Australian rules football culture
Encyclopedia
Australian rules football culture is a descriptive term for the cultural aspects surrounding the game of Australian rules football
, particular as it applies to Australia
and areas where it is most popular. This article explores aspects and issues surrounding the game itself, as well as that of the players, and society.
Australian Rules is a sport rich in tradition and Australian cultural references, especially surrounding the rituals of gameday for players, officials and supporters.
Australian rules football has attracted more overall interest among Australians (as measured by the Sweeney Sports report) than any other football code, and, when compared with all sports throughout the nation, has consistently ranked first in the winter reports, and most recently third behind cricket
and swimming
in summer.
In some of the southern states, it is the most popular sport of all sports.
As a football code, it is the most popular form of football in the Northern Territory
, South Australia
, Tasmania
, Victoria
and Western Australia
. It is less popular in New South Wales
, the Australian Capital Territory
and Queensland
, although there has traditionally been support for the code in regions within those states, such as parts of southern New South Wales including the Riverina
and parts of Queensland such as Cairns and the Gold Coast
. The AFL teams from Brisbane and Sydney attracted a strong increase in crowds and television audiences when they won four premierships between them from 2001–2005 (and appeared in Grand Finals between 2001 and 2006 inclusive), though crowds and TV ratings have both declined as both teams' performances (in particular the Brisbane Lions
who have suffered a decline since losing the 2004 AFL Grand Final
) in subsequent years dropped. Demographic and migration trends have affected all football codes in recent years, but most significantly Australian football in Queensland.
It is particularly popular amongst indigenous Australian communities. Indigenous Australians are well represented in professional AFL players: while only 2.4% of the population is of indigenous origin, 10% of AFL players identify themselves this way.
Australian rules is the national sport of Nauru
.
Australian rules football is the most highly attended spectator sport in Australia: government figures show that more than 2.5 million people attended games in 2005-06. In 2007 (including finals matches), a cumulative 7,049,945 people attended Australian Football League
premiership matches, a record for the competition. In 2005, a further 307,181 attended NAB Cup pre-season matches and 117,552 attended Regional Challenge pre-season practice matches around the country.
As of 2005 the AFL is one of only five professional sports leagues in the world with an average attendance above thirty thousand (the others are the NFL in the United States and Major League Baseball
in the U.S. and Canada, and the top division soccer leagues in Germany and England). In 2007, the average attendance of 38,113 made the AFL the second best attended domestic club league in the world, after only the NFL in the United States.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground
is the largest stadium used for Australian rules football and the permanent home of the AFL Grand Final
. It is one of the largest sporting stadiums in the world and was the venue for the record Australian rules football attendance of 121,696 at the 1970 VFL Grand Final
, between Carlton
and Collingwood
- which game was also historic, in that it heralded the dawning of a new style of football - still largely in use today, wherein handballing was introduced more to commence the attack from the back line. Redevelopment since then to a mainly seated stadium has reduced the current capacity to approximately 100,000.
In addition to the national AFL competition, some semi-professional local leagues also draw significant crowds. Although crowds for state leagues have suffered in recent years, they continue to draw support, particularly for finals matches. The South Australian SANFL
drew an attendance of 309,874 in 2006 and the Western Australian WAFL
drew an official attendance of 207,154. Other leagues, such as the Victorian VFL
Northern Territory Football League
and the popular country league Ovens & Murray
also charge admission and draw notable crowds (but with no available attendance figures).
Outside of Australia, the game has drawn notable attendances only for occasional carnival type events, such as International tests and exhibition match
es.
The national AFL is the main league which is shown on television in Australia and around the world.
The 2005 AFL Grand Final
was watched by a record television
audience of more than 3.3 million people across Australia's five most populous cities—the five mainland state capitals—including 1.2 million in Melbourne
and 991,000 in Sydney
. In 2006, the national audience was 3.145 million, including 1.182 million in Melbourne and 759,000 in Sydney.
According to OzTAM
, in recent years, the AFL Grand Final has reached the top five programs across the five biggest cities in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, it was #1 in metropolitan markets. Australian rules football has achieved a #1 rating in the sports category in both 2004 and 2005.
Some of the more popular regional leagues in Australia have the "match of the week" televised locally and free-to-air on ABC Television's respective state networks. The SANFL is the most popular of these regional competitions measuring a total of 1,415,000 television viewers in 2007.
Some of these regional leagues also attracted a national audience through free-to-air broadcasting on television networks such as ABC2
. OzTAM began measuring these audiences in 2006. Despite a large number of complaints, ABC2 withdrew all of these broadcasts in early 2008.
