International Rules

[raboyle]

Originally posted by Timbermerchant
of course ye copied the game, sure it was all irish immigrants who first played it. Admit it ye stole it and ye wrecked it

Rugby was the most visible parent of Aussie Rules. The rest was made by a bunch of blokes in Victoria, which spread to all corners of the country, and then the world after a while.

The claim that Gaelic football created Aussie Rules is a bulls**t claim made by Irish media and sporting folk who want to take credit for creating the Australian game.

We did not steal anything!

You have your game, we have ours and now we have another type of game which takes elements from both games.

So quit trying to take credit for something the Irish did not even have a hand in!!!

 

[The Biff]

Originally posted by hawkfan5
idiot The Biff

Ah now hawkfan5, is that the best you can come back with?

You're disappointing me even more.

And I agree with my colleague Timbermerchant. Seeing as Oz was originally populated (apologies to all Aborigines out there) by Irish convicts and refugees (oooooh! bad choice of words!), I suppose it's quite understandable why you lot had to resort to using a rugby ball (or is an American version?) and stick up some extra goalposts so as to help the scoring rate.

Pity!

 

[Esperito]

No Kingsley Hunter, no International Rules.
The game is nothing without his flamboyant brilliance.

 

[Timbermerchant]

I think ye changed the rules because of the long journey from County Australia to play in the All Ireland series, a three month boat journey after being administered a whipping by County Kerry in the football would induce anyone to tinker with the rules (and the shape of the ball, and the shape of the pitch etc etc)
don't worry, we UNDERSTAND!!

 

[Bob_vic]

Originally posted by The Biff


Ah now hawkfan5, is that the best you can come back with?

You're disappointing me even more.

And I agree with my colleague Timbermerchant. Seeing as Oz was originally populated (apologies to all Aborigines out there) by Irish convicts and refugees (oooooh! bad choice of words!), I suppose it's quite understandable why you lot had to resort to using a rugby ball (or is an American version?) and stick up some extra goalposts so as to help the scoring rate.

Pity!

Didn't Gaelic Football have goalposts at one stage?

Bob

 

[Timbermerchant]

yeah we got rid of them in the 1910's

 

[larry buaile]

You're right Bob Vic.

Before the gaelic football rules were "standardised" in 1884 we used to have the same goalpost setup as Aussie Rules have now.

The way I see it is that in the mid 1800s a group of Irish lads (and probably english), who couldn't get their hands on a round ball started playing gaelic with a rugby ball on a cricket pitch. - jumpers for goalposts, that sort of stuff.

As I said the rules of gaelic football hadn't been set in stone at that stage and depending on what part of the country you were from the rules varied. These lads were from all over the country so they would've mixed and matched rules, added their own ones and this would have eventually turned into Aussie Rules.

There's no shame in Aussie Rules been a deriative of gaelic football, I mean Christ it had to come from somewhere?

Gaelic football, for instance, came about because the Tans(english) wouldn't let the Irish play hurling. What they did was get rid of the sticks and small ball of hurling and just kicked a pigs bladder around the place instead.

It would be very hard to sit down and make up a game that was completely different from any game already invented.

 

[feargorm]

Spot on Timbermerchant. The current sport of Australian Rules football bears an uncanny resemblance to Gaelic Football pre 1884 when the rules of that game were standardised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Up to that point Gaelic Football was played with an oval ball and the goal posts/scoring system were the same as in Aussie Rules today. Both codes, although still similar in many respects, have diverged slightly from the common ancestor with AR incorporating the mark and tackle from Rugby and GF introducing the round ball and goalkeeper to further distinguish it from that other game at a time when Irish culture was under threat from the British establishment. As a result we have arrived at what are undoubtedly the two most exciting football codes on the planet. Just compare either to the boringness of Soccer, the ridiculousness of both Rugby codes and the sheer idiocy of American “Football”. I understand that there is a school of thought in Australia that maintains that AR was conceived in Victoria completely independent of the Gaelic game. However, this is akin to the story of the American who upon being introduced to an Englishman in Chicago enquired if he was European. The Englishman replied “Indeed, I’m from England”, to which the Yank responded “Wow, you speak such good English.”

 

[raboyle]

Originally posted by larry buaile
You're right Bob Vic.

Before the gaelic football rules were "standardised" in 1884 we used to have the same goalpost setup as Aussie Rules have now.

The way I see it is that in the mid 1800s a group of Irish lads (and probably english), who couldn't get their hands on a round ball started playing gaelic with a rugby ball on a cricket pitch. - jumpers for goalposts, that sort of stuff.

As I said the rules of gaelic football hadn't been set in stone at that stage and depending on what part of the country you were from the rules varied. These lads were from all over the country so they would've mixed and matched rules, added their own ones and this would have eventually turned into Aussie Rules.

