The Ambiguous Football League: Why Australian football's rules have always been up for debate (2024)

For a game that began with 10 rules written down in a pub in 1859, Australian football has been characterised by the evolution of those laws.

The ambiguity of the original code evolved slowly over time as the game morphed from a form of rugby to the free-flowing game we know today.

Over time more rules have been added and interpreted, but Aussie Rules has always been a game umpired with a degree of subjectivity — even when the rules are seemingly there in black and white.

The latest argument in the game relates to the interpretation of the holding-the-ball rule.

Players seemingly have been given more time to attempt to dispose of the ball while being tackled, which has led to criticism by senior coaches including Geelong's Chris Scott, Gold Coast's Damien Hardwick and Carlton's Michael Voss.

Increasingly we see tackled players spun 360 degrees before they get rid of the ball, leaving the tackler in a tricky situation: If they bring the tackled player to the ground, they risk causing an injury and giving away a free kick, but by holding the player up, they give him time to dispose of the ball.

However,rule 18.6.2 is clear:

Free Kicks — Holding the Ball: Prior Opportunity

Where a Player in Possession of the Football has had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if that Player does not Correctly Dispose of the football immediately when they are Legally Tackled.

The key word in that paragraph is "immediately". It's incumbent on the player to immediately get rid of the ball once they are tackled, and yet it appears they are getting increasingly longer periods of time to attempt a handball or kick.

That issue is addressed in a further sub-point, rule 18.6.4:

Free Kicks — Holding the Ball: No Genuine Attempt

Where a Player in Possession of the Football has not had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if the Player is able to, but does not make a genuine attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football within a reasonable time when Legally Tackled.

So here we have a new blurry concept which is "reasonable time".

The AFL's umpires boss Stephen McBurney addressed the issue this week, telling AFL.com.au:

"We have to judge prior opportunity first; if the player has had prior opportunity, they must dispose legally by kick or handball. And that's well understood by the fans out there.

"Where we get into some confusion or difficulty is when a player is tackled immediately.

"In that circ*mstance, they must make an attempt to kick or handball and if the ball is pinned, it will result in a ball up. If the ball is knocked out in the tackle, we will call play on."

So, the grey area becomes how much time the player has had before they take possession of the ball – the issue of reasonable time — and if they are tackled more or less simultaneously with gaining possession, how much time are they being given to get rid of it?

Few people are as well equipped to comment on the ambiguity in Australian football umpiring as Shane McInerny who was in charge of 502 AFL games between 1994 and 2019.

Regarding the holding-the-ball rule, he said it was always one that evolved with the pace and speed of the game.

"I wouldn't have paid a holding the ball in my first year, if I was adjudicating it now," McInerny said.

"What was regarded as prior opportunity has now turned into the blink of an eye.

"When I first started, it was a player taking three of four steps, it evolved into balanced and steady, and now it's evolved into a player being instinctive."

So now with the pace of the game, we frequently see players getting tackled almost the moment they take possession of the ball, which raises the question: How long exactly is the reasonable time a player is given before they try to handball or kick?

McInerny pauses before answering that there is no given time, but adds that they're coached on it.

The issue was raised by Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick after his player Mac Andrew tacked Carlton's Charlie Curnow in Melbourne last Saturday.

Curnow was tackled immediately by Andrew who spun him 450 degrees in one direction and then 90 degrees back the other way before Curnow kicked the ball, eventually resulting in a Carlton goal.

McInerny said umpires were coached to allow a player "reasonable time" to see what a player would do.

"If you do not attempt to handball or kick the ball within reasonable time then you can have holding the ball paid against you," he said.

But clearly the length of that reasonable time is up for debate, and some would say is stretching ever longer.

And McInerny also acknowledges there are also cases where a player does have prior opportunity and is tackled and held for a period of time, but not penalised for holding the ball.

"That's an example of the rule not being paid as consistently as it could be," he said.

He says even umpires argue about applying the rules.

"In the umpires coaching rooms not everyone agrees," he said.

"I can recall around the holding the ball stuff, not everyone agrees with what the interpretation was when reviewing decisions.

"And not everyone agreed with what the coaches wanted paid."