Australian rules also has a nominal but growing international audience. Since 2005, some AFL matches have been shown in the pacific rim region for the first time through the Australia Network
. The AFL Grand Final is broadcast to many countries and attracts many million viewers worldwide. This audience has grown to approximately 30 million viewers from 72 countries.
According to Roy Morgan Research
, more Americans watch Australian Rules Football than Australians. A poll taken between April 2002 and March 2004 showed that 7,496,000 North Americans compared to 7,004,000 Australians watch Australian Rules Football at least occasionally on television.
Australian sports website in 2004, increasing in market share by 9.86% over that year. In 2006, other consistently high traffic websites in the Australian Top 20 included AFL Dream Team, (Trading Post) AFL Footy Tipping, BigFooty.com and Bomberland. In 2006, the search term 'afl' represented the highest number of search terms (2.48%) that delivered users to Hitwise sports category listed websites. Statistics show that Victorians consist of 43% of all visits to the AFL football category.
In almost every league, there is a team which everyone loves to hate, like Collingwood, Port Adelaide and even the Southport Sharks.
The AFL in particular encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as Rivalry Round where many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend. Whilst some rivalries, such as between teams from adjacent areas are still strong, the designation of an entire round of fixtures as Rivalry Round is often criticised due to some arbitrary matchups, or ignoring stronger, more recent rivalries.
s. Guernseys are similar to basketball
shirts, but of a more robust design, often referred to in Australia as "jumpers". In the early period of the game's development players often wore sleeveless lace-up tops which gradually disappeared between the 1960s and early 1980s. A few players choose to wear a long sleeved variation of the modern guernsey design. Players wore full length pants, before adopting shorts in the 1920s. Tight-fitting shorts were a notable fashion trend in most leagues in the 1980s and some players began to wear hamstring
warmers. A brief experiment with lycra by the AFL in the State of Origin series was quickly abandoned for more traditional wear. Long socks (football socks) are compulsory and boots with moulded cleats or studs for gripping the ground are worn (screw-ins have been banned from most leagues since the 1990s). Some players wear headband
s or hair tie
s to keep the hair out of their faces when playing, though this is rare. Players will sometimes wear arm bands around their mid biceps
and triceps, typically of electrical tape
, in honour. Black arm bands are typically worn in memorial to someone related to the player or their club who recently died.
Traditionally, umpires have worn white and were sometimes referred to as "white maggots" amongst supporters. AFL umpires now wear bright colours to also avoid clashes with the player guernseys and AFL goal umpires now wear t-shirts and caps, rather than the traditional white coat and broad brimmed hat
(similar to what was worn by many cricket umpires) which they wore before the 1990s.
Typical supporter wear includes the team scarf
and sometimes beanie
(particularly in cooler climates) in the colours of the team. Team guernseys are also worn by supporters. Team flags are sometimes flown by supporters at the start of a game, when a goal is scored, and when their team wins.
banner
constructed by the cheersquads of each team. These often feature messages and slogans for the team in the context of the match, such as congratulating a player on a landmark number of games and more recently also sponsorship messages. The banners and sometimes also streamers are used in important local football matches such as finals. Some players are superstitious about running through the banner. As players run through the banners, the team's club song is always played. The winning clubs song is also played at the end of each match.
Australian rules supporters are said to "barrack" for their team. Though other cultures have had an influence at various points in its history, Australian football tends to have different atmosphere to sports like soccer and American Football. Partly due to Australian culture, Australian rules spectators are generally more solitary animals. Despite loud shouting and arguing, crowd violence is rare. With the exception of small official cheersquads, spectators at Aussie Rules matches will rarely engage in support for their teams with organised chants. Instead, each individual spectator will most often shout their own support using the nickname of their team i.e. "Carn the Crows !" or "Carn the Maggies", or after goals perform simple chants such as "Ess-en-don! (clap-clap-clap)" or "Freo! Freo!". In contrast, cheersquads are highly organised, have their own rituals and almost always congregate behind the goals during games. Most professional clubs have official cheersquads which will sometimes wave enormous coloured pompoms known as floggers after the umpire has signalled a goal. American style cheerleading
is very rare.
Meat pies
and beer
are popular consumables (sometimes noted as a tradition) for supporters at Australian rules matches. At AFL matches mobile vendors walk around the ground selling such pies, yelling out the well-known call of "hot pies, cold drinks!"
At AAMI Stadium
in Adelaide
; it is tradition to have a barbecue outside the stadium, in the carpark. Many families will bring their barbecues with them. This is particularly popular during the Sunday afternoon matches.
