Why AFL, NRL, RWC are all worth celebrating

I have a interesting rule, ...... why do umpires have to bounce the ball ??. Well, here is the apparent reason, ....... The ball must be bounced/touch the ground, before a player can touch it, so no one can accuse the umpire of favouring a team, by just throwing it to one team to the detriment of the other, and that is why boundary umpires dont look where they are throwing it. Of course in this day and age, umpires will just throw the ball up, and by pass the bounce, so at some stage this rule, which BTW slows down play, has been superseded. i guess umpires are so much more fairer these days !!. The bounce rule has been in play since at least the 1870's.

Cattery no matter how hard you AFLers can try and convince us northerners to accept 'Australia's game' it just won't happen for the majority who already make up there mind same applies down south as the majority of them prefer AFL and nothing else if they were offer for them. You see sport can be viewed as religion and Cattery you one of the many preachers of AFL trying to convert us leaguies and other codes supporters to the native code and other propaganda the AFL likes to belt out annually but we ain't buying it one bit.

Competition is very good, for most things, look what GWS and the Swans have done for NRL memberships in the last couple of years, RL in Sydney became very lazy, sucking at the teat of leagues clubs and poker machines, they are now waking up. I doubt very much that much will change at all in Sydney, plenty of people to go around in Sydney for most sporting codes. I think GWS are up to around 12,000 members, and may average around 15-20k crowds next year, they will add to sport in Sydney not detract from it.

It certainly pays off to study codes that are foreign to you. It really creates an appreciation of the players objectives and restrictions. Recently I was explaining to a one eyed RL man that in the AFL you can only strictly tackle below the shoulders, above the knees and the player must be turned onto his back if tackled from behind, otherwise it's a penalty. I know if I didn't know this I would find that aspect very confusing.

Can you imagine if the US embraced any of there sports it would be game over as Very Big Business takes over and we the fans end up losing out..Keep It Simple Stupid

Shirt Nice article ... all sports have their place ... and if good enough people will watch and enjoy...

RM I don't know the history of Touch, so I can't say one way or the other, and I"m the first to admit that rugby (as it was in 1858) was a strong influence on the game of Australian Football. Someone else once wrote on the roar that Polo is also indigenous to Australia.

We know the AFL has a long term plan of going truely national and over-taking the other football codes in the eastern states. Especially in Sydney things will be very competitive over the next 10/20 years. So for all of us who follow different codes....yes, you are the enemy ,and vice versa. What's wrong with that? We don't have to agree with each other but let's at least be honest with each other.

Couldn't agree more stabpass

Nice thought but unrealistic Cat. Competition for bums on seats and TV viewers ($$$) will mean there always has to be winners and losers in the battle of the codes. Why sugar-coat it? How would you like it if AFL gave away 20 000 spectators per match towards the other football codes in the name of peace,love and understanding?

Its not anti AFL it is anti AFL FANS... You say im bagging it but you posted this.... why shouldn’t we, as a country, be proud of it? A perfect example of what i am talking about.. & no matter how much you tell me i should be,,i cannot be proud of something that means nothing to me ...never has ,probably never will. .

@ DBSwannie Plenty of people in NSW/QLD have cultural ties with Australian football going back generations, what is this..... 'we' ..... please speak for yourself !!. Nice article, although i note, and it has been said before, but on the roar, you could just have a headline reading 'AFL' and a blank bit of paper, and you would get the same people posting the same things, and up in arms about it.

Haha you're hilarious mate. Read the headline again...even on THIS article you can't shake the anti-AFL bagging. wow

I dont know about that. Touch has a good claim to be indigenous to Australia. You might disagree saying it has clearly evolved from both rugby codes - but then i'd argue that Australian Rules has too evolved from other codes albeit at a larger distance. Touch football borrows from rugby just as Aussie rules borrows from rugby and others. For instance, "The Mark" is clearly a rugby union football item that was adobted by the rule setters of Aussie rules. So to me there are at least two indigenous football codes, that being, Aussie Rules and Touch.

Because WE in the Northern states have no cultural ties to it...none ,zilch zippo,yet whatever our chosen sport we follow/were raised playing or watching is referred to as English sports or non Australian. & when debating here,any other forum or with fans ,the inference is always there....that somehow you are not a true Aussie ,you are UN AUSTRALIAN if you dont play/follow/ or be proud as can be of it.

Good piece...and I think a true reflection of how most people feel. Loving the RWC...Aus v NZ..! db swannie...I don't get u at all mate. If you're not into AFL, that's fine. But why get so worked up? It's hardly controversial to say that Australian football is an indigenous code of footy. It's the only sport that's been invented by Australians...why shouldn't we, as a country, be proud of it?

That's because only one code can rightly make the claim, but all sports have their place, and they all have every right to seek to do as well as they can. Peace, love and understanding is all we need.

Well said global.... If AFL fans dropped the OUR game,Our indigenous code,A culture that ALL Australians should be proud of... they might get other sports fans interested.. No other code goes on with this stuff ...& while it continues ,you will lose prospective fans..

Excellent piece shirtfront, shame your first two comments by @Shane and @Tony are on the one hand commending your article then completely contradicting themselves by trying to score points for their respective footy code of choice. They obviously read your article but didn't get the spirit of it at all... I think @Shane's statement "Sadly most people can’t seem to get past the “AFL is the enemy” attitudes" is precisely why the AFL is on the nose in the northern states: Overzealous people associated/following the AFL taking every opportunity to put down other codes. This was an article about how great all Australian football codes and look how quickly it takes for one code to turn it into article about how great they are and how other codes are wrong! Sadly for @Shane and @Tony, I think their comments answer their own questions about anti-AFL sentiment... I have friends and family that support all codes of footy - gasp even soccer (jokes! LOL).... Lets for once just celebrate the diversity instead of trying so hard to force everyone in a homogenous boring monoculture....

Well said, Shane. Pity the anti -Melbourne & -AFL bloggers don't get it. As for shirtfront's article............"the sweetest of all suburban football grounds"? Oh, please!