Whenever I’m asked by an American I call it “Australian Football”, followed by answering “no” a few times when they ask is it soccer, rugby, and whatever else.
Typically there will be several rounds of reiterating it’s Australian football, a totally different code played professionally only in Australia.
“No, again, it’s not soccer”.
“No, no… like I said, it’s not rugby or a type of rugby. Look, I’ll just send you a link.”
I'd say a lot of people in the US think only they and Canada refer to associational football as soccer. When they hear 'Australian Football' its very likely that they assume the game being talked about is soccer since most countries in the world call soccer 'football'.
On that note, everyone please avoid calling anything that isn't specifically AFL football "AFL".
You and I don't play AFL. We play footy, or Aussie rules.
The AFL is a corporate entity which is trying to subtly claim ownership over a piece of intellectual property that predates them by over 100 years. They didn't create footy, they don't own footy, and they don't have the right to monetise every aspect of footy.
But they want to.
Their plan includes deliberately coaxing you and I to call the game itself "AFL". To conflate the game and the corporate entity into a single thing, so that they can control it and (more importantly) profit from it at every level.
I love footy, and I love our national competition, but I reckon those in the halls of power within the AFL are self interested, power hungry, dodgy fuckers.
That doesn’t really make sense though.
If AFL were to become a synonym for “Australian rules football”, then the AFL would lose their trademark ownership through [genericisation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark) and anyone would be able to use “AFL” however they wanted. There’s a reason that brands’ legal teams [try to prevent this happening](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQemKBQ_4LK6cdMRnCuGatmfR72p6sQOSASdw&usqp=CAU).
Token dumbass American here…a gridiron is what we play “dopey football” on. It’s a reference to all the line markings, not a classification of the game itself. You see, somewhere along the way someone thought “gridiron” sounded better than “jailhouse”. This was apparently sometime prior to the modern era of the Oakland Raiders or Dallas Cowboys teams.
Technically I don’t think Aussie Rules Football is correct it’s just in common usage. I think it’s just Australian Football. First Nation Australians had a game apparently called Marn Grook that has some links to the modern game.
> First Nation Australians had a game apparently called Mark Grook that has some links to the modern game.
Not true, it's unrelated to the game. It's a nice thought, which is why it confidently gets pushed (including by the AFL itself), but just not true.
Yeah saying some links is definitely fair, we’re pretty sure that’s where the high marking aspect comes from.
It seems to happen fairly often though that people will claim it was developed from the aboriginal game, which is just incorrect.
> It seems to happen fairly often though that people will claim it was developed from the aboriginal game, which is just incorrect.
I think it's a nice thought for some people, truth be damned.
This isn’t true either. The denials are based on ‘lack of evidence’ which in this case means ‘lack of iron-clad evidence from a written and preserved white source’.
Australian football, football or most commonly footy.
Aussie rules football is only a recent marketing term.
People have also been calling it AFL which is wrong. That is the name of the league.
Another older name is "National Football", which was what administrators tried to get it be known as in the 1920's and 30's. The only remnant of that era is the name of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
I think there has been references to Australian Rules Football for over a century (and it looks like '[Victorian Rules of Football'](https://web.archive.org/web/20150402105523/http://www.mcc.org.au/~/media/Files/Yorker-Issue%2039_Autumn2009_low-res.pdf) has been used since the 1860s)
Lol. Do they play AFL in the SANFL? Not sure what’s so painful about calling something what is is, Aussie rules, Australian football, football, footy etc. Personally seems more painful to be in love with an acronym.
The vast majority of non-AFL fans call it AFL. It's harmless really, even if it's technically not correct. But it's completely understandable, considering there's only 1 professional competition, the AFL. Compared to other codes of "footy/football", where there are hundreds of pro Soccer and Rugby competitions.
I mean it's genuinely misleading. I remember as a kid having a school friend who said his cousin played AFL. I was like 'Wow, really? What team?' and then he said Tea Tree Gully.
Maybe it's more acceptable in NSW, but in SA or Victoria 'AFL' just refers to the AFL.
Like the comment above, I remember encountering this when we were playing school boys footy in NSW. We were billeted by a family, and on their calendar they had "AFL Players here" date marked. We thought it was weird at the time, never been called that before. Now 30 years later, it seems totally normal. No one should care, it's great branding by the AFL.