At the end of the match, it is traditional for a pitch invasion
to occur. Supporters run onto the field to celebrate the game and play games of kick-to-kick
with their families. In many suburban and country games, this also happens during quarter and half-time breaks. In the AFL in recent years, this tradition has been more strictly controlled with security guards to ensure that players and officials can safely leave the ground. At the largest AFL grounds, this tradition has been banned completely, to protect the surface, much to the discontent of fans. But smaller grounds (Skilled Stadium, for example) still allow fans onto the field after the game. Sometimes a mid-game pitch invasion is expected for various highly anticipated landmark achievements (such as a player kicking a record number of goals).
Reading the AFL Record
and recording the goals kicked by players alongside the team lists is also commonly done by spectators.
. High impact collisions can occur from any direction. Unlike gridiron
, padding is not mandatory and is rarely worn. Combined with the range of activity including jumping, running, kicking, twisting and turning this means that injury rates are relatively high in comparison to other sports.
Some ruckmen wear shin pads and thigh pads and players with head injuries sometimes wear soft helmets. Mouthguards are worn by most players but are only compulsory in some leagues.
Soft tissue
injuries are the most frequent, including injuries to the thigh
s, hamstring
and calf muscles. Pre-game warm-up and stretching
exercises are a focus of the standard preparation routine for clubs at all levels to minimise these injuries. Osteitis pubis
is a condition which particularly affects Australian rules footballers. Injuries to the knee, ankle and shoulders are also common. Hospital treated injuries, particularly for broken bones, account for 40 percent of all Australian rules football injuries.
Knee reconstructions are among the most commonly incurred career threatening injuries for both professional and amateur players, although professional players frequently continue to play after rehabilitation. Recently some professional players have undergone an innovative surgery that inserts a synthetic ligament in the knee which reduces the time out of football from twelve to three months.
Players can suffer head injuries
, however spinal injuries are extremely uncommon and comparatively much lower than rugby football
.
In cases of injury, players are able to be treated whilst on the ground and umpires generally only stop the play when players are removed from the ground on a stretcher
. Most leagues have implemented a blood rule
which forces players with bleeding wounds to leave the field for treatment until the bleeding is stopped to prevent the transmission of blood-borne disease
.
Australian rules football does not have the range or severity of health issues of American football however players have been known to die whilst playing Aussie Rules, though the most common cause is heart failure. The Victorian State Coroner reported five sudden deaths in that state among Australian rules footballers aged under 38 years between 1990-1997. Three of these deaths were attributed to Ischaemic heart disease
(mean age, 31.7 years), and the other two to physical trauma
.
In a study conducted recently of retired VFL/AFL footballers found that the most common problems amongst the group in old age included arthritis
, hip replacement
s and significantly reduced capacity to participate in athletic activity.
In recent years the AFL has commissioned official studies as well as introduced new rules and precautions aimed at reducing the number and severity of injuries in the sport, and there are variation games which significantly reduce the contact and risk of injury to players and allow players of any age to continue to participate.
The Club
, a critically acclaimed 1977 play by David Williamson
, deals with the internal politics of a Melbourne football club steeped in tradition. The play was adapted as a film, directed by Bruce Beresford
and starring Jack Thompson
and Graham Kennedy
, in 1980.
Many songs inspired by the game have become popular, none more so than the 1979 hit "Up There Cazaly
", by Mike Brady
. Brady followed the hit up with "One Day in September
" in 1987. Both are frequently used in Grand Final celebrations.
Betting on the AFL is very popular.
Women have been involved in the game since its inception.
There are women's footy players and even umpires in the AFL.
However there still exist stereotypes against women and issues among football fans.
has historically been socially tolerated in Australia, but, in recent years, this has changed with some players being charged by police for their on-field actions, including a recent jailing in Victoria and the much publicized case involving VFL player Leigh Matthews
which ended the public perception that on-field football assaults are somehow legal. League penalties for such actions have also generally increased in recent years and overall violence has decreased over time.
Violence has also affected the International Rules Series
, with the Irish team objecting to the level of violence tolerated by Australia.
's racial vilification
code is an effort to stamp out racism in the sport and it has worked well, however there has been a history of well publicised incidents in the sport.
1993
1994
1997
2007
2010
protocols.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, particular as it applies to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and areas where it is most popular. This article explores aspects and issues surrounding the game itself, as well as that of the players, and society.
Australian Rules is a sport rich in tradition and Australian cultural references, especially surrounding the rituals of gameday for players, officials and supporters.
Popularity
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
in summer.
In some of the southern states, it is the most popular sport of all sports.
