Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 13 to 24 of 26

Thread: The Game Is NOT AFL Football it IS Australian Rules Football

  1. #13
    Senior Player
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Close to the old Lake Oval
    Posts
    3,892
    Quote Originally Posted by Meg View Post
    I have an eclectic set of interests and hence a broad range of friends & companions, many of whom don�t follow sport. So no, not everyone in Sydney necessarily knows what �Aussie Rules� is (unlike Melbourne or Sydney where Aussie Rules is a quasi religion).

    As I said earlier though, they do seem to understand when I say �AFL� and certainly when I mention the Swans. The Swans have strong brand recognition in Sydney even amongst non sports lovers.
    Chance to enlighten them Meg. Australian Rules is the official name of the game. Splitting hairs a bit I agree but they might be interested.

  2. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Blood Fever View Post
    Chance to enlighten them Meg. Australian Rules is the official name of the game. Splitting hairs a bit I agree but they might be interested.
    Er . . . nope. The game is called "Australian Football". "AFL" and "Aussie Rules" are just colloquialisms.

  3. #15
    Senior Player
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Northern Beaches
    Posts
    2,072
    Years ago (and I mean 50 years or more ago), the then Melbourne Herald ran a competition to rename Australian Rules Football.
    Plenty stupid ideas, but the ultimate winner was "Mark"!
    That really caught on.
    It's just Footy in Melb and other footy states, and AFL or Aussie Rules in non football states.
    My observations , of course.

  4. #16
    Go Swannies! Site Admin Meg's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    In the Brewongle
    Posts
    4,717
    Quote Originally Posted by royboy42 View Post
    Years ago (and I mean 50 years or more ago), the then Melbourne Herald ran a competition to rename Australian Rules Football.
    Plenty stupid ideas, but the ultimate winner was "Mark"!
    That really caught on.
    Gary Rohan was playing �Mark� against Essendon last year. So caught on with him!

  5. #17
    Its a bit like most of us referring to Gridiron as NFL.

  6. #18
    Pretty keen to hear your thoughts on NBA basketball
    Last edited by liz; 5th March 2018 at 02:25 PM. Reason: Please don't quote long posts in their entirety. It makes threads hard to read for those on phones or tablets

  7. #19
    Just wild about Harry
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    1,833
    I'm with Wolfie on this. It makes me shudder when I hear the game at suburban level being called "AFL". If it continues to happen then I will get my son to play A-League for our local suburban club.

  8. #20
    I sympathise with wolfies general views. The AFL is trying to manipulate the game with knee-jerk reactions through messy opaque rule changes which is ultimately frustrating because there is no clarity in their vision except to keep the ball moving constantly even it is through constant cheating as Wolf outlined in some examples.

    The elite professional version 'AFL' has outstripped the basic premise of the game which was a bunch of amateurs spread over a huge oval kicking, contesting, marking and handpassing in a structure of defenders versus attackers and some freewheelers. Now players are so well payed, so well drilled, processed, educated and elite athletes that they can and have subverted the reason the rules were written. The 'AFL' is even trying to undo some of its improvements (interchanges). A game that needs 9 umpires on the ground and a couple of others lurking in the stands, and still no-one knows half the pitchfork of what is going on, and looks like the under 10s games I used to play, is a game which needs someone to sit down and have a good rethink about.

  9. #21
    On the Rookie List
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    In hiding
    Posts
    429
    Having spent a few years in Queensland, the I learned that the sport I knew as Aussie Rules of just footy was actually called AFL. I discovered this after a conversation with a footy player in one off-season:
    Him: I play AFL
    Me: Really? Who for?
    Him: Palm Beach - Currumbin.
    Me: Oh.

    In any case, I think the distinction between AFL and Aussie Rules/Footy plays a big part in the northern academies. Kids would have no interest in going to an AFL academy as it would just be representing the entire sport, something like an advanced version of Auskick. However attaching a brand to it such as the Sydney Swans immediately gives much greater sway in the kids minds as they know the Swans are the pinnacle of the game. This distinction in Queensland and NSW is something that Melbournians in particular are completely unaware of when they have their biannual rages against academies.

  10. #22
    Compared to most governing organising, we have it pretty good as footy fans. Have a chat to any Rugby, League or Soccer fans and see how they feel about theirs.
    At the end of the day, the majority of money comes thru TV rights and corporate partnerships. If that is healthy, it flows to the grass roots

  11. #23
    Veterans List
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Castlemaine, Vic.
    Posts
    8,177
    Quote Originally Posted by Dosser View Post
    I'm with Wolfie on this. It makes me shudder when I hear the game at suburban level being called "AFL". If it continues to happen then I will get my son to play A-League for our local suburban club.
    Yes. You often hear someone described as "playing AFL football" or " an AFL footy player" and you think, "Oh, he played in the AFL!"......ahh no, he was just a suburban footballer.

  12. #24
    Veterans List
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Castlemaine, Vic.
    Posts
    8,177
    Quote Originally Posted by bodgie View Post
    ........and looks like the under 10s games I used to play, is a game which needs someone to sit down and have a good rethink about.
    I remember my Dad joking years ago that watching junior footy was like watching a mob of 36 kids just chasing the ball around the ground "like chickens with their heads cut off" he'd laughingly say. I have increasingly been thinking the same of AFL football in recent years. Half to two thirds of the ground completely empty with a throng of players around the ball.....it's not a good look. It's a real pity because the athleticism and skill of today's players is better than ever before on a collective level.

Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO