What exactly is football in Australia?

Football is the term given to the national code in that country. In Australia's case it's the AFL. Reason being it has the biggest participation rate and following. Second is Rugby League then Rugby Union. Soccer is 4th and played during the off season(summer) because of it's inability to compete with the other major football codes

Must say my favourite sport to watch and follow is football. But I grew up playing football instead. Only recently retired. Was pretty good. Nevertheless, I also regularly watched and followed football as well. Not generally a big fan of that other football, but when international games were on I reckon it was my favourite code. Football! Love it. All four of it!

Unfortunately,"Australian Rules" doesn't really express the idea that it is a separate code. I have had people, (mainly Brits) assume that it is just a regional difference in some of the regulations. If someone says "Australian Football", it usually obvious from the context that they are referring to the game played by the AFL.WAFL,SANFL.etc. The words Australian football can also means the game of Association Football plated in this country,also usually obvious from the context. Both codes chose names which are more indicative of their identity than "Soccer" & "Aussie Rules". After all,there is no confusion between the quite rare "American Crocodile" & a "big Saltie"which may have been bred in captivity in a zoo in the USA! I have,in the past made the suggestion that we refer to any code of football as just "football",& the "World Game" as :"Football" In the case of the formal names of FFA,AFL,etc this doesn't work,but the context is again pretty obvious. The upper case/lower case method has worked well in Political reporting,where members of the Liberal Party of Australia are "Liberals"(not a supporter ,by the way),whereas people with a very different Political point of view are "liberals".

And somehow FIFA is God?

". I used to live in a town where they were all pretty equal and vehement one coders didnt have many friends – think about it (Fuss?). BTW Fairfax papers call A League football in Sydney and soccer in melbourne' I agree, what does the fairfax papers call AFL in melbourne? yes 'Real Footy'!!!! Interesting

"Personally I think the AFL can be called AFL or VFL or Aussie Rules or whatever anyone wants to call it…but it isn’t football… " Except it is football. It doesn't matter what you personally think, the game is called Australian Football. AFL & VFL are the names of competitions and Aussie Rules is a nickname. Obviously, I don't expect you to call my sport football, just as I will never call soccer football, but don't say 'it isn't football'. It's as much football as your sport. "Call things what they are." Yet you aren't. You don't call other codes by their proper names, and you don't seem to realise that no sport owns the name football, regardless of how popular it is, and my sport (Australian football) has as much right to the name football as yours.

When I think of the most memorable moments in A-League history, I think of -Archies five goals to destroy Adelaide. - Those dramatic scenes in the Newcastle CCM game - The Roar comeback vs CCM - Berisha falling over ;) - CCM finally getting there When I think of heartbreak, like every Glory supporter, one game comes to mind. These days we would simply claim that we were the 'real' champions because we finished top of the ladder but back then there was none of that. We blew it and the Wolves were the rightful champions

Football is different things in different suburbs in Sydney so we are hardly going to have unanamity. To avoid arguments use both in a jocular way - "I am going to the footy (my version is Rugger/ League/ AFL/soccer/gridiron/Gaelic)". I used to live in a town where they were all pretty equal and vehement one coders didnt have many friends - think about it (Fuss?). BTW Fairfax papers call A League football in Sydney and soccer in melbourne so you see the problem...Perhaps Lowy money didnt travel down the Hume...

Can we just get it all right??? Football is the game known globally as such - think the sport run by FIFA, with competitions such as the ENGLISH Premier League and the Champions League. That's football. Literally billions of people know it as football. Rugby should be called rugby, league should be called league, gridiron should be called gridiron, tennis should be called tennis, swimming should be called swimming, etc. Personally I think the AFL can be called AFL or VFL or Aussie Rules or whatever anyone wants to call it…but it isn't football… Call things what they are.

well said swampy

"2. The enclosed franchise structure is best. Australia is too huge a country geographically speaking to have promotion & relegation.: " P+R is an issue if you want to prevent ethnically based clubs from getting into the A-League.

Regarding "Should football clubs build their own stadiums?", I'd be a little more precise. Clubs should endeavour to get control of their own stadiums, especially with regard to signage, other tenants and so on. While the ideal is owning the stadium free and clear, a good alternative is the Gold Coast Suns deal with Metricon.

My "expert" credentials: I have been a season ticket holder at Brisbane since the start of the A=league, and have seen away games on the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Gosford and Sydney. I played football at State League level in NSW in the 70s and 80s. I saw my first football match when I was 9 and went to every home game at St James' Park until I left Tyneside at 18 (I'm one of the few people around to have been present when Newcastle won a major trophy - at least the 1st leg of it). I followed Sydney Olympic in the NSL, but only saw a handfull of games.. I agree with everything wisey_9 says above.

Can't talk about the other states, but here in many parts of Sydney when talking Football it often refers to Football - after all it has the highest participation rate, which is increasing. It seems to be a generational change and the kids that play Football through their childhood years will, as adults still refer to it as Football. The AFL are wise to have branded the game as AFL in the northern states, as it gets confusing having 3 or 4 codes being referred to as Football.

"The most memorable and most heartbreaking moments in the history of the sport, whether it be the A-League have occurred in finals." Totally disagree. We've had 2 dramatic finishes to Grand Finals, don't recall any other GFs being memorable & distinctly recall most other finals being unmemorable. Knock-out football is more likely to produce dramatic moments, because ... they're knock-out! Every season there are H&A games that are just as entertaining, or with dramatic finishes. But, I'm happy with how we do it in HAL: 1. Premiership trophy for the team that is best at league format football over 27 weeks - home & away; games are decided over 90', drawn matches count as a result & there is no penalty shoot-out 2. Championship trophy for the team that is best over 2-3 games over 90' or, if there is no winner after 90', the best team over 120' &, if still no winner, best team at taking penalties. As we see around the world, it is rare for one team to be best at both football formats - League & knock-out. When it does occur, the team is held in high regard for winning "the Double".

Soccer in Australia has always had a finals series. Its a big part of the culture of soccer in this country. The most memorable and most heartbreaking moments in the history of the sport, whether it be the A-League or the NSL have occurred in finals. The push for the removal of a final series seems to come from people who were brought up on European soccer.

+1

in French you 'marque un but' so I guess score a goal is closer...;)

Bit of a reach to call netball American ! Using that logic you could say gridiron is English.

Yep, of all the ridiculous debates on the Roar, the "football" name debate is the clear clubhouse leader.