As a football code, it is the most popular form of football in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. It is less popular in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, although there has traditionally been support for the code in regions within those states, such as parts of southern New South Wales including the Riverina
Riverina
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...
and parts of Queensland such as Cairns and the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
. The AFL teams from Brisbane and Sydney attracted a strong increase in crowds and television audiences when they won four premierships between them from 2001–2005 (and appeared in Grand Finals between 2001 and 2006 inclusive), though crowds and TV ratings have both declined as both teams' performances (in particular the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
who have suffered a decline since losing the 2004 AFL Grand Final
2004 AFL Grand Final
The 2004 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Port Adelaide Football Club and the Brisbane Lions, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 2004. It was the 108th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football...
) in subsequent years dropped. Demographic and migration trends have affected all football codes in recent years, but most significantly Australian football in Queensland.
It is particularly popular amongst indigenous Australian communities. Indigenous Australians are well represented in professional AFL players: while only 2.4% of the population is of indigenous origin, 10% of AFL players identify themselves this way.
Australian rules is the national sport of Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
.
Attendance
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
premiership matches, a record for the competition. In 2005, a further 307,181 attended NAB Cup pre-season matches and 117,552 attended Regional Challenge pre-season practice matches around the country.
As of 2005 the AFL is one of only five professional sports leagues in the world with an average attendance above thirty thousand (the others are the NFL in the United States and Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
in the U.S. and Canada, and the top division soccer leagues in Germany and England). In 2007, the average attendance of 38,113 made the AFL the second best attended domestic club league in the world, after only the NFL in the United States.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
is the largest stadium used for Australian rules football and the permanent home of the AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
. It is one of the largest sporting stadiums in the world and was the venue for the record Australian rules football attendance of 121,696 at the 1970 VFL Grand Final
1970 VFL Grand Final
The 1970 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 26 September 1970. It was the 74th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine...
, between Carlton
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
and Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
- which game was also historic, in that it heralded the dawning of a new style of football - still largely in use today, wherein handballing was introduced more to commence the attack from the back line. Redevelopment since then to a mainly seated stadium has reduced the current capacity to approximately 100,000.
In addition to the national AFL competition, some semi-professional local leagues also draw significant crowds. Although crowds for state leagues have suffered in recent years, they continue to draw support, particularly for finals matches. The South Australian SANFL
South Australian National Football League
The South Australian National Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the governing body for the sport of Australian rules football in South Australia....
drew an attendance of 309,874 in 2006 and the Western Australian WAFL
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
drew an official attendance of 207,154. Other leagues, such as the Victorian VFL
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
Northern Territory Football League
Northern Territory Football League
The Northern Territory Football League is an 8 team Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.The premier grade is the largest Australian rules football league in the Northern Territory...
and the popular country league Ovens & Murray
Ovens & Murray Football League
The Ovens and Murray Football League, often referred to locally as the O&M, is a semi-professional Australian rules football league based around ten clubs in north-eastern Victoria and the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, and affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League...
also charge admission and draw notable crowds (but with no available attendance figures).
Outside of Australia, the game has drawn notable attendances only for occasional carnival type events, such as International tests and exhibition match
Australian rules football exhibition matches
Australian rules football has been introduced to a wide range of places around Australia and the world since the code originated in Victoria in 1859....
es.
Television
The 2005 AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
was watched by a record television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
audience of more than 3.3 million people across Australia's five most populous cities—the five mainland state capitals—including 1.2 million in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and 991,000 in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. In 2006, the national audience was 3.145 million, including 1.182 million in Melbourne and 759,000 in Sydney.
According to OzTAM
OzTAM
OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly owned by the Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network Ten, and is the official source of television ratings data for all metropolitan television in Sydney, Melbourne,...
, in recent years, the AFL Grand Final has reached the top five programs across the five biggest cities in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, it was #1 in metropolitan markets. Australian rules football has achieved a #1 rating in the sports category in both 2004 and 2005.
Some of the more popular regional leagues in Australia have the "match of the week" televised locally and free-to-air on ABC Television's respective state networks. The SANFL is the most popular of these regional competitions measuring a total of 1,415,000 television viewers in 2007.
Some of these regional leagues also attracted a national audience through free-to-air broadcasting on television networks such as ABC2
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
. OzTAM began measuring these audiences in 2006. Despite a large number of complaints, ABC2 withdrew all of these broadcasts in early 2008.
Australian rules also has a nominal but growing international audience. Since 2005, some AFL matches have been shown in the pacific rim region for the first time through the Australia Network
Australia Network
Australia Network, originally Australia Television International and later ABC Asia Pacific, is a free-to-air international satellite television service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 2006. The television and online service broadcasts 24 hours a day on 7 days a week, to...
