9's - the "Rugby 7's" or "T20" of Aussie Rules?

[Peter P]

A few years ago on BF I floated the idea (others have too) that the AFL and other Australian Football leagues should more formally develop and promote a 9-a-side version. I think it worth a re-run, particularly with the ongoing success of Rugby 7's in taking a small version of that code to new markets and even the Olympics, and more recently the explosion of interest generated by T20 Cricket.

I wrote a more comprehensive viewpoint at http://www.worldfootynews.com/article.php/20091227191919490 But briefly:

The potential benefits of 9's are to school (particularly primary school) footy, international leagues, country and other leagues where some clubs have surplus players and others struggling to field a full side team, start up leagues and clubs in NSW and Qld where preponderance of Soccer/Rugby pitches.

9's gives high aerobic games in shorter time frame with all players getting twice the ball time for match time compared with 18-a-side.

9's is thus a way of increasing participation and accelerating skills development amongst players, particularly juniors and newcomers from other sports.

RecFooty (though 8-a-side) has similar advantages in a non-contact format.

The AFL and its clubs could do more to promote 9's and RecFooty, by playing carnivals or exhibition games as a partial or full alternative to the NAB Cup for instance.

T20 Cricket and Rugby 7's are doing a lot for those codes. Touch footy for Rugby Leage and several small versions of soccer including indoor do a lot for participation and skills development for those codes. The biggest game of all (biggest field, biggest number of players) could do with a more officially promoted small version.

Imagine a pre-season lightening carnival of 9's at the new Swan Street Stadium for instance - of many or all AFL teams. Or held at Lang Park or the Sydney Football Stadium. Half the league could play at one venue in an afternoon/evening, the other half at another, finals the following week.

9's would never supplant the full game but complement it via increased participation and skills development and occasional novelty of carnivals at AFL level or International Cups.

 

[Subprime]

Its probably time the AFL, as governing body of the code, formalised the 9-a-side rules and/or merged it with recFooty. Most field sports have a modified version of the game so its probably long overdue in the case of Aussie Rules. A 9-a-side lightning carnival with the best players is worth a trial.

 

[Peter P]

I don't think merging contact 9's with non-contact RecFooty is needed - but agree formalising of rules of 9's and promotion by AFL teams playing them is definitely worthwhile. Both need promotion. Some AFL clubs have links with Netball clubs - they could compete in a Mixed Netball carnival and a RecFooty carnival (as RecFooty is designed to be a mixed male/female social form of the game).

 

[Subprime]

I don't think merging contact 9's with non-contact RecFooty is needed - but agree formalising of rules of 9's and promotion by AFL teams playing them is definitely worthwhile. Both need promotion. Some AFL clubs have links with Netball clubs - they could compete in a Mixed Netball carnival and a RecFooty carnival (as RecFooty is designed to be a mixed male/female social form of the game).

Do you know what input the AFL has had into the development of 9-a-side footy to date? Have they shown any interest?

 

[Peter P]

I don't know what the AFL's views or actions or policy on 9's is. One reason I raise the idea again here on BF! I do recall that a lightening 9's carnival was mooted for the centenary of the VFL/AFL a decade or so ago but it never eventuated.

 

[tandino]

The concept has already been developed, in the USA of all places. Makes sense when you think about it, rectangular playing surfaces are a dime a dozen over there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_footy

I always thought the concept was pretty good, and should be investigated further.

 

[stmookeyj]

Played 9-a-side in High School before the competition really got half serious, we won the comp (4 wins from 4 matches). Really relies on rotation through the zones (enabling as many as possible have as long as possible as a forward.

 

[doggiesin08]

I don't know whether its only done at the one location but at the Altona Rec Centre they play Indoor Footy across about 8 or so synthetic grass tennis courts with modified rules which seems to work really well.

 

[Subprime]

Some questions:

Is European 9-a-side & US Metro footy the same game?

If so, are they just scaled down versions of 18-a-side or are there other changes ie zones?

Is the distance between the goal/point posts also scaled down?

 

[Watsclarkosmob]

Don't have the space in the calender, once GC and GWS enter the comp we should extend the season, ditch the NAB cup even if does generate money and just have two practice games and then straight into the real deal. Use to have a 9 a side off season comp at Yeronga that was touch, don't know anyone that played it but touch footy is not my cup to tea. As far as a PE subject this isn't too bad never had Aussie Rules in my PE class due to the size needed and too many rules to enforce from a teacher who wouldn't have a clue bloody Queenslanders. So I don't see any inter school games but in the class yeah for sure but I don't know how the AFL is going to talk schools all over Australia into add this to their curriculum. IMO.

