170 meters from end to end I think
It's not a free kick, if someone catches it from anyone's kick, it's called a mark
And 18 players from each side on the field, with 4 each on the interchange

so like whats a mark? what does that mean

speaking as an Aussie. AFL is not a sport. It's like watching a bunch of gay guys trying to tackle each other.

Hahahaha. Where do you live svenson?

svenson are you from Queensland or NSW?

looks tougherthan american football to me. we look like weaklings with all our pads!

They spoil it with rules?

@ DJEcc24 - I don't claim to be an expert on Aussie Rules but don't get carried away saying American football is a joke. I play rugby and while it's a more difficult sport than American football, it is in some regards much less demanding. In fact, the his in American football are far harder, and unlike Aussie Rules or Rugby, when you're on the football field you can be hit at just about any time from just about any direction. If you'd ever been blindsided by a 275 pound Guard you'd understand. In rugby you at least have the advantage of knowing when you're going to be hit, and generally from where. Also, I've seen a few games of Aussie Rules and I must say I'm unimpressed with the size of the players. They look runty and weak compared to an NFL team.

not saying its a like just saying they look like it with the pads. i have been on my schoosl rugby team and thats the argument we always have with the football players for fun.

Different sports produce different demands. The runty/weak aussie rules players are that way because the game has signicantly higher demands on cardio endurance than american football. If american football players had to continuously move around for 80 minutes, they'd look a alot like those rangy dudes running around the oval.

Rugby players are built like brick shit houses. Aussie Rules players are generally taller and leaner. It's a much different game.

@DJ a mark happens when you catch the ball direct from a kick. It's basically a free kick from that position. If you move once you've caught it you can be tackled. The main play is to get the "mark" inside the 50M line, which means a kick at goal.

It's a difficult game to televise, as the ball can go anywhere, and you really don't get a sense of the other players moving into gaps and marking. So I've been told anyway... I've yet to go and watch a game.

One thing that always amazed me about Aussie Rules is that you can't get sent off - for anything. You can punch another player out cold but you don't get sent off. You'll get suspended for a couple of matches when you face the tribunal, but at the time you play on.

it looks like a really fun game. wouldn;t b e very good thoguh my kicking is terrible

@spyman Yeah, I'd noticed that. Distinct lack of diving too ;-)

@DJ You may want to watch some Gaelic Football too. I believe they're pretty similar games, though IIRC the goal in GF is the same as rugby. In the goal is more points than through the posts.

gaelic football is so weak along with hurling just sayin while i dislike any irish sports i will say tht the irishmen who play rugby r generally pretty respectible guys but american football definitly hits the hardest

too bad there are no such fields in the united states to play these games.

@DJEcc there are variants that can be played on a gridiron field

It seems to me that saying an Aussie Rules player is weak and runty is missing the point. The game has a lot of jump balls, like rebounds in basketball, so why would you want to be so buff that you can't even applaud? It's a good thing to be able to reach above your head in a situation like that. Aussie Rules physique is more about a balanced build rather than benching 300 lbs. and squatting 600 lbs.

I wouldn't say American Football is the hardest by a long way.. with AFL you can be hit pretty much from 360degrees at anytime, mostly in Gridiron it is coming at you from the front, so you know you are going to be expecting it, having played AFL for 15years, you don't know when you are going to get hit or where from..

And the people saying hurling is weak, go to a game, I went to an All-Ireland Semi Final at Croke Park when I was there and it is certainly not weak, they throw their sticks around with no abandon and don't mind if they hit ball or opponents faces, it is far from soft

@spyman + largeham

I'm from Sydney.

I far prefer Rugby Union to any other type of rugby/football. I've tried watching American football and for every minute of action there are like several mins of screwing around. It's boring.

American Football mostly hit from the front? Try being a receiver where you go up in the air to catch the ball knowing you are going to get slammed in your side just hoping you get slammed equally on both sides so you are just crushed rather than flipped in the air and landing on your head.

In any case, American Football has very specialized positions so yes there are some big uglies but there are also the tall lanky guys. In other sports a big ugly isn't useful so you don't have them. Nothing wrong with that. Also nothing wrong with having a sport with big uglies.

Being an American who plays rugby and dabbled in American Football, I can safely say that neither sport is easier than the other, and playing one does not make you a wuss. In football you can get tackled from anywhere, and there are far less rules regarding how the tackler must hit you. I am referring to the form of the tackle, not situations in which you can/cannot be tackled.

Also, Aussie rules football confuses me.

@ Alderian, yes but a receiver is expecting that if they are going up, in aussie rules they can come at you from anywhere and at anytime, you can be running along and someone can come off the interchange bench out of nowhere and hammer you

@ yayager - I quite agree with you that football needs far less endurance. However rugby (I played football for 8 years and am entering my 5th rugby season) requires just as much endurance and yet the guys on the premier teams are, as spyman said "built like brick shithouses."

@ loftus - Gaelic football isn't meant to be physical, more a finesse game like soccer. Interesting to watch. Saw a game in Croke Park. And I agree with doofman that Hurling is intense. It's kind of like two teams beating each other with sticks and occasionally whacking at a ball.

@ doofman - It's not just receivers that get hit from anywhere. Downfield blocking by the offense and retaliation/dirty play by the defense ensures that if you don't keep your head on a swivel you're screwed. The only guys they really watch out for are quarterbacks. Kickers and longsnappers too, but only at certain times.

@ svenson - Yes, there's a lot of downtime in football, but it's far more strategic than any European sport. And, whenever there's something going on it's interesting, as opposed to soccer, where it's constantly going but only interesting for a grand total of 2 minutes a game.

@LJ gotta disagree... Rugby isn't that much of a high endurance sport compared to soccer, aussie rules and or basketball for that matter. The rugby matches I've watched really don't involve that much continuous running; it's closer to american football where they gain five yards, fall down, set up the play out of the ruck and continue. Rugby is higher endurance than american football, but I'd take most other athletes running over a mile compared to your average flanker or centre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_VFL_Grand_Final

@ yayager - Then you clearly don't know shit about rugby.The idea that basketball requires more endurance than rugby is laughable. In rugby you don't jus t have to run, you have to tackle, ruck, maul, and then get up, run somewhere else and do it all over again. The "falling down" as you say, isn't like soccer where you fall down from a stubbed toe and act like the guy just tried to break your foot. The breakdowns (the actual term for "falling down"), are by far the most physically taxing part of the game. It's way easier to run after a back than it is to try to push some behemoth off a pile.

Someone with a brain has got to back me up on this.

Well, it does take alot of speed and endurance from the backs (Rugby) such as the winger.

Jus' sayin'.

@LJ I completely agree with you about the basketball endurance versus rugby. I played basketball competitively for 11 years and still play it recreationally; you're exactly right that rugby requires more endurance. The toughest part about basketball is defense. You rest on offense and sit in a squat for 20 to 30 seconds on defense (assuming that you play excellent, high help man to man), you don't fall down consistently, you rest for about a minute during 2 free throws, the difficulty in basketball is the techniques and strategy more so than the running around. As for soccer, I have never played a full game at full fitness in my life so I can't say for sure but having watched a lot of soccer I can say that you're right about the falling down...the only contact is between you and the pitch in most cases.