. The AFL Grand Final is broadcast to many countries and attracts many million viewers worldwide. This audience has grown to approximately 30 million viewers from 72 countries.
According to Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan Research
Roy Morgan Research is an Australian market research company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria; it was founded in 1941 by Roy Morgan ; its Executive Chairman today is his son, Gary Morgan....
, more Americans watch Australian Rules Football than Australians. A poll taken between April 2002 and March 2004 showed that 7,496,000 North Americans compared to 7,004,000 Australians watch Australian Rules Football at least occasionally on television.
New media
The AFL website was the #1 most popular HitwiseHitwise
Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
Australian sports website in 2004, increasing in market share by 9.86% over that year. In 2006, other consistently high traffic websites in the Australian Top 20 included AFL Dream Team, (Trading Post) AFL Footy Tipping, BigFooty.com and Bomberland. In 2006, the search term 'afl' represented the highest number of search terms (2.48%) that delivered users to Hitwise sports category listed websites. Statistics show that Victorians consist of 43% of all visits to the AFL football category.
Team Rivalries
Rivalries are one of the main drivers in generating passionate supporter bases.In almost every league, there is a team which everyone loves to hate, like Collingwood, Port Adelaide and even the Southport Sharks.
The AFL in particular encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as Rivalry Round where many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend. Whilst some rivalries, such as between teams from adjacent areas are still strong, the designation of an entire round of fixtures as Rivalry Round is often criticised due to some arbitrary matchups, or ignoring stronger, more recent rivalries.
Traditions of the game
Clothing
As part of their uniform, players wear shirts called guernseyGuernsey (clothing)
A guernsey, or gansey, is a seaman's knitted woollen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name.-Origins:...
s. Guernseys are similar to basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
shirts, but of a more robust design, often referred to in Australia as "jumpers". In the early period of the game's development players often wore sleeveless lace-up tops which gradually disappeared between the 1960s and early 1980s. A few players choose to wear a long sleeved variation of the modern guernsey design. Players wore full length pants, before adopting shorts in the 1920s. Tight-fitting shorts were a notable fashion trend in most leagues in the 1980s and some players began to wear hamstring
Hamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
warmers. A brief experiment with lycra by the AFL in the State of Origin series was quickly abandoned for more traditional wear. Long socks (football socks) are compulsory and boots with moulded cleats or studs for gripping the ground are worn (screw-ins have been banned from most leagues since the 1990s). Some players wear headband
Headband
A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal...
s or hair tie
Hair tie
A hair tie is a device used to fasten hair, particularly long hair, into a hairstyle . Two kinds of hair tie are the scrunchie and the hairpin. Hair ties are useful in securing one's hair back to keep it away from the face.Another term is a "hair binder" which many people prefer....
s to keep the hair out of their faces when playing, though this is rare. Players will sometimes wear arm bands around their mid biceps
Biceps
Biceps may refer to:*Biceps brachii muscle, a muscle located on the inside of the upper arm*Biceps femoris muscle, one of the hamstring muscles of the back of each thigh*Biceps , a point in a metrical pattern...
and triceps, typically of electrical tape
Electrical tape
Electrical tape is a type of pressure-sensitive tape used to insulate electrical wires and other material that conduct electricity. It can be made of many plastics, but vinyl is most popular, as it stretches well and gives an effective and long lasting insulation...
, in honour. Black arm bands are typically worn in memorial to someone related to the player or their club who recently died.
Traditionally, umpires have worn white and were sometimes referred to as "white maggots" amongst supporters. AFL umpires now wear bright colours to also avoid clashes with the player guernseys and AFL goal umpires now wear t-shirts and caps, rather than the traditional white coat and broad brimmed hat
Trilby
A trilby hat is a type of fedora. The trilby is viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is commonly called the "brown trilby" in England and is much seen at the horse races. It is described as a "crumpled" fedora...
(similar to what was worn by many cricket umpires) which they wore before the 1990s.
Scarf
A scarf is a piece of fabric worn around the neck, or near the head or around the waist for warmth, cleanliness, fashion or for religious reasons. They can come in a variety of different colours.-History:...
and sometimes beanie
Beanie
A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...
(particularly in cooler climates) in the colours of the team. Team guernseys are also worn by supporters. Team flags are sometimes flown by supporters at the start of a game, when a goal is scored, and when their team wins.
