Calling for a head count.

[Dennis Trumpet]

picture the scenario, 5 minutes to go in the match and the opposition has just scored 3 goals in a row to bring the margin back to 10 points. You are absolutely out on your feet and being outrun, and just cant keep up with the fresher opposition... so what do you do?

Your captain should tactically call for a Headcount. The umpire has to line both teams up side by side and confirms that both have just 18 men on the field. But in the mean time it has allowed your players a 2 minute breather to allow you recover and to halt the oppositions momentum.

 

[tangolikelama]

Wot

 

[Lensen]

normally a free and 50 if its a erroneous head count, which if the ball's in the centre gives them a pretty easy shot at goal
i'm also not sure if AFL captains can call for it anymore, its a rule at lower levels I believe went out at AFL levels when the interchange stewards with their flags got power

 

[didaksrightfoot]

normally a free and 50 if its a erroneous head count, which if the ball's in the centre gives them a pretty easy shot at goal
i'm also not sure if AFL captains can call for it anymore, its a rule at lower levels I believe went out at AFL levels when the interchange stewards with their flags got power

Who called for the headcount when the Swans (I think) had 19 on the field a couple of years ago?

Surely a club (either captain, coach or assistant) is allowed to ask the umpire, or interchange steward for a quick headcount.
And unless you've had players go down to the rooms - it shouldn't be much more complicated then just looking at how many are on the bench.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

It's pointless now due to the interchange stewards
You take half a step and they call you

 

[JeffDunne]

Who called for the headcount when the Swans (I think) had 19 on the field a couple of years ago?

They self-reported.

 

[Engimal]

Who called for the headcount when the Swans (I think) had 19 on the field a couple of years ago?

It was North.

Edit: Whoops, apparently not. They were just playing us.

 

[hcd199]

Who called for the headcount when the Swans (I think) had 19 on the field a couple of years ago?

Surely a club (either captain, coach or assistant) is allowed to ask the umpire, or interchange steward for a quick headcount.
And unless you've had players go down to the rooms - it shouldn't be much more complicated then just looking at how many are on the bench.

I think that was prior to the rule change regarding interchange infringements (which were introduced later that season, and then properly the season after, IIRC) and no-one called for a head count on that occasion.

The relevant law is this one:

5.5 COUNTING OF PLAYERS

5.5.1 Request by Captain
The captain or acting captain of a Team may at any time during a Match request that the field Umpire count the number of Players of the opposing Team who are on the Playing Surface.

5.5.2 Procedure
(a) Where a request is made under Law 5.5.1, the field Umpire shall:
(i) stop play at the first available opportunity;
(ii) call into line within the Centre Square the Players of both Teams who are at the time on the Playing Surface and count the number of Players;
(iii) upon completing the count, ensure that each Team has the permitted number of Players on the Playing Surface and then recommence play at the position on the Playing Surface where the field Umpire stopped play; and
(iv) as soon as practicable after the Match, report to the Controlling Body that a request has been made to count the number of Players in a Team and the number of Players actually counted. (b) The maximum number of Players permitted on the Playing Surface at the same time is 18 per team or, in circumstances where a Player(s) has been ordered from the Playing Surface under Law 20, 18 less the Player(s) ordered from the Playing Surface.

5.5.3 Players Exceeding Permitted Number
Where a Team has more than the permitted number of Players on the Playing Surface, the following shall apply:
(a) a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick to the captain or acting captain of the opposing Team, which shall be taken at the Centre Circle or where play was stopped, whichever is the greater penalty against the offending Team;
(b) a Fifty-Metre Penalty shall then be imposed from the position where the Free Kick was awarded; and
(c) the Team shall lose all points which it has scored in the Match up to the time of the count.

5.5.4 Correct Number and Request Without Merit
Where a count reveals that the opposing Team has the permitted number of Players on the Playing Surface, the following shall apply:
(a) a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick to the captain or acting captain of the opposing Team, which shall be taken at the Centre Circle or where play was stopped, whichever is the greater penalty against the offending Team;
(b) a Fifty-Metre Penalty shall then be imposed from the position where the Free Kick was awarded; and
(c) if a field Umpire is of the opinion that a request was made under Law 5.5.1 primarily to delay play or such request did not have sufficient merit, the field Umpire shall report the Player who requested the count for Time Wasting under Law 19.2.2

So unless there's a playing condition or somesuch that renders this law not pertinent to matches in the AFL, it does look as though a head-count can still be called (but, of course, the penalty for a "request without merit" exists precisely so as to try and deter such tactics).

 

[d33my]

For some reason I thought that if a dubious head count was called (ie there were the correct number of players on-field), the team who called it was docked all their points (in order to deter time-wasting). Can anyone confirm if that was ever the case?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

For some reason I thought that if a dubious head count was called (ie there were the correct number of players on-field), the team who called it was docked all their points (in order to deter time-wasting). Can anyone confirm if that was ever the case?

Nope.

If you were found to have 19 on the ground, your score used to be wiped to zero.

