Slate's Bizbox
sports nut: The stadium scene.

Australian for Football

By Dann Halem
Posted Friday, June 22, 2001, at 8:30 PM ET
Footy player

I don't come from the land down under. I've never licked vegemite off a spoon. I don't even watch the Australian Open. But this much I know about Australia: Their football kicks American football's ass.

Americans never warmed up to games like cricket and squash: too complicated, not violent enough. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the colonists in Australia developed similar sensibilities. At about the same time the Cincinnati Red Stockings were deciding to become baseball professionals, a Melbourner named Tom Willis was drafting the rules for a uniquely Australian game. Frustrated by the complexity of rugby, Willis and six others created Australian Rules Football—fondly called footy—a game that's faster, harder, and higher scoring than the American version.

Yes, footy is superior to American football. Just last weekend, the Australian Football League's Brisbane Lions upset the Essendon Bombers 102-74. (And the Lions weren't even the week's high-scorers. The Carlton Blues demolished the West Coast Eagles 149-30.) The Lions-Bombers game included 70 tackles, almost 400 kicks, and goals by 15 different players. Plus—and this should put NFL kickers to shame—seven of those goals came from distances between 40 and 50 meters. (That's 44 and 55 yards, if you don't have your metric conversion tables in front of you.)

The rules aren't as confusing as you might think. A match is divided into four 20-minute quarters. Each team carries 18 players and four reserves. A goal is scored when the ball is kicked through two goal posts, just like a field goal. Goals are six points each. If the ball passes to the immediate left or right of one post, it's scored as a one-point behind. So, a final line of 7.8 equals 50 points—with seven six-point goals and eight one-pointers. (Click here for a more elaborate explanation of the game.)

The team in possession of the ball works to advance it by either "handballing" it (volleyball style) or kicking it downfield. They may also run with the ball, as long as they bounce it every 10 meters. Of course, running opens a player to being flattened by the other team. (Footy is renowned for some of the hardest hits in sports.) If a player kicks the ball and his teammate catches it, that player has the option to free kick it without interference, which often converts into points scored.

The game is catching on internationally. Amateur leagues in Britain, Ireland, and Germany have formed, and an American league, the USAFL, has 33 teams playing. With clubs in 25 states, the USAFL played 175 games last season.

USAFL founding president, Paul O'Keefe, says footy's American incarnation started four years ago in Indiana. Originally comprised of Australian expatriates like O'Keefe, the league is now 60 percent American. Because footy is played on cricket fields much larger than anything found in the United States—cricket ovals are between 135 and 185 meters long and between 110 and 155 meters wide—the new league has had to adapt its rules. There are 10 players on the field for each squad, instead of 18. And because major arenas aren't an option, most clubs find themselves playing in open fields and old schoolyards.

But thanks to funding from Australia's AFL, the USAFL is focusing its financial resources on recruitment and youth development. The league hopes to send an American to play down under within the next five years. Eventually, they'd like to see 100,000 Americans playing footy recreationally. "I think Vince McMahon had the right idea and the wrong sport," O'Keefe quips.

Or perhaps a different TV titan will join the footy bandwagon. A savvy Australian media executive who recognizes footy's potential and wants to help develop the sport. A mogul who is tired of watching third-string NFL quarterbacks air it out in Amsterdam and Barcelona. A billionaire who wants to broadcast major-league competition that he would actually watch.

Are you listening, Rupert?

Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Dann Halem is a free-lance journalist in Los Angeles.
Photograph of footy player in Peckanham, Victoria, Australia © Paul A. Souders/Corbis.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES

Reader Comments From The Fray:





Just to clarify one point, Australian Rules Football started in this country in Kentucky, not Indiana. The first game in the United States was played by the two oldest teams in the country, the Cincinnati Dockers and the Louisville Cats, on the last Saturday in September, 1996, in Louisville. Cincinnati, fielding a side with several talented Australians, easily defeated the Cats, which was comprised of all American players, 19.19.133 to 1.5.11. Both clubs are still active in this country and are proud of their status as the two oldest clubs in the country. In fact, our sides will be playing a special fifth anniversary match in Louisville on September 29. You can find out more about both clubs by going to our Web sites: www.cincinnatidockers.com and www.usfooty.com/louisvillecats.



--John Harrell

Founder, Louisville Football Club



(To reply, click here.)





Mr. Halem seems unfamiliar with the version of Football as played in the United States. He states that it should put NFL kickers to shame that goals are often made from 44 to 55 yards. This overlooks what a kick in football actually means. First the Goal post in the American game was moved back 10 yards in 1975 so first you have to add 10 yards to any kick. And secondly the kick is not made directly on the line: about 7 yards are required for the snap so a 30 yard field goal (which is regarded as routine) is actually a kick of 47 yards. And the awesome 55 yard kicks in Aussie Football are really equivalent to a 38 yard field goal (impressive but by no means awe-inspiring by American standards.)



--Roy



(To reply, click here.)



(6/25)

Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
The Great Debate
Marcus | Forget Biden. I'd like to see McCain face off against Palin.
Toles: Another McCain SurpriseStumped: Where's Palin's Baby?