There's no shame in Aussie Rules been a deriative of gaelic football, I mean Christ it had to come from somewhere?

Gaelic football, for instance, came about because the Tans(english) wouldn't let the Irish play hurling. What they did was get rid of the sticks and small ball of hurling and just kicked a pigs bladder around the place instead.

It would be very hard to sit down and make up a game that was completely different from any game already invented.

Hmmm. This has made me think a bit...

I have only gone on what has been said in a book called '100 years of Australian Football 1897-1996', which had some stuff on the beginnings of our footy.

It said that Aussie rules was invented by a bunch of Vics who used the game to keep fit until cricket season. It didn't mention anything relating to Gaelic football. But, if this is true then that is news to me.

It seems I might have to look at some stuff to confirm this.

By the way...Gaelic football was shown recently on SBS here, and I think it may have been the Ireland Final. It was quite good. No wonder the two orgainisations decided to sanction these matches.

 

[Timbermerchant]

Aussie Rules was first shown on Irish TV in the 1980's and it was a big hit straight off with Essendon, Hawthorne and Carlton being class teams at the time. I used to watch it with one of my neighbours who was a notable GAA club player in his time , and it used to remind him a lot of the games he played in, high fielding, direct football, no messin stuff and hard as nails. Gaelic football changed irrecognisably during the mid 1970's when the fitness levels of the top teams skyrocketed within a couple of years, and managers decided it was easier to play a ball up the field with quick short passing rather than hit and hope like in the past, and this style of game quickly became the norm, and the high fielding became a bit of a lost art (despite a few practitioners Dara O Shea who is in Oz now, John McDermott, and a few others). I think thats why we Irish have taken to this new game, as there's a bit of old and new in it.

 

[OTG]

AFL

I'm not blessed back home with RTE (the Irish state broadcaster) TV reception but I do remember watching AFL games in the late 80's/early 90's every Saturday morning on Channel 4 (UK) before going to Gaelic Football training. I don't think I missed one show of that for an entire year!

It's still shown here on Sky Sports, I think a 2 hour magazine every weekend. It might also be on TG4 in Ireland as well, but I don't think it's carried on the UK terrestrials any more

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Just wondering....if there is no tackling in the Irish game, how do they stop players from just running it down the field?

I know you can only take 2 bounces then have to kick the ball to yourself, but the Irish seem quite adept at doing that so wouldn't they be able to run it the length of the field?

 

[Timbermerchant]

These are the rules on tackling as per www.gaa.ie

Tackling: A defending player may try to dispossess an attacking player by one of two methods:-

Tackling 'shoulder-to-shoulder' i.e. making fair contact with his shoulder to the other player's shoulder to try and unbalance him. The defender may not use his hip or elbow in the tackle, and one foot has to be on the ground during the whole tackling procedure. A player may use the shoulder to push a player away from the ball whilst both of them are chasing a 'fifty-fifty' ball i.e. no team is in proper possession of the ball.

In Gaelic football he may attempt to knock the ball from the attacker's hands with the open palm. Only one hand can be used, and the defender cannot try to pull it from the attacker, he must knock it cleanly from his possession.

Its very open to interpretation though by different referees!

 

[play on]

Originally posted by Timbermerchant


Its very open to interpretation though by different referees!

Sounds a little bit like here. One umpire will pay a free kick for somthing, yet another umpire will not pay a free kick for the same thing.

 

[The Biff]

Originally posted by GOALden Hawk
I know you can only take 2 bounces then have to kick the ball to yourself, but the Irish seem quite adept at doing that so wouldn't they be able to run it the length of the field?

To clarify, in Gaelic Football, you can only hop the ball once before you must "solo" it (that's what we call the "toe-to-hand" bit) or play it away. You can solo as many times in a row as you wish. Also, we're only allowed five steps between hops/solos, but this must be the most abused rule in our game.

There are quite a few Irish folk who would support the introduction of an Aussie-style tackle into Gaelic, because applying our present tackle rules is usually such a mess, and they basically encourage the player in possession to try to hold onto the ball and win a free. I believe your rule encourages him to play it quick, which is preferable.

Anyway, since when do the rule-makers listen to the likes of us.

 

[Benny]

Originally posted by The Biff

To clarify, in Gaelic Football, you can only hop the ball once before you must "solo" it (that's what we call the "toe-to-hand" bit) or play it away. You can solo as many times in a row as you wish. Also, we're only allowed five steps between hops/solos, but this must be the most abused rule in our game.


Four steps actually!!

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Originally posted by The Biff


Anyway, since when do the rule-makers listen to the likes of us.

HAHA...so true so true. That definition of a 'tackle' sounds even harder to police than ours!