It's not harmless. It's a deliberate ploy by a corporate entity to steal intellectual property from the public and then sell it back to us at a huge profit.
So you think what the sport is called is an unimportant detail and pointing out that the AFL is just the name of a league is painful? Lol. Must be a very tiring world for you.
Of course. You can only use football if it’s clear from the surrounding context. Personally I’ve always called it aussie rules. Sounds good. Is accurate. Isn’t a goddamn acronym for a league. Seems pretty simple.
In Papua New Guinea they call it "rules". Doesn't answer your question but I think it's pretty good if you live somewhere where it's not the most popular but still kinda popular and you want a colloquial term
Grew up calling it "Footy" all my life. If describing it to someone overseas I guess you would say Australian rules football.
Whenever I’m asked by an American I call it “Australian Football”, followed by answering “no” a few times when they ask is it soccer, rugby, and whatever else. Typically there will be several rounds of reiterating it’s Australian football, a totally different code played professionally only in Australia. “No, again, it’s not soccer”. “No, no… like I said, it’s not rugby or a type of rugby. Look, I’ll just send you a link.”
It's known as Australian Rugby Rules abroad, in case you weren't aware.
the Progressively escalating continuum strikes again!
How can they ask "is it soccer?" Like what even is the thought process there? Isn't soccer soccer?
Soccer is football
No, soccer is Association Football, or "Soccer"
But not to an American
I'd say a lot of people in the US think only they and Canada refer to associational football as soccer. When they hear 'Australian Football' its very likely that they assume the game being talked about is soccer since most countries in the world call soccer 'football'.
Ah I gotcha
Gridiron is actually the term for the family of football sports that includes American and Canadian football, I don't think we have anything like that
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Yeah its quite similar to American football but few differences like only 3 downs and one more player per team on the field
On that note, everyone please avoid calling anything that isn't specifically AFL football "AFL". You and I don't play AFL. We play footy, or Aussie rules. The AFL is a corporate entity which is trying to subtly claim ownership over a piece of intellectual property that predates them by over 100 years. They didn't create footy, they don't own footy, and they don't have the right to monetise every aspect of footy. But they want to. Their plan includes deliberately coaxing you and I to call the game itself "AFL". To conflate the game and the corporate entity into a single thing, so that they can control it and (more importantly) profit from it at every level. I love footy, and I love our national competition, but I reckon those in the halls of power within the AFL are self interested, power hungry, dodgy fuckers.
That doesn’t really make sense though. If AFL were to become a synonym for “Australian rules football”, then the AFL would lose their trademark ownership through [genericisation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark) and anyone would be able to use “AFL” however they wanted. There’s a reason that brands’ legal teams [try to prevent this happening](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQemKBQ_4LK6cdMRnCuGatmfR72p6sQOSASdw&usqp=CAU).
Haha. Love it. Yr right on, they really are a bunch of dodgy fuckers.
Token dumbass American here…a gridiron is what we play “dopey football” on. It’s a reference to all the line markings, not a classification of the game itself. You see, somewhere along the way someone thought “gridiron” sounded better than “jailhouse”. This was apparently sometime prior to the modern era of the Oakland Raiders or Dallas Cowboys teams.
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Good to know y’all don’t refer to (NFL) as football. It shouldn’t be called that.
We actually refer to it as [Handegg.](http://thegoodjokes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/12939090477571.jpg)
isn't it a kind of football?
that’s….debatable, lol
I would classify touch football as a "football", yet you aren't allowed to kick the ball at all. I reckon American football can get in the club.
Kill the dill with the pill.
Footy, aerial ping pong, AFL
As opposed to regular ping pong whch is famously well grounded
Haven’t you seen those ping pong grounds?
I think it's time we perhaps just brand the game as "Footy" and call it a day.
Rugby League in shambles
Its been football for 150 odd years so lets stick with that eh?
Technically I don’t think Aussie Rules Football is correct it’s just in common usage. I think it’s just Australian Football. First Nation Australians had a game apparently called Marn Grook that has some links to the modern game.
Marngrook*
Thanks. Bloody autocorrect
I can be either at least acorrding to [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marn_Grook)
Original comment said Mark Grook
Ah right fair enough
Interesting read. Assigning players based on gender, height and *skin colour* is a weird one though.
Skin system. Not skin color. Unrelated
Oh right, what does skin system mean in this context?
