Whats the differance between australilan football and US football?

Question

I was just curious to know thanks!

Answer 1

Basically, what Australians call "football" is what americans call "soccer"

Answer 2

U.S. football (called grid-iron in Australia) has nothing in common with Australian Rules Football except for the fact these are both contact sports. Australian Football is free flowing and non-stop, American Football is the opposite. The differences are too numerous to mention.

Answer 3

an overview of australian football...Australian football could refer to 3 things, AFL , rugby league and rugby union. AFL is an exclusively australian sport played on an oval field continuously for approx 100 minutes broken in to quaters. players mainly kick a ball similar to that in gridiron (but much softer and rounder) to one another, or they can handball to each other... ultimateltry trying to kick the ball through 3 scoring zones, one being worth 6 points and the other two only 1 point. also when a player kicks the ball to another player, thats called a mark and he is free from being tackled until he moves off the spot or kicks it again. This is one of the most physically demanding sports in the word where only a player of the highest fitness can compete in. Rugby league and union are very similar. Union was the original sport played all over the world and involves 15 (13 in league) players passing a ball backwards to each other doing a series of plays in a bid to break the oppositions straight defensive lines to score a try (done by placing the ball on the ground in the in-goal area). a player then attempts to convert a try, similar to that of an extra point in nfl, but the positioning of the kick is relative to where the try was scored. Now the big difference between league and union is that union is a much slower, gradual chipping away at the opposition containing very little excitement where a game also containg very little tries (just mainly penalty points). Rugby league is much more free flowing where attacking is mainly improvisation of a very general bunch of set plays. it has bigger and more exciting plays, bigger hits (can u believe union actually has rules preventing you from smashing the opposition) and generally kmore exciting gameplay and is a sport prodominately played in austrlia. Union was originally a high society tutti fruity sport that is boringly slow, and league is the faster modern day appropriation (bet u can guess which one i support). However if i was to draw a main differnce between the nfl and all of the australian footballs, its that in the nfl u have players who specifically prepare to do a specific job (eg teaching your QB to thow and not your linemen) and in australian footballs, while u do train players for specific jobs, they need to be more of a jack of all trades that can fit into a number of position

Answer 4

The games are hugely different.  In Australia we play soccer (called 'football' in Europe); Rugby League, Rugby Union and Australian Rules Football.  If you are asking about Australian Rules Football, try this link:

http://www.afl.com.au/GameDevelopment/Sc...

Answer 5

I presume you're referring to Australian Rules football (as opposed to the two different Rugby codes - Union and League - which are not specific to Australia, and the world game of "soccer" which is also called football in some circles).

Australian Rules football is also referred to as 'AFL' in Australia, having been called 'VFL' (Victorian Football League) up until the 1980s, as it originated in Melbourne (Victoria) and the current national league began then with Melbourne teams moving to Sydney and Brisbane - then Perth and Adelaide teams forming to join the national league.  It's Australia's most popular Winter sport, with cricket being the number one Summer sport, and has a deep rooted following in all Australian states except New South Wales and Queensland - where rugby has been the traditiona, and more popular, sport.

There are many differences - too many to detail, as much like cricket it's one of those sports that you almost need to have grown up with to fathom the intricacies.  Nevertheless, the basic differences are as follows.

In Australian Rules football you start with a much larger field of play than in US football - up to almost twice as long and twice as wide at the centre.  The field is also oval shaped, rather than the rectangular.

It's a much faster and more free-flowing game than American football, with no line's of scrimmage, off-side or restrictions on direction of passing the ball - such that play can be affected from any direction, with tackling and passing the ball around 360 degrees.  You can't throw the ball, with kicking (i.e.: off the boot), hand-passing (holding the ball in one hand, then punching it with the front of your fist of the other hand), or tapping it (open hand) and punching it if the ball is in open play.

There are 18 players per team on the field, with four players on the interchange bench - who can be rotated with on-field players on an ongoing basis throughout the match.  They all have relatively fixed positions, however the free-flowing nature of the game makes this seem less obvious.

Matches consist of four 25+ minute quarters, with the extra time added for injury or moments when the ball is out of play.  Points are scored by kicking the ball through the centre upright goalposts (= 6points) or either of the smaller posts on either side of the centre goalposts (= 1point).

Tackling can be done on any player with the ball, between the shoulder line and the knees, from any direction - so long as you don't push him in the back, trip or hit in the head.  Any infringement on this results in a free kick to the opposition.

A player can run with the ball, but must either pass or bounce it within every ten paces.  The ball is oval shaped, without the slightly pointy end you find on an American (gridiron) football and slightly larger.  So bouncing it, whilst running at full pace, is quite a skilful feat.

The other key, and often spectacular, moment of play is when a player takes a "mark" - which is when a ball has been kicked towards him and he catches it (so long as it's travelled fifteen metres) on the full.  This results in a free kick.

The Wikipedia site has a good basic explanation of the sport: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_... , and there are further links at the bottom of that page to provide more detail.  Wikipedia also has a simple summary of American football for comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_fo...

One other thought, in the unlikely case that you're familiar with Gaelic football in Ireland.  Australian Rules football has "some" similarities with Gaelic football, although there are differing views as to the direct connection.  Nevertheless, there's an irregular "International Rules" series between Australia and Ireland, using mixed rules between the two sports - with a round Gaelic ball, rather than the Aussie Rules oval shaped ball.