Touching a goal post in possession

[joe444]

I couldn't see from the thread titles that this had been covered.

I'm pretty sure Fox's Alastair Lynch has this wrong, but in the first quarter yesterday a Richmond defender avoided conceding a behind by using the goal post to reverse his momentum. He essentially used it to "push off" away from the goal-line and an oncoming Geelong player.

Pretty clever, but something I've never seen before.

Lynch was convinced that touching the goal post made it a behind. That sounds like a rule that might fly in rugby (e.g. sideline posts near the try area), but not in AFL.

So I'm thinking play-on is the correct call right now.

Interested in clarifications and, indeed, what you think the rule should be.

 

[Maddo11]

This is just like holding the ball in the field of play when you run outside it, play on.

 

[imperial_oz]

Lynch is wrong.

He's getting confused by rules of cricket. If the ball 'touches' the boundary in cricket , its a four.

In AFL, the ball has the cross over the line completely to be a score, not touch it. Pushing off from the goal posts clearly means the ball didn't cross the goal line in its entirety, therefore no score.

For a bloke who has played the game, I'm surprised by his lack of knowledge of a pretty basic rule.

 

[Oxirane]

Lynch is wrong.

He's getting confused by rules of cricket. If the ball 'touches' the boundary in cricket , its a four.

In AFL, the ball has the cross over the line completely to be a score, not touch it. Pushing off from the goal posts clearly means the ball didn't cross the goal line in its entirety, therefore no score.

For a bloke who has played the game, I'm surprised by his lack of knowledge of a pretty basic rule.

Surely not

 

[imperial_oz]

Surely not

Surely is!

For example, if the ball has not completely crossed the goal line and it gets touched, its a point.

Its no different to soccer. If the ball does not 'completely' cross the line, there is no score. Same with the boundary, if the ball does not completely cross the boundary, its still in play.

 

[Oxirane]

Just pointing out the ball can hit the post and register a score before crossing the line completely.

Though, I misunderstood and thought that ball touched the post while it was in the player's possession when he used the post to stop himself.

 

[imperial_oz]

Just pointing out the ball can hit the post and register a score before crossing the line completely.

Though, I misunderstood and thought that ball touched the post while it was in the player's possession when he used the post to stop himself.

You are correct. The laws seem a little contradictory in places but its actually covered under law 12.1

12.1.1 Subject to law 12.2 a goal is scored when the football is kicked completely over the goal line by a player of the attacking team without being touched by any other player, even if the football first touches the ground.

12.1.2 Subject to law 12.2, a behind is scored when any of the following occurs:
[a] the football touches or passes over the goal post or touches padding or any other attachment to the goal post: or
the football passes completely over the behind line; or
etc etc etc

Law 12.2 covers the correct verbal signalling of a score by the field ump to the goal ump and vice versa.

So pretty much was Lynch said was wrong. Unless the ball touches a post, it must cross completely over a line to record a score. Unlike cricket where a player touching the boundary and the ball simultaneously records a score, an AFL player touching the post does not trigger a score.

I'll repeated my earlier surprise that a player of his experience should get this so wrong.

Edit: Its the same in soccer. A ball can touch the goal line but not record a score if its sent back onto the field before completely crossing the goal line. Of course, its never going to be an easy decision to make without a bloody good camera.

 

[Over The Post]

Had that a couple of years ago in an U19 praccy match. Defender under pressure pushed against padding, then shaped up to kick out. Forward knocked the ball out of his hands and toed it over the line for a goal. "But I hit the post! You saw me!!!"

Defender spent the next two minutes yelling at me for not knowing the rules, much to everyones amusement.

 

[Tim_in_Philly]

I'm pretty sure there was a time when this was the rule so presumably it has quietly disappeared over time. When I played a bit in the early 80s it was definitely true that touching the post with ball in hand was a point (or out of bounds if it was the point post). This was in Tassie and Alistair Lynch grew up in Tassie so maybe it was a local bye-law?

 

[imperial_oz]

I'm pretty sure there was a time when this was the rule so presumably it has quietly disappeared over time. When I played a bit in the early 80s it was definitely true that touching the post with ball in hand was a point (or out of bounds if it was the point post). This was in Tassie and Alistair Lynch grew up in Tassie so maybe it was a local bye-law?

Possibly, I'm not sure. I can't remember a time when it was the rule here (Perth). Certainly didn't seem to be the rule when I was playing (mind you that was before Dustin Fletcher ever pulled on footy boots so I'm going back a bit)

It might be a Tassie thing but Lynch played AFL long enough to know better, surely.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

First I've ever heard of it NOT being the rule.

(and I'm from Tassie).

Franklin had a goal disallowed (point, umpire thumped post) last year as he brushed the post whilst taking the shot.

 

[Jimmy Neutral]

I'm pretty sure there was a time when this was the rule so presumably it has quietly disappeared over time. When I played a bit in the early 80s it was definitely true that touching the post with ball in hand was a point (or out of bounds if it was the point post). This was in Tassie and Alistair Lynch grew up in Tassie so maybe it was a local bye-law?

Wrong! The modern rules of Australian football relating to scoring have never changed (NAB Cup exempt).

Imperial Oz is spot on.

 

[Tim_in_Philly]

Wrong! The modern rules of Australian football relating to scoring have never changed (NAB Cup exempt).

Imperial Oz is spot on.

Thanks for that, I forgot that no-one outside Melbourne is allowed to do anything other than submit and obey to the great Victorian masters.