by Peter Clay

Created on: February 25, 2009

Footy, A.F.L, Football, Australian Football League or Aussie Rules; no matter what it's known by, it's still the only sport in the world to reward a team with points for missing the goal. A.F.L (Australian Football League) is a sport enjoyed by Australians and revered by the people from the state of Victoria. From an outside perspective or even from an inside for some people, how to score in this sport can be confusing. However once understood, it can make the game far more understanding and enjoyable to watch.

To start off, each end of the playing field has a set of four posts in a straight line known as the goal posts. Two tall posts in the middle which is the main goal, surrounded on each side by one shorter one known as the behind posts. The objective for the teams playing is to kick the football in between the middle posts of the opposing side, thus giving them the maximum points of six each time they succeed.

Relatively straight forward to this point, however we now get to the part of rewarding points for a failure to convert accurately. If a kick of the ball misses going in between the two middle posts, instead it goes between the middle and the behind post, it is known as a behind. A team will be rewarded with one point for this type of goal.

Now for the tricky part. A single point can also be scored if the attacking team carries the ball in between any of the posts of the opposing side or if their kick is touched by the opposing side as it goes through the goal. A point may also be awarded if the defending team has the ball, trying to avoid a potential turnover they cross the ball through the goal posts they are defending to award one point to the other team. This would restart the play in their favour; this play is known as a rush behind. If the ball hits the middle posts the team will also receive one point, none are received for hitting the behind posts.

The ultimate decision of whether a goal is scored and what type of goal comes down to a flag waving Goal Umpire. If a goal has been scored he or she will use two index fingers pointed towards the middle of the ground to notify everyone, they will then wave two flags over their head to alert the Goal Umpire at the other end of the field. If the ball goes in for a behind, he or she will only use one index finger pointed towards the middle of the ground. The hand used depends on what side the behind was scored, left or right and they will then wave one flag. Although if a ball hits a post, the Goal Umpire will tap the post it hit and waves the appropriate flag.

A.F.L like any sport is confusing to the uninitiated, however the best advise for sports fans keen to understand more is to get some mates, a couple of beers and head down to a local match. Pick a team, boo the umpire and cheer like you never done before - the rest will follow.

Learn more about this author, Peter Clay.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.