Gameday and crowd
Before AFL matches, it is traditional for teams to run through a crêpe paperCrêpe paper
Crêpe paper is tissue paper that has been coated with sizing and then creped to create gathers.-Production:Paper that is creped is produced on a paper machine that has a single large steam-heated drying cylinder fitted with a hot-air hood. The raw material is paper pulp. The Yankee cylinder is...
banner
Banner (Australian rules football)
The banner, in the context of Australian football, is a large crêpe paper and sticky-tape constructed banner made weekly by each team's cheer squad. It is hoisted before the start of every Australian Rules Football game...
constructed by the cheersquads of each team. These often feature messages and slogans for the team in the context of the match, such as congratulating a player on a landmark number of games and more recently also sponsorship messages. The banners and sometimes also streamers are used in important local football matches such as finals. Some players are superstitious about running through the banner. As players run through the banners, the team's club song is always played. The winning clubs song is also played at the end of each match.
Australian rules supporters are said to "barrack" for their team. Though other cultures have had an influence at various points in its history, Australian football tends to have different atmosphere to sports like soccer and American Football. Partly due to Australian culture, Australian rules spectators are generally more solitary animals. Despite loud shouting and arguing, crowd violence is rare. With the exception of small official cheersquads, spectators at Aussie Rules matches will rarely engage in support for their teams with organised chants. Instead, each individual spectator will most often shout their own support using the nickname of their team i.e. "Carn the Crows !" or "Carn the Maggies", or after goals perform simple chants such as "Ess-en-don! (clap-clap-clap)" or "Freo! Freo!". In contrast, cheersquads are highly organised, have their own rituals and almost always congregate behind the goals during games. Most professional clubs have official cheersquads which will sometimes wave enormous coloured pompoms known as floggers after the umpire has signalled a goal. American style cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
is very rare.
Meat pies
Australian meat pie
An Australian or New Zealand meat pie is a hand-sized meat pie containing largely diced or minced meat and gravy, sometimes with onion, mushrooms, or cheese and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. The pie itself is similar to the United Kingdom's steak pie.It is considered iconic in Australia...
and beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
are popular consumables (sometimes noted as a tradition) for supporters at Australian rules matches. At AFL matches mobile vendors walk around the ground selling such pies, yelling out the well-known call of "hot pies, cold drinks!"
At AAMI Stadium
AAMI Stadium
Football Park is an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia...
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
; it is tradition to have a barbecue outside the stadium, in the carpark. Many families will bring their barbecues with them. This is particularly popular during the Sunday afternoon matches.
At the end of the match, it is traditional for a pitch invasion
Pitch invasion
A pitch invasion or field invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States, occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field, to celebrate or protest about an incident...
to occur. Supporters run onto the field to celebrate the game and play games of kick-to-kick
Kick-to-kick
Kick-to-kick is a pastime and well-known tradition of Australian rules football fans, and a recognised Australian term for kick and catch type games...
with their families. In many suburban and country games, this also happens during quarter and half-time breaks. In the AFL in recent years, this tradition has been more strictly controlled with security guards to ensure that players and officials can safely leave the ground. At the largest AFL grounds, this tradition has been banned completely, to protect the surface, much to the discontent of fans. But smaller grounds (Skilled Stadium, for example) still allow fans onto the field after the game. Sometimes a mid-game pitch invasion is expected for various highly anticipated landmark achievements (such as a player kicking a record number of goals).
Reading the AFL Record
AFL Record
The AFL Record is the official program available at Australian Football League matches. The publication began as the Football Record in Melbourne, Australia in April 1912, making it one of the oldest magazines in Australia....
and recording the goals kicked by players alongside the team lists is also commonly done by spectators.
Injuries, Health Issues and Prevention
Australian rules football is known for its high level of physical body contact compared to other sports such as soccer and basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. High impact collisions can occur from any direction. Unlike gridiron
Gridiron football
Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
, padding is not mandatory and is rarely worn. Combined with the range of activity including jumping, running, kicking, twisting and turning this means that injury rates are relatively high in comparison to other sports.
Some ruckmen wear shin pads and thigh pads and players with head injuries sometimes wear soft helmets. Mouthguards are worn by most players but are only compulsory in some leagues.
