P
Peter P
Guest
Australian Rules Football could qualify as the decathlon of team ball sports: sprinting and distance running, judo (a la Liberatore), wrestling (a la Mick Martyn), high jump (a la Modra) and pole vault (a la Burton of the Crows), and the skills of soccer, basketball, and volleyball, a bit of costume destruction (a la waterpolo) and some swimming (as in a Gabba downpour).
If the team sports stay in the Olympics footy should join them on the basis of the skills etc - but is it ever feasable?
Well I think it is - but not in football's current form with need for 165 by 150 metre ovals. Footy is getting some international involvement and in August 2002 there'll be the inaugural World Cup. By 2048 there'll have been about a dozen world cups. If the AFL and the IAFC (international Australian Football Council) are smart about it they'll develop 9-a-side as a major part of footy overseas. Footy "9's" could be an Olympic sport much as European Handball and Volleyball and other minor sports.
"9's" can be played on Soccer/Rugby/ Gridiron fields. It allows for 18-a-side clubs around the world to set up internal comps. You can create teams and a league more easily. The game is faster, more open and every player gets more of the play - thus it can be more appealing to newcomers.
If the influence of Gaelic and International Rules is such that a round ball is used then so be it if this means a game involving all the skills of marking, handpassing, tackling and kicking ie the full kit and caboodle of athletic skills that footy provides for - becomes a main international sport.
The Footy World Cup and the tradition of the game in Oz will see the 18-a-side game survive much as Test cricket remains the ultimate expression of cricket, whilst one day has led to more widespread play of cricket (and saved the game itself) around the world.
If the team sports stay in the Olympics footy should join them on the basis of the skills etc - but is it ever feasable?
Well I think it is - but not in football's current form with need for 165 by 150 metre ovals. Footy is getting some international involvement and in August 2002 there'll be the inaugural World Cup. By 2048 there'll have been about a dozen world cups. If the AFL and the IAFC (international Australian Football Council) are smart about it they'll develop 9-a-side as a major part of footy overseas. Footy "9's" could be an Olympic sport much as European Handball and Volleyball and other minor sports.
"9's" can be played on Soccer/Rugby/ Gridiron fields. It allows for 18-a-side clubs around the world to set up internal comps. You can create teams and a league more easily. The game is faster, more open and every player gets more of the play - thus it can be more appealing to newcomers.
If the influence of Gaelic and International Rules is such that a round ball is used then so be it if this means a game involving all the skills of marking, handpassing, tackling and kicking ie the full kit and caboodle of athletic skills that footy provides for - becomes a main international sport.
The Footy World Cup and the tradition of the game in Oz will see the 18-a-side game survive much as Test cricket remains the ultimate expression of cricket, whilst one day has led to more widespread play of cricket (and saved the game itself) around the world.