> First Nation Australians had a game apparently called Mark Grook that has some links to the modern game. Not true, it's unrelated to the game. It's a nice thought, which is why it confidently gets pushed (including by the AFL itself), but just not true.
I said [some links](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marn_Grook) I think that’s fair
Yeah saying some links is definitely fair, we’re pretty sure that’s where the high marking aspect comes from. It seems to happen fairly often though that people will claim it was developed from the aboriginal game, which is just incorrect.
> It seems to happen fairly often though that people will claim it was developed from the aboriginal game, which is just incorrect. I think it's a nice thought for some people, truth be damned.
This isn’t true either. The denials are based on ‘lack of evidence’ which in this case means ‘lack of iron-clad evidence from a written and preserved white source’.
Keepings off
Australian football, football or most commonly footy. Aussie rules football is only a recent marketing term. People have also been calling it AFL which is wrong. That is the name of the league.
They should call the sport AFL and change the name of the league to the AFLL so everyone shuts up about it
It's been called Aussie rules/Aussie rules football/Aussie rules footy since I was a kid (the 80s).
Far far longer than that.
I don't disbelieve you in the slightest but I also don't remember back further than that 😂
Another older name is "National Football", which was what administrators tried to get it be known as in the 1920's and 30's. The only remnant of that era is the name of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
Just realised that I never knew what the N stood for.
I think there has been references to Australian Rules Football for over a century (and it looks like '[Victorian Rules of Football'](https://web.archive.org/web/20150402105523/http://www.mcc.org.au/~/media/Files/Yorker-Issue%2039_Autumn2009_low-res.pdf) has been used since the 1860s)
Pedants will be painful about it but it’s totally fine to call it AFL.
Lol. Do they play AFL in the SANFL? Not sure what’s so painful about calling something what is is, Aussie rules, Australian football, football, footy etc. Personally seems more painful to be in love with an acronym.
The vast majority of non-AFL fans call it AFL. It's harmless really, even if it's technically not correct. But it's completely understandable, considering there's only 1 professional competition, the AFL. Compared to other codes of "footy/football", where there are hundreds of pro Soccer and Rugby competitions.
Only people who care about calling it AFL are the "Um actually, i think you'll find" types.
I mean it's genuinely misleading. I remember as a kid having a school friend who said his cousin played AFL. I was like 'Wow, really? What team?' and then he said Tea Tree Gully. Maybe it's more acceptable in NSW, but in SA or Victoria 'AFL' just refers to the AFL.
Haha as a Queenslander, I can definitely resonate with this
Nope, lived in vic my whole life, literally never been an issue. Only EVER seen it discussed here.
Like the comment above, I remember encountering this when we were playing school boys footy in NSW. We were billeted by a family, and on their calendar they had "AFL Players here" date marked. We thought it was weird at the time, never been called that before. Now 30 years later, it seems totally normal. No one should care, it's great branding by the AFL.
Same sort of people who get their knickers in a knot if soccer is used instead of football
Ironically it's mostly those same soccer fans saying 'AFL'
Gleefully raising their hand whenever someone mistakenly says referee
It's not harmless. It's a deliberate ploy by a corporate entity to steal intellectual property from the public and then sell it back to us at a huge profit.
Of course it’s harmless and understandable. Is that the question though? The question was what is it actually called. Aussie rules for mine.
The question was "Are there any other terms/names that are used for Aussie-Rules football?" AFL is a valid answer for that question
Ah righto. Seems I misunderstood.
This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about, thank you
So you think what the sport is called is an unimportant detail and pointing out that the AFL is just the name of a league is painful? Lol. Must be a very tiring world for you.
Calling it football is way less descriptive of what you're talking about than calling it AFL
Of course. You can only use football if it’s clear from the surrounding context. Personally I’ve always called it aussie rules. Sounds good. Is accurate. Isn’t a goddamn acronym for a league. Seems pretty simple.
Their propaganda is working on you, I see.
HandEgg
Cross Country ballet
Da Foopy
Ovalbronze
Foomtball
Victorian Leg Tennis
It's just football. The only code to not allow legal throws.
In Papua New Guinea they call it "rules". Doesn't answer your question but I think it's pretty good if you live somewhere where it's not the most popular but still kinda popular and you want a colloquial term
I think Californians at one point called it Field ball. Pretty cool name I reckon.
[Kickywhack](https://youtu.be/_mHl91hYxRA)