 

[Forward Press]

Didn't work in this game.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...086449315?nk=25aece8bb67c625bf557765ff0a70c38

WEST Coast was copping a thumping at the hands of St Kilda at the WACA in 1999. It so so bad, you'd swear they had an extra man on the field.

Guy McKenna, the Eagles skipper, clearly thought so.

In an extraordinary moment, he called for a "head count". The match stopped and if proven correct the Saints would have been stripped of their score.

The teams were even.

 

[d33my]

Nope.

If you were found to have 19 on the ground, your score used to be wiped to zero.

Oh right that's what I was thinking.

 

[Dennis Trumpet]

I think that was prior to the rule change regarding interchange infringements (which were introduced later that season, and then properly the season after, IIRC) and no-one called for a head count on that occasion.

The relevant law is this one:


So unless there's a playing condition or somesuch that renders this law not pertinent to matches in the AFL, it does look as though a head-count can still be called (but, of course, the penalty for a "request without merit" exists precisely so as to try and deter such tactics).

Okay so the penalty is pretty much a free shot at goal, which is a pretty good deterant.

 

[Spook]

picture the scenario, 5 minutes to go in the match and the opposition has just scored 3 goals in a row to bring the margin back to 10 points. You are absolutely out on your feet and being outrun, and just cant keep up with the fresher opposition... so what do you do?

Your captain should tactically call for a Headcount. The umpire has to line both teams up side by side and confirms that both have just 18 men on the field. But in the mean time it has allowed your players a 2 minute breather to allow you recover and to halt the oppositions momentum.

Why would you even write this dribble without firstly reading the rules? Mate you young fellas have it at your fingertips these days, no need to go find a hard copy dictionary or encyclopedia or a journal you can google it in 30 secs but you are still to lazy to.

 

[Dennis Trumpet]

Why would you even write this dribble without firstly reading the rules? Mate you young fellas have it at your fingertips these days, no need to go find a hard copy dictionary or encyclopedia or a journal you can google it in 30 secs but you are still to lazy to.

My apologies I didn't realise everybody had a masters degree in the obscure rules of Australian rules football.

 

[The King!]

Always looking for new ways to win at Windy Hill

 

[Dennis Trumpet]

Always looking for new ways to win at Windy Hill

Whatever it takes

 

[adelaidecrows]

picture the scenario, 5 minutes to go in the match and the opposition has just scored 3 goals in a row to bring the margin back to 10 points. You are absolutely out on your feet and being outrun, and just cant keep up with the fresher opposition... so what do you do?

Your captain should tactically call for a Headcount. The umpire has to line both teams up side by side and confirms that both have just 18 men on the field. But in the mean time it has allowed your players a 2 minute breather to allow you recover and to halt the oppositions momentum.

I would imagine it would be one massive suspension for any captain doing it as a tactic. The umps of the field would probably overall it anyhow as a quick way to counter it would be to count the players on the bench.

 

[Furn2]

Isn't it easier to count the 3 guys on the bench than the 18 on the ground ?

 

[telsor]

I think that was prior to the rule change regarding interchange infringements (which were introduced later that season, and then properly the season after, IIRC) and no-one called for a head count on that occasion.

The relevant law is this one:


So unless there's a playing condition or somesuch that renders this law not pertinent to matches in the AFL, it does look as though a head-count can still be called (but, of course, the penalty for a "request without merit" exists precisely so as to try and deter such tactics).

I'd amend that...

If you're right, you get a free & 50.
If you're wrong, they get a free, 50 and the MRP can choose to report the captain for time wasting.

Have a 'live' onfield penalty.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I've only seen one head count in football. It was in the SANFL back in 1975, West Torrens vs West Adelaide.

A player was injured and needed to leave the ground on a stretcher. While he was being placed on the stretcher, the 19th man ran onto the ground. Realising West Torrens had 19 men on the field, the West Adelaide captain called for a count. West Torrens' coach Noel Teasdale was trying to get his men to scatter, one player Norm Dare (ex-Fitzroy) jumped the fence and sat in the crowd in a raincoat

Finally the umpires got all the West Torrens players lined up and began the count. It came to 18 players. Why? Because in all the confusion, while they were taking the count, the injured player had been taken from the ground on the stretcher. They forgot to keep him on the ground for the count

 

[Air_Chester]

I remember the West Coast one in the late 90s quite vividly. Always thought the strategic headcount was a ploy you'd find in a Kevin Sheedy playbook.

A quick Google leads me to this thread from 7 years ago also: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/head-count-to-stop-momentum.439510/

But I think with interchange stewards in the game now the headcount is dead.

 

[TedDougChris]

Is the OP Greg Chappell by any chance ??

 

[Fat Nyfe]

Interesting rule, I'd never heard of it. I doubt we'd ever see it in the Afl these days

 

[Spook]

My apologies I didn't realise everybody had a masters degree in the obscure rules of Australian rules football.

And that comment makes you even dumber. Find the rules and READ THEM, then you will know. look what comes up if you Google "AFL rules". 2 clicks and you have the rules down loaded. Look at Table of contents and voila. My apologies if you are still in year 5 or below as you may not have been taught this yet.