A beginners guide to AFL football

AFL, or “footy” as it is lovingly referred to, is Australia’s own game. While cricket, rugby and association football are also massive in this sports-loving nation, footy was created in Australia, and is a source of great pride for lovers of the game.

There is a serious passion for football across the country. Whether in its home state of Victoria, or in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, where there are also teams, people love nothing more than getting down to see their club play on the weekend.

Footy is a fast-paced, high-octane sport with plenty of thrills, whether it be an awesome grab taken above an opponent’s shoulders or a goal from the boundary, this unique and exciting sport is always a great occasion.

So, for the uninitiated, how does AFL work? And what are the key concepts behind this special game? Whether you’re just getting into the game and looking for quality AFL merchandise, or thinking about joining your local club, here is the way AFL works for newcomers to the game.

Key AFL concepts

There are a few main concepts to wrap your head around to understand a game of AFL. The finer details of the game come with years of experience, but newcomers can still learn to play well with a few basic skills and rules.

The two sides

An AFL pitch is huge, roughly around the same size of two association football pitches. As the field is massive, either team has 18 players on the field at one time, with four players on the substitute bench. These extra players can be used strategically to impact certain periods of the game, to keep the team fresh throughout the match and replace injured players.

Matchplay

Every AFL game consists of four 20-minute quarters. The umpire starts each quarter by bouncing the ball in the centre circle where two ruckmen will engage each other to try and tap the ball to teammates. This is when players begin to content each other over the ball.

Goal scoring

The aim of an AFL game, like other ball sports, is to score more points than your opposing team. Players can either score “goals” or “behinds”, with a goal being six points and a behind being one point. To score a goal, a player has to kick the ball through the larger middle sticks without an opposing player touching the ball before it goes in.

Behinds are scored if the player kicks the ball into the center posts, if their shot on goal is touched before going in, if they kick the ball between the inside and outside posts or if a player accidentally carries the ball through either posts. The score is then a combination of how many goals and behinds each team scored. For example, Western Bulldogs 21.18 (144) defeat St Kilda 5.3 (33).

Gameplay

The ball is moved up and down the field by a combination of kicking and handballing (hitting the ball with a closed fist). When the ball is kicked, opposing players content over catching the ball out of the air. If they catch the ball out of the air without it being touched they are given a “mark”, allowing them to freely kick or handball the ball with the opposing player standing still in front of them.

Players have to bounce the ball every 15 metres when running with it, or pass the ball to one of their teammates. Their teammate repeats this process until they move the ball up the ground and closer to where they can score a goal.

These are the basic rules of AFL football. Be sure to watch a game with these rules in mind and pretty soon you will understand how this awesome Australian sport works.

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