Why is there Australian Football ?

Question

Is it very different to American football ? and is the game any fun ?

Answer 1

i didnt know it was illegal for aussies to have football...

jk

yeah its rather different, a blend of rugby

Answer 2

You guys have got it wrong.  The games is played on a much larger playing surface than both Rugby and American Football.  It is much faster moving than either game and less stops.

Having played the game since a child and into my 30s I just loved it and the game itself has quickened over the years due to rule changes by the League but a good fast flowing game is really exciting to watch.

Answer 3

Aussie Rules football is kinda a cross between american football and rugby, but is much more fun to play than either of those

Answer 4

Why not have Australian Rules Football. It appears to be a very rugged game and a cross between American Football and Rugby. I enjoy it a lot but cannot get it often enough on my cable stations to suit me.

Answer 5

STOP SAYING AUSSIE RULES IS ANYTHING LIKE GRIDIRON!!!! It is nothing like Gridiron.

Aussie Rules was invented in the mid 19th century, and is one of the oldest codified sports in the world (along with cricket).

It is played on an oval, usually about 185 metres long (but normally just dependant on the nearest cricket ground).

It emerged as a working class game, designed as an amusement and fitness training for Victorian cricketers during the winter.

It was initially a mixture of Gaelic football and Rugby, at a time when Rugby and Football (soccer) were still arguing about their rules. It also bears the influence of a game played by the local indigenous Aborigines called "Marn Grook" where they would kick an inflated possum skin vertically and see who could leap the highest to catch it. This element is reflected in the awesome and unique part of Aussie Rules that is the high flying mark for a free kick. The Gaelic element was due to the large Irish population in Victoria, where the game started. It was originally played in Victoria but quickly spread across the whole country.

It is a far faster game than Gridiron or Rugby. It doesn't stop and start nearly as much, and with no offside players are always in offensive and defensive positions, so even though the field is nearly 200m long, the transition from end to end can be a matter of seconds. It is high scoring, physical, and action packed, and probably the most dramatic football code in the world.

For much of the late 19th and early 20th century it was far more popular than Rugby, until cricketer Victor Trumper began promoting Rugby League in Sydney in the early 20th century.

Since then Rugby codes have enjoyed a stronger following in Queensland and New South Wales, whilst Aussie Rules has been the dominant code in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territorry. In the mid 80's, the VFL became the AFL and set about nationalising the game.

It is now the most popular winter sport in Australia by far, with Netball, then Football, then the two Rugby codes.

However, since the late 90's, the traditional heartlands of both games have been disovled, and both sports fully nationalised. This is reflected in Sydney vs West Coast (Perth) in the Aussie Rules final for this year, and Melbourne vs Brisbane in the Rugby League final.

See the below links for more details.

Oh, and one more thing: COME ON SWANNIES!

Answer 6

Why is there Australian Football?  Why, aren't we entitled to it?

There are 4 kinds of football played in Australia, Aussie Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer.  All of which are very different to American Football (we call gridiron).  I love Aussie Rules, don't have much time for the other kinds of football, but thats just my opinion.  I guess there's a category for 'Australian Football' so that are questions about the Sydney Swans aren't mixed up with your questions about the Redskins.