 

[Peter P]

Subprime - in my longer article on www.worldfootynews.com I comment on the EU Cup and USAFL Metro-footy as two examples of how 9's has helped footy grow in Europe and the USA. As far as I know however there is no standardisation of 9's rules. The AFL could embrace 9's and standardise the rules.

Watsclarkosmob - school PE classes is a classic place for 9's and it has been used as far as I know in SA in this way and also with some high school mid-week interschool 9's. But the real place crying out for 9's is primary schools where small classes and small playing fields dominate and therefore small team and compact field sports like soccer and basketball dominate. RecFooty is now the officially sanctioned form of touch, but there's a place for full contact 9's.

With 18 teams the squeeze will be on the NAB Cup you're right. But there'd therefore be room for something like a 2 week carnival of short fast 9's AFL matches where you can see multiple matches on same day, just like Rugby 7's. A kind of T20 warm up for the AFL season proper.

 

[fabulousphil]

Actually i did see this on WFN and thought it was a great read and idea, long overdue IMO and the powers that be should look seriously at it.

As a junior football coach of 9 year olds who play in teams of 15 players with 2 or 3 reserves who are rotated i see a lot of merit in reducing the numbers to auskick size teams of around 9, 10 players.

More kids get a a touch of the footy.
Because of this skills are picked up at a faster rate.
Far easier to organise 10 kids than 18.

Not a issue in WA but in NSW,QLD rugby/soccer grounds can be used.


BTW Peter I hope you send it off to the AFL and they have a look at it.

 

[Peter P]

Actually fabulousphil I did send the idea to the AFL back around 1991 when there was no footy team (but soccer and basketball) at my son's primary school - and got a reply (old typewriter - before computers and most word-processors) from the AFL saying essentially "interesting idea but we don't want to undermine the traditional 18-a-side game".

Since then footy has pretty well disappeared from primary schools in SA, Touch Rugby League has become popular, Rugby 7's has expanded Rugby Union into new territory and made it an Olympic Sport, indoor soccer has become very popular and soccer and basketball became the main primary school sports. I'm not saying "I told you so" as the idea has been put forward by others and I got the idea in 1991 from a friend who organised an adult social 9's in summer in the Adelaide hills, though I never got involved in it myself.

I think the "powers that be" read worldfootynews.com so presumably my article there raising it again may get considered.

 

[cos789]

Firstly this brings up another issue -that being the AFL should look after it's league and the National council should return to adminsister the rules of the various versions and oversee overseas devlopments .
This has been primarily an overseas devlopment with implications in Australia ,
that mainly to do with lack of numbers in some specific areas .
The obvious first step is to implement junior leagues with lower player requirements run along existing rules .
A quite separate issue is formulating a 9-a-side competition as a space requirement rather than a playing numbers requirement .
What need is that for in Australia ? This is an obvious need O/s .
Well I suggest a marketing need and I'd suggest a summer competition under lights utilising many existing facilities that have lighting for the rectangular sports .I'd suggest a distinctive set of rules and playing requirements that set it aside from traditional football .Then we could could play against other countries on a more level playing field .As for rules , I'd suggest dividing the ground into thirds a' la Auskick , but allowing 4 only players in one third .
That would allow one player to momentarily cross into another third before returning .Most O/S comps do away with the point posts which is a good idea to remove clutter . I would consider a cross bar like Gaelic , but nothing else as this would force a defender to always guard the goal .Also a chance to get rid of some other encrumbrances .A point or crossing the defensive line would simply be a free kick taken 15m out .Ball ups no bounce downs .Rotations through each third .In fact could go for three periods instead of four quarters .

.

 

[wikipediaAFLproject]

This is a very well thought out idea.

I totally agree that football in primary schools needs a review. If there are a lot less teams than previous it shows that there is a problem.
Perhaps the AFL prefers people to seek out clubs outside of school?

When i was a youngster playing sport i really did not like playing in positions where i did not touch the ball much. I hated playing defence/forward in football, as in kids football the midfield follows the ball and gets way more touches. Same in soccer, when i was goal-keeper you hardly touch the ball.

These 'small sided games' would increase kids exposure to football, and let them discover the great game which uses the whole body in gameplay.

Perhaps to encourage the AFL to adopt the 9's in primary schools, it could be first encouraged to investigate the problem of declining popularity in primary schools. It would then find a solution (9's) to this problem.

The FFA has published a booklet here about the benefits of small sided games in soccer http://www.penrithfc.com/SSG Handbook for clubs 19Dec07.pdf Much of the info here can be applied to football.

 

[Redb#]

Good article.

9's could open a whole range of possilbities including giving TV another product but played on a TV friendly size ground.

Better international potential as only 9 required to get a game going.

 

[kronic]

Won't float. Footy is exciting enough as it is, unchallenged goal after goal games are boring. Tight skillfull games is what makes Australian Football the best, eg. Geelong vs St Kilda 2009

Only reason Rugby 7s exists is because the IRB (more to the point the controlling Northern Hemisphere elements) don't want it to become a running game, which is what the fans want.