There are other examples of AFL rules which aren't applied to the letter of the law.

A glaring example is how far a player can run with the ball before he or she has to bounce it or touch it on the ground.

Rule 18.13 c states:

A field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against a Player who … whilst in possession of the football, does not bounce or touch the football on the ground at least once every 15 metres, irrespective of whether such Player is running in a straight line or otherwise.

A common misconception – particularly among commentators – is that a player is allowed 15 steps before bouncing the ball, not 15 metres.

Given footy players are tall and run fast, their step length at full sprint would be far greater than 2 metres per stride.

That means 15 steps at full pelt would take an average AFL player well beyond 30 metres.

But the carrying-the-ball-too-far rule seems to be applied rarely by AFL umpires.

"It is one of those rules where it is more lenient," McInerny said."

And we see it a lot — for instance at kick-ins where a player plays on from the goal square and often runs halfway to the 50-metre arc before kicking the ball.

We know the player on the mark is 15 metres in front of the kick-off line, so to the letter of the law, a player should be pinged for running too far if they run past that mark.

The AFL could solve the problem by painting an arc from boundary to boundary 15 metres beyond the kick-off line.

Such an arc exists in the rules book to demonstrate the protected area for kick-ins.

But McInerny says the AFL doesn't want to clutter the ground with more markings and so we live with a rubbery definition of 15 metres.

"There's a lot of margin for error if you want to pay it at 16 or 17 metres," he said, inferring umpires tended to give players the benefit of the doubt.

What is odd is that umpires frequently refuse marks if they believe a kick hasn't travelled 15 metres, so they should be able to determine whether a player has run 15 metres.

McInerny said umpires worked on landmarks on the field. For example, if a player took possession at a centre ball-up and ran to the edge of the centre square, the umpire knew that was roughly 22 metres.

He said it was an area of the game where umpires worked on "feel".

But he was adamant that, unlike commentators, umpires don't count steps.

Another glaring inconsistency in the rule happens with the high marking that has made Aussie Rules so unique.

Ordinarily, it is an offence to shove a player in the back, but we look the other way if a player does it with his knees or feet in a marking contest and is making a reasonable attempt to mark the ball.

"It's something we accept as part of the game," McInerny said.

"If you want high marking you have to accept that there will be a level of infringement.

"Is it an inconsistency? Yeah, but it's another nuance of the game."

Aussie Rules is a game of many inconsistencies, but McInerny argues the rules of the game have been carefully created and applied over the decades.

"The rule book is the same size it's been for over 150 years of football," he said.

"And I think they were written in a very crafty way.

"The wording hasn't changed, what has changed is the game, and those that are left to umpire it have to adapt in their interpretations to ensure the game is played contemporarily."

It is accepted wisdom that Australian football is the hardest game in the world to umpire because of the subjectivity that is baked into the rules, not to mention the speed and 360-degree nature of the game.

Moreover, umpires are officiating the game in front of tens of thousands of some of the most passionate and one-eyed fans in world sport.

"Sometimes you just have to accept that the umpire has a different view," McInerny said.

"I've been at games where I've seen decisions that seem a bit dodgy but then I've watched replays and understood why that umpire has made that decision."

As for umpires second-guessing themselves when there's a hot issue in the media, as there is now with the holding-the-ball debate, McInerny says umpires are all too aware of what's happening around them.

"It was always one of the things that I was most anxious about," he said.

"I still hated when there was chat about a decision I made — even if it was a correct decision."

They're human after all, but McInerny says "never selective" about awarding free kicks.

"If you're trying to second guess yourself, you're shooting yourself in the foot," he said, adding umpires were assessed and judged every week on the decisions they made.

It is a game with many shades of grey even when it seems the laws are written in black and white.

We love it and we hate it. It's part of the theatre of the game and, without it, perhaps it wouldn't be Aussie Rules as we know it.

But the AFL could do more to explain the rules of the game and contentious decisions to both the media who report on it and the fans who love it.

Every Monday the National Rugby League's executive general manager of football and former referee, Graham Annersley, gives the media an on-the-record briefing on decisions made in the previous round of football.

There is nothing stopping the AFL from introducing a similar move to explain how and why the game is umpired as it is.