Soft tissue
Soft tissue
In anatomy, the term soft tissue refers to tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body, not being bone. Soft tissue includes tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, fibrous tissues, fat, and synovial membranes , and muscles, nerves and blood vessels .It is sometimes...
injuries are the most frequent, including injuries to the thigh
Thigh
In humans the thigh is the area between the pelvis and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb.The single bone in the thigh is called the femur...
s, hamstring
Hamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
and calf muscles. Pre-game warm-up and stretching
Stretching
Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific skeletal muscle is deliberately elongated, often by abduction from the torso, in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and reaffirm comfortable muscle tone. The result is a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility and...
exercises are a focus of the standard preparation routine for clubs at all levels to minimise these injuries. Osteitis pubis
Osteitis pubis
Since 1924, osteitis pubis has been known as a noninfectious inflammation of the pubis symphysis causing varying degrees of lower abdominal and pelvic pain. Osteitis pubis was first described in patients who had undergone suprapubic surgery and remains a well-known complication of invasive...
is a condition which particularly affects Australian rules footballers. Injuries to the knee, ankle and shoulders are also common. Hospital treated injuries, particularly for broken bones, account for 40 percent of all Australian rules football injuries.
Knee reconstructions are among the most commonly incurred career threatening injuries for both professional and amateur players, although professional players frequently continue to play after rehabilitation. Recently some professional players have undergone an innovative surgery that inserts a synthetic ligament in the knee which reduces the time out of football from twelve to three months.
Players can suffer head injuries
Head injury
Head injury refers to trauma of the head. This may or may not include injury to the brain. However, the terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in medical literature....
, however spinal injuries are extremely uncommon and comparatively much lower than rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
.
In cases of injury, players are able to be treated whilst on the ground and umpires generally only stop the play when players are removed from the ground on a stretcher
Stretcher
A stretcher is a medical device used to carry casualties or an incapacitated person from one place to another. It is a simple type of litter, and still called by that name in some cases....
. Most leagues have implemented a blood rule
Blood rule
The Blood rule is a rule used in many sports that states that an athlete that receives an open wound, is bleeding, or who has blood on them or their clothes, must immediately leave the playing area to receive medical attention...
which forces players with bleeding wounds to leave the field for treatment until the bleeding is stopped to prevent the transmission of blood-borne disease
Blood-borne disease
A blood-borne disease is one that can be spread through contamination by blood.The most common examples are HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and viral hemorrhagic fevers....
.
Australian rules football does not have the range or severity of health issues of American football however players have been known to die whilst playing Aussie Rules, though the most common cause is heart failure. The Victorian State Coroner reported five sudden deaths in that state among Australian rules footballers aged under 38 years between 1990-1997. Three of these deaths were attributed to Ischaemic heart disease
Ischaemic heart disease
Ischaemic or ischemic heart disease , or myocardial ischaemia, is a disease characterized by ischaemia of the heart muscle, usually due to coronary artery disease...
(mean age, 31.7 years), and the other two to physical trauma
Physical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
.
In a study conducted recently of retired VFL/AFL footballers found that the most common problems amongst the group in old age included arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, hip replacement
Hip replacement
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi replacement. Such joint replacement orthopaedic surgery generally is conducted to relieve arthritis pain or fix severe...
s and significantly reduced capacity to participate in athletic activity.
In recent years the AFL has commissioned official studies as well as introduced new rules and precautions aimed at reducing the number and severity of injuries in the sport, and there are variation games which significantly reduce the contact and risk of injury to players and allow players of any age to continue to participate.
Australian rules in popular culture
For many years, the game of Australian rules football captured the imagination of Australian film, music, television and literature.The Club
The Club (play)
The Club is a satirical play by Australian playwright David Williamson, that follows the fortunes of a football club over the course of a season. It explores the clashes between "human loyalty versus materialistic gain". It was inspired by the backroom dealings and antics of the Victorian Football...
, a critically acclaimed 1977 play by David Williamson
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
, deals with the internal politics of a Melbourne football club steeped in tradition. The play was adapted as a film, directed by Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
and starring Jack Thompson
Jack Thompson (actor)
Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
and Graham Kennedy
Graham Kennedy
Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...
, in 1980.
Many songs inspired by the game have become popular, none more so than the 1979 hit "Up There Cazaly
Up There Cazaly
"Up There Cazaly" is an Australian sporting catchphrase inspired by former St Kilda and South Melbourne great Roy Cazaly...
", by Mike Brady
Mike Brady (musician)
Mike Brady is an Australian musician most commonly associated with the Australian rules football anthems "Up There Cazaly", referring to 1920s and 30s St Kilda player Roy Cazaly and "One Day in September". "Up There Cazaly" topped the Australian singles charts in September 1979 and briefly held...
. Brady followed the hit up with "One Day in September
One Day in September (song)
One Day in September is a song written and performed by Australian musician Mike Brady.It is a large part of the tradition of Australian rules football, and refers to the AFL Grand Final - a game which is played on the last Saturday in September....
" in 1987. Both are frequently used in Grand Final celebrations.
