's Aussie food?" I have heard rumors about delicious Kangaroo Sausage from the Vic Market... I am bringing apple pie, as a little American offering.

Weekend plans are pretty much non-exisent because I've been spending too much money. Definiately gotta work on my talk (all I have right now is an intro slide that says "The CLOACA as you've never seen it before!!!1" Don't think will make it into the final version). Need to buy food, too. I am going to try jogging. I strained my foot on Monday (whatever ligament holds the calcaneous and the navicular together) and have been taking easy. It's not 100% but screw it, I want to jog. We're in the middle of a cold snap, so I'll be bundling up!