What would make International Rules a better sport?

[baldandbroke]

Assuming that you have to:

• play with a round ball
• use a grid-iron / soccer sized pitch

What changes to the current rules would improve the game - maybe make it something that other countries would get into?

Suggestions:

• all handballs must be caught (ie cannot hit the ground)
• less players on the pitch
• more reward for an "under"
• no point posts - hitting the goal posts is a point

There are plenty of countries with this sized pitch that would probably enjoy a more physical / tackling sport as an option to watch / play?

 

[SwampCreature]

Topless cheerleaders

 

[Kickpuncher]

Oval shaped ground
Ditch the net
6 points for kicking it through the middle
Played with a sherrin

You see where I'm going with this ......

 

[GeelongFTW]

remind our players that 'conceding' isnt a good tactic.

 

[Superstar swan]

No bazil or setanta commentating

 

[GeelongFTW]

ditch the stupid 6 handball only rule and allow shepherding.

 

[master bate]

It's AFL mixed with Gaelic.

The next logical step is to mix in soccer, rugby and possibly some kind of aspects of NFL or even lacrosse. Heck chuck a bit of Quidditch in as well.

What I think should happen regardless:
- Unders worth 20 not 6. They should be extremely valuable
- Scrap points, they are just a waste and confuse the score card

Just some ideas (that may be silly)
- Regular players only allowed to handball backwards
- Offside rule
- Soccer throw ins from out of bounds (Or free kick out on the full, soccer throw if it dribbles out or from a handball)
- NFL style kick offs to start quarters and after unders
- Maybe 3 designated players (the goalie plus 2 others) who can handball forwards "the QB's"
- Netball style player zones to keep open play
- The goals (including the net) to be 10m inside the pitch and the ability to score a TD (for 3 points) by running in to this area in possession of the ball or by marking in this end zone.

 

[CotchNCo]

Get rid of behinds. They blow.

 

[benbanjo]

Give them sticks, ice skates, a smaller goal and put them on the ice.......

 

[mike123]

Oval shape grounds in Australia would be nice.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

I like it the way it is, they just need to build it

 

[El_Scorcho]

I think the rules are fine.

The only way you could really make it better as a sport would be to have a league somewhere where it's played regularly in it's current form as opposed to having players from two different sports trying to make the conversion after a week of training.

 

[Shoei]

It's AFL mixed with Gaelic.

The next logical step is to mix in soccer, rugby and possibly some kind of aspects of NFL or even lacrosse. Heck chuck a bit of Quidditch in as well.

What I think should happen regardless:
- Unders worth 20 not 6. They should be extremely valuable
- Scrap points, they are just a waste and confuse the score card

Just some ideas (that may be silly)
- Regular players only allowed to handball backwards
- Offside rule
- Soccer throw ins from out of bounds (Or free kick out on the full, soccer throw if it dribbles out or from a handball)
- NFL style kick offs to start quarters and after unders
- Maybe 3 designated players (the goalie plus 2 others) who can handball forwards "the QB's"
- Netball style player zones to keep open play
- The goals (including the net) to be 10m inside the pitch and the ability to score a TD (for 3 points) by running in to this area in possession of the ball or by marking in this end zone.

Did you get this from the AFL rules committee for next season by any chance?

 

[Taylor]

The goal keeper seemed to be a redundant position as far as the different top goes, I didn't notice any special rules for that player.. Unless the opposition can't tackle him inside 20m.

Goals need to be worth so much more. Behind - 1 point, Over - 3 points, Goal - 15.

I want to see deep attacks.

 

[mike123]

The goal keeper seemed to be a redundant position as far as the different top goes, I didn't notice any special rules for that player.. Unless the opposition can't tackle him inside 20m.

Goals need to be worth so much more. Behind - 1 point, Over - 3 points, Goal - 15.

I want to see deep attacks.

I think you can't speccie the goal keeper you have mark the ball coming back with the flight.

 

[Borussia Teeth]

Get rid of behinds. They blow.

You're more of a T than an A man. Each to their own.

 

[Saint_J]

enjoyed it last night... strange to say that with the game having no real fisty cuffs.

Not a game i would ever watch with out the AFL boys playing but find it good to watch skill on both sides. but it really showed how much fitter the Aussies are.

 

[The Swert]

ditch the stupid 6 handball only rule and allow shepherding.

Reduce the handball rule to 4. This is football not rugby.
Shows how reliant our AFL players have become on handballing these days.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Needs more stiff arms

 

[Righteo]

I think the scoring is perfect as is. Only tweak I'd make is the ability to kick backwards in the forward half of the ground.

Reduce the handball rule to 4. This is football not rugby.
Shows how reliant our AFL players have become on handballing these days.

What's wrong with handballing and what's it have to do with rugby? I always thought that running the ball out of defence and through the middle via handball is one of the great features of our game.

 

[kickazz]

Assuming that you have to:

• more reward for an "under"
• no point posts - hitting the goal posts is a point

This is where I would start. Play on for hitting a goal post and coming back in is somewhat illogical, given an even 'worse' shot gives you one point.

The scoring, if you keep behinds, should be 10 - 4 - 1. This gives a truer compromise between the two sports. In Gaelic, a goal = 3 times an over, in IR it is only 2x, this is not large enough of a reward. Similarly, a behind getting 1/3 of an over (compared to 1/6 in footy) is too much - especially with the smaller ground, I think the behind is worth too much relatively. 10 for a goal, 4 for an over, and 1 for a behind would be much better. It would make goals a bit more worthwhile going for and keep games 'alive' for longer.

 

[kickazz]

The goal keeper seemed to be a redundant position as far as the different top goes, I didn't notice any special rules for that player.. Unless the opposition can't tackle him inside 20m.

One of the more amusing moment for me was watching the goalie pick up the ball, (in the 'box') and then get tackeld - and it was all legit!

Not 100% on the goalie rule, but I think one of them is that no other players (attacking or defensive) are allowed to enter the 'box' before the ball does. This both stops forwards 'cherry picking' goals as well as defenders clogging it up completely.

 

[Scotland]

'International Rules' would be better if it was a real sport - i.e. one that teams played regularly.

I only watched for about 20 minutes on Saturday but I saw a handful of guys get pinged for the '6 handballs' rule. Footy players aren't conditioned to counting 'thets of thix' like their NRL counterparts. This isn't even a rule in the GAA is it? Why bring it in?

As far as improving the hybrid game we do have I'd do away with the behind posts. I'd like to see the Irish give it a crack with the oval ball but I doubt that will ever happen. I think oval ball and no tackling would be a fair compromise if not a pretty dull game.

 

[juss]

Theres hardly any incentive to go for an under when there is an easy 3 point over. Making an under worth 9-12 points would really bring excitement to it.

 

[Sub_Zero]

Nothing