 

[CaptainChardonnay]

Why the **** would you bother with this shit?

The reason there is a 7's comp in Rugby is because the ordinary game is so god damn awful.

The reason why T20 is so popular is because people want a game that lasts about the same duration as a game of footy and appeals to the masses.

AFL in it's current state (God forbid they start screwing around with the rules again) has the perfect mix of entertainment in terms of spectating and duration. There is simply no need to start running a bastardised version of the game. AFL's popularity is on the rise, Interest in Cricket and Rugby is waning and hence why they need to come up with these gimmicks. The NAB cup is already too far away from the real game to be worth watching. Let it go.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

To me a 9's tornament in the mid-season would be far more appealing than the NAB cup or a State of Origin, or that silly crap with the old fat guys they do now.

You could specify AFL players that had played a maximum of 5 or so games the previous season.
You could play 4 games an hour, and easily do a "season" of games on a Saturday, and finals on the Sunday. I reckon tickets for both days would sell out the Dome.

Because the players are not regular team members, the teams will not be reluctant to play them to the max ( unlike NAB or Origin games ).

I thouroughly enjoyed the 7's at the Dome during the Commonwealth games, and I reckon an AFL type tornament would be better than that was.

 

[cos789]

Tight skillfull games is what makes Australian Football the best, eg. Geelong vs St Kilda 2009

Well 9s is on a small field unlike 7s which uses full size rugby ground .

.

 

[cos789]

Good article.

9's could open a whole range of possilbities including giving TV another product but played on a TV friendly size ground.

Better international potential as only 9 required to get a game going.

Yes , a lot cheaper and easier to set up tournaments thus making the game more portable .

.

 

[Chasing the Dream]

While I can not confirm 100%, I have been told that on Friday, North Melbourne will be playing a couple of 9 a-side scratch matches against GC17 & Southport at Southport as part of their training camp here on the Coast this week.

I will be heading down regardless and will be able to see how a 9 a-side thing might look.

 

[cos789]

While I can not confirm 100%, I have been told that on Friday, North Melbourne will be playing a couple of 9 a-side scratch matches against GC17 & Southport at Southport as part of their training camp here on the Coast this week.

I will be heading down regardless and will be able to see how a 9 a-side thing might look.

Let's be honest there's nothing new in 9-a-side .
How many times has the coach set up a backs vs forwards scratch match .

.

 

[Peter P]

Cos789 - with reference to your earlier post that had quite a lot of rule changes, I'd keep it simple for full contact 9's - same 4 goal posts at each end of a shortened ground, same rules - only change I think (from the 9's I got my high school team to play for training) and from what I've seen is the case in RecFooty and sounds like case in some of the overseas 9's comps - is to make the 3 forwards the only ones who can score (and maybe have to stay forward of centre). That makes the backs and centres pass the ball and not bomb long goals, and keeps the play open as the forwards stay forward and the backs have to stay there to defend.

Kronic - I (and I think others promoting this) don't want it to float as competition or replacement of the main game. Simply it fills a niche as I explain in opening post and in the WFN article. Helps skills development (As WikipediaAFLProject says FIFA have gone full on with small teams policy for juniors, indoor and social small soccer comps help skill development for soccer players towards the 11-a-side game). I doubt 9's would ever compete as a spectacle with the main game (but it may have a place as something sufficiently different for a once a year carnival - both for fans at the game and on TV).

The main area crying out for 9's is primary schools. To the one who queried whether primary schools were losing ovals to soccer pitches - well they have been for the past 20 years in SA, my old primary school once had a footy oval - now it is a soccer pitch, same with the primary school just up the road from where I now live.

At the end of this year the Murray League folds. If 9's were more accepted then it may have offer flexibility in fixtures to allow clubs to get through player droughts without going to the footy cemetary. e.g One club has 33 on its list and risks losing players who can't get a game, another has 17 on the list and is going to fold. That league may structure a 9's to go with the main league with teams from clubs that are struggling with just less than a full team or less than two full teams. But this is a bit secondary to 9's value in juniors and overseas.

 

[wikipediaAFLproject]

9-a-side football is great to be used to teach kids about the wonders of the game in a condensed package. Would 9's be used for representative Primary football as well? Or merely just to get them interested?

Also, why is there an underlying trend away from football at a junior level? Is it because it is seen as too physical? Are kids today no fit enough to play football? Do they find football too hard mentally? Are there hand-eye-skill co-ordinations lacking?

Or is it simply due to the fact that football started junior programs only 30 years after soccer, and is now seeing the consequences of this as such?

9's football should be able to solve all the problems listed above.