If you’re reading this, you’re probably a GIANTS supporter or better yet, a member.
Firstly, I’d like to offer my congratulations.
Choosing, an AFL team is not an easy decision. After all, unlike friendship, marriage or your identity, you can never change your AFL team.
Personally, I would have encouraged you to become a Melbourne supporter but in fairness, that’s a level of pain I wish on very few people. Just my family really.
I therefore welcome you with open arms into the AFL fan fraternity, until you become better than my team.
So until Round 3 then.
While many GIANTS’ supporters are already long term AFL fans, I hope some of you are new to the game and are keen to learn about it.
Learning a new sport, is really the only worthwhile type of learning really.
So in that spirit, here’s a handy guide to help make a bit of sense of this great game.
The Competition
The AFL is a national competition made up of 18 teams from five states (the important ones).
It’s played across 23 rounds from March to August. Finals then follow in September, with the Grand Final falling on the 27th of September this year.
Originally the AFL began its life as the Victorian Football League (VFL).
In the modern day, Victoria still has ten teams making it the sport’s biggest state however teams like the GIANTS are part of the long term push to put those arrogant southerners in their place.
The AFL’s first season, as the VFL, was in 1897. I believe this was the same year Vikings settled Victoria but my knowledge of history can be way off sometimes.
I’m pretty confident about this fact though.
The competition stayed that way with a few comings and goings until 1982, when South Melbourne relocated to Sydney to become your arch-nemesis the Sydney Swans.
In 1990, the VFL announced it was becoming the Australian Football League with the West Coast Eagles (WA) and the Brisbane Bears already part of the competition.
Soon to follow would be two teams from South Australia, another from WA and the merger of a Victorian team, Fitzroy, with the Brisbane Lions, to form the Brisbane Lions.
Then the most recent expansion occurred with the Gold Coast SUNS joining in 2011 and finally, you guys, the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS in 2012. Exciting huh?
You can just feel the history and stuff.
The Game
Field of Play
AFL is played on an oval, which apparently comes from being originally invented to keep cricketers fit in the winter.
That always surprised me. Who ever saw a fit cricketer until a few years ago?
Shane Warne had to leave cricket to get fit.
How’d all that fitness help England recently anyway? Quinoa salad anyone? I digress.
There is no set size of a ground but all are recognised as ovals by most people with a primary school education.
Players
Each team has 18 players on the ground and four players on the bench. Three of these can be subbed on and off repeatedly, while the fourth is the substitute.
He’s the one wearing a fetching green vest and looking a bit upset because professionally, he has become the last kid picked in the playground.
When he is activated, another player has to come out of the game for good and they will then wear the green vest.
This year, for the first time, interchanges will be capped at 120 per game, with no limit for an individual quarter.
Time
Each quarter goes for 20 minutes however the clock stops when play stops. This usually adds five to ten minutes to each quarter.
Scoring
At each end of the field, you’ll see two big sticks with two smaller sticks on each side.
Kicking the ball through the two big sticks is a ‘goal’ worth six points. Kicking it through a big one and a small one is a ‘behind’ and is worth one point.
If a ball is touched by an opponent or pushed through the goals in any manner except a direct kick, it’s a ‘rushed behind’ and worth one point.
The score will be displayed like this: 3.2.20. This means three goals, two behinds for a total score of 20. See, maths can almost be fun!
General Play
AFL has no offside rule, so players can run anywhere. It looks like chaos but there is structure to the madness.
Very roughly, there are forwards (those trying to kick goals), defenders (those trying to stop them) and midfielders (who generally follow the ball).
The very tall players in the midfield are ruckmen.
They leap for the ball when play is started or re-started with a bounce or the ball being thrown up in the air. They try and tap or punch the ball to their team’s advantage.
Players can move the ball in any direction through kicking the ball, handballing (holding the ball in one hand and punching it with the other) or running with it. It is illegal to throw the ball.
When a player is tackled, they must release the ball or be penalised for ‘holding the ball’.
This is the fun bit when everyone yells ‘ball’ even if it’s not. Feel free to do this every time an opposition player with the ball is even lightly touched. Being accurate here is not important or valued.
When a ball is kicked, any player can ‘mark’ the ball by catching it. They then get a chance to kick the ball without being tackled. Their opponent usually stands on the ‘mark’ where they caught the ball.
If in range, the player will usually have a shot at goal. Otherwise, they’ll try to kick the ball to a teammate or handball to a player running past.
These are the simple points of the game. There are subtleties and nuances that take time to pick up but don’t let that bother you. Most of the commentators have never bothered to learn them either.
The 2014 Season
Things are looking on the up for the GIANTS. Young Superstar Jeremy Cameron is worth a membership alone and new recruits like Heath Shaw and Josh Hunt add experience.
Get on board now so you can look down on new fans in a few years when the bandwagon starts to fill up.
Titus O’Reily can be found on Twitter at @TitusOReily or check out his website at titusoreily.com
