NOVEL FOOTBALL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 109, 11 May 1938, Page 13

NOVEL FOOTBALL

AUSTRALIAN RULES

GAME

TEAMS J& VISIT N.Z.

A visit of considerable interest to sportsmen in New Zealand is to be made in the near future by two Australian Rules football teams, which will play exhibition matches here. Two games will be played in the North Island, one at Wellington and one at Auckland. Mr. J. H. James, managing director of G. Bramall. and Company, who returned from Australia by the Wanganella this morning, and Mr. Les Brabin, are to make arrangements for the teams in New Zealand. Mr. James went to Australia with the returned soldiers who participated in the Anzac Day ceremony in Sydney and then went on to Melbourne.

'.'The teams, which are due here in July of next year, will be South Mel-* bourne and St. Kilda, both of which have very high positions at present," Mr. James said. "They are to play exhibition football to let the New Zealanders see l the way , the game is played by two champion sides. At present arrangements are being made to charter a special steamer tb bring the players and supporters across." MANY SUPPORTERS. It was expected that about 200 supporters would travel with the teams, Mr. James said. The placers were very anxious to visit New Zealand, not only, for the sake of the game, but to see the Country. Two New Zealanders' who went to Australia with Mr. JameS, lAessrs. J. Ricketts, of Wellington, and P. Todd, of Auckland, were highly elated with the game. They saw an ordinary club match, Richmond versus Carlton, which drew a crowd of 35,000. In Melbourne, at least, it was definitely the main game. In ordinary club play six matches •yvould draw 100,000 people. At last season's final, played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, there was a crowd of 88,500. The game is quite different from Rugby and is very fast.-' There are eighteen men in a team and one emergency. The nineteenth man can take part in the game at any time, and one of the other players comes off. There are no other substitutes, however. . The ground on which the Australian Rules game is played is oval and between 175 yards and 200 yards long. It is 150 yards to 175 yards wide. FEATURES OF GAME. There are four posts in alignment at each end of the field, all five yards apart. The two inside posts, which are very tall, are the goal posts. The outer post? are known as the behind posts. To kick the ball through the goal posts, using any part of the leg below the knee, counts as six points, and through the behind posts as one point. There are no crossbars. The players can leap into the air to take a mark, and another feature of the game is long-distance drop-kick-ing. Finding touch is not an advantage as in. Rugby. In fact, the team whose player kicks the ball out is penalised by having a free-kick awarded against it. This, of course, would tend to keep the game moving at a fast clip. The players, when making a run, have to . bounce the ball every ten yards. Mr. James anticipates that the visit of ; the Australians should, arouse a good deal of public interest, and arrangements are being made to obtain suitable grounds here and at Auckland.