AFL players and the media
Such is the obsession, particularly with that footballer's off-field behaviour is as highly scrutinized as their on field behaviour. Footballers are held by many in Australia to be role models.Betting
"Footy tipping" is the term for office pools where players nominate which teams will win that week. It is part of the staple office environment in Australia.Betting on the AFL is very popular.
Women
There are women's footy players and even umpires in the AFL.
However there still exist stereotypes against women and issues among football fans.
Player Violence
On-field assaultAssault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
has historically been socially tolerated in Australia, but, in recent years, this has changed with some players being charged by police for their on-field actions, including a recent jailing in Victoria and the much publicized case involving VFL player Leigh Matthews
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Raymond "Lethal Leigh" Matthews AM is a former player and coach of Australian rules football. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League from 1969 to 1985, coached Collingwood from 1986–1995, and coached the Brisbane Lions from 1999 to 2008...
which ended the public perception that on-field football assaults are somehow legal. League penalties for such actions have also generally increased in recent years and overall violence has decreased over time.
Violence has also affected the International Rules Series
International Rules Series
The International Rules Series is a senior men's International rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team and the Ireland international rules football team...
, with the Irish team objecting to the level of violence tolerated by Australia.
Multiculturalism
Australian rules football has involved a diverse section of society and the AFL has multicultural programs to engage people from different backgrounds.Racial vilification
The Australian Football LeagueAustralian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
's racial vilification
Racial vilification
Racial vilification is the term in the legislation of Australia that refers to a public act that encourages or incites others to hate people because of their race, nationality, country of origin, colour or ethnic origin...
code is an effort to stamp out racism in the sport and it has worked well, however there has been a history of well publicised incidents in the sport.
1993
- Nicky WinmarNicky WinmarNeil Elvis "Nicky" Winmar is a former Australian Footballer of an indigenous background who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.- AFL career :...
reacted to overt racism from the crowd at Victoria Park, MelbourneVictoria Park, MelbourneVictoria Park is a sports venue in Abbotsford a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Built for the purpose of both Australian rules football and cricket, the stadium is oval shaped....
, turning to face the offending segments of the crowd, lifted his Guernsey and defiantly pointed to his skin (at the end of a game between St Kilda Football Club and Collingwood Football ClubCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
). This act was captured in a series of famous photographs and led to far-reaching reform in the AFL in respect of racism in the game.
1994
- Essendon Football ClubEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
champion Michael Long complained to the Australian Football LeagueAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
over an alleged racial vilification incident involving Collingwood Football ClubCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
's Damian MonkhorstDamian MonkhorstDamian Monkhorst is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL/AFL.'Monkey' came to Collingwood from Woori Yallock and made his debut in 1988. The 202cm, 116kg big man was classed as a no.1 ruckman as soon as he got to Victoria Park, and his early career headed him to become a...
which was the result of an extensive investigation throughout 1995.
1997
- Sydney SwansSydney SwansThe Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
player Robert AhMatRobert AhMat- References :...
was involved in an alleged racial vilification row with Essendon Football ClubEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
player Michael PriorMichael PriorMichael Prior is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the AFL's Essendon Football Club and the West Coast Eagles....
.
2007
- The Herald SunHerald SunThe Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
launches a special investigation into racism in junior Aussie Rules, revealing several controversial incidents.
2010
- Former Australian rules player Mal BrownMal BrownMalcolm "Mal" Brown is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League and West Australian National Football League....
apologises for referring to aboriginal Australian Football LeagueAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
players as "cannibals" and that he could not select Nicky WinmarNicky WinmarNeil Elvis "Nicky" Winmar is a former Australian Footballer of an indigenous background who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.- AFL career :...
or Michael Mitchell because "there were no lights" [at the poorly lit Whitten OvalWhitten OvalWhitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League.Formerly known as the...
] during a promotion for the E. J. Whitten Legends GameE. J. Whitten Legends GameThe E. J. Whitten Legends Game is an annual charity Australian rules football All-star game, where retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities, in a State of Origin interstate game, between Victoria and the All Stars .-History:E. J...
. The comments prompted AFL CEO Andrew DemetriouAndrew DemetriouAndrew Demetriou is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League and a former Australian rules footballer. He is the youngest son of Greek-Cypriot immigrants and, before becoming a VFL player, he worked in the dental import industry...
to express his disgust.
Player Drug Abuse
Performance enhancing drug abuse is also rare according to official studies despite some high profile recent cases and criticisms from the media and government of the AFL's own anti-doping code which although strict, does not comply with the World Anti-Doping AgencyWorld Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
protocols.