You can lose ALL your points for playing one too many people in Aussie Rules football | Weird Rules

The simplest mistakes can have the biggest consequences. No, I'm not talking about why I'm here in the first place, but an extremely weird rule that can wipe out your entire score if you have just one too many players on the field. What's more is in this sport, there are already 18-players on each side, so honestly how big of a difference is 19?
In Aussie Rules Football, if you field one extra person - whether by mistake or a substitute coming on too early for an injured player - the umpires can knock you all the way back down to zero. It's like that kid you played games with growing up who would get frustrated and make up a rule that started everything over. And no one likes that kid. I hope you read this, Tyler.
Researched and hosted by Ryan Simmons and Seth Rosenthal
Shot by Joe Ali
Edited by Joe Ali and Alex Hawley
Animations by Phil Pasternak
Subscribe: goo.gl/Nbabae
Check out our full video catalog: goo.gl/9pMHRV
Visit our playlists: goo.gl/NvpZFF
Like SB Nation on Facebook: goo.gl/Pzcs7O
Follow on Twitter: goo.gl/5LI02D
Follow on Instagram: goo.gl/aY2FFK
Explore SB Nation: www.sbnation.com

[@SecretBaseSBN]

Legitimately think this might be the harshest rule that we've covered on the show. Like, this feels as though someone woke up grumpy and just wanted to be a jerk. Y'all got anything you think is worse?

[@MitchL8812]

Also, Speaking of the Bulldogs. A rewinder on their 2016 grand final win (our superbowl) wouldn't be too bad. One the greatest Australian sports stories ever.

[@patricklowry4249]

For high score do the most pitches taken up by one at bat

[@wce05308]

Great video. It rarely happens though. I've only seen it once in the AFL. West Coast vs St Kilda 1999 last game of the regular season if I remember correctly.

[@NickTaylorRickPowers]

Didn't even know about this rule. Am Australian, but more into real sports like racing motorcycles you know a sport that requires 2 balls

[@brownmamba6339]

@bongo155 more like Hockey. Because play doesn't stop during a subsitution.

[@dsriggs]

Never thought I'd hear West Torrens Eagles chat on SBNation, but here we are.

[@izaacniemann7153]

dsriggs same

[@Cheeky_Chelsea]

That's Woodville-West Torrens to you buddy!

[@waynewilliams5251]

​@@Cheeky_Chelsea You'd be under 30 then surely...

[@senzubean31]

Nick C not in the 70s!

[@adelaidecrowsrdabest]

senzu_bean exactly Rhys!

[@apathynoises6456]

In reality this rule is all but obsolete. In professional and semi-professional competitions teams do sometimes get 19 players on field for a few seconds because of mistakes at interchange, but instead of head-count usually one of the umpires will call an "Interchange Breach". The team that made the infringement will give up possession, and concede 50 metres. Or in other words, the opposition player receives a free kick, after walking 50 metres forward uncontested from where the ball is when the infringement is found. Headcounts are more common in junior competitions (but still rare), but generally the penalty isn't usually wiping out the score completely. They might get a goal taken off, or have the same penalty as interchange breach (it differs based on each specific league)

[@HarryCollett]

Not true my man. It's rare but last year North Adelaide in the SANFL they had 19 men on the field for a minute or two. They managed to get their player off before a head count could be called. It was a huuuuuge deal in South Australia. They won that game, then the next weekend won the grand final.

[@losfp]

Correct. It's exceedingly rare because more than likely the breach will be called before the opposition captain calls for a count. And there's significant penalties for calling a count that turns out to be wrong (ie: both sides actually do have the correct number of players). So you need to be bloody sure that you're right before calling for a headcount, AND do it before the opposition notices their mistake and corrects it.

[@jackdistefano1323]

I remember this happened with my local teams reserves in the grand final I think or a prelim, the opposition had 19 the whole match and were up by 60 but the coach from my local team told the ump and they’re score got wiped and my local team went on to win it all

[@aaronbradley3232]

Well I guess there you have it. There is no reason for them to do the video

[@sophieisawesomeoh]

This was 5-6 years ago. But it happened in an afl game I played. The score went down to nil in the 2nd quarter.

[@giorgioprofiris8188]

As an Aussie, saw the headline, had a laugh. Watched the video, didn’t do too bad a job! Just for those unaware though, in the professional Aussie Rules league (The AFL) this rule is not applied and it’s just a free kick, but it is still a thing in all lower league competitions in the country.

[@DoragonRider75]

I have a question as an American interested in Aussie Rules Football. I checked the rule book and noticed that the AFL changed the rule for the 2019 season specifically Law 5.5.3(c). The 2018 rules stated that "the Team shall lose all points which it has scored in the Match up to the time of the count." Now in 2019 the rule was changed to"the Team shall lose all points which it has scored *in that quarter* up to the time of the count" and informing the AFL who can review and ultimately decide whether they want to change the result or not. I just want to know why did the AFL make this rule change.

[@lukevacca1537]

@@DoragonRider75 One thing you'll find out quickly is that the AFL is run by a bunch of flogs, so they probably changed this irrelevant rule just because they could. I think it makes more sense but there's no point of it since its never put into practice.

[@losfp]

AFAIK it's still a rule, but it's very very rare because before the captain calls for a headcount, it would likely be picked up as an interchange breach, or the opposition fixes the count.

[@jarrodbrimble1433]

@@DoragonRider75 There were a couple controversies regarding this rule in lower State League competitions (think of it as the Aussie Rules equivalent of the Minor Leagues). They changed the rule to update it to the 21st Century where this kind of think would only happen by accident. This rule was likely written more than 100 years ago, before professional footy and where cheating would of been more common as it was easier to get away with.

[@Anarchyontheweb]

Yeah came to call them out but sounds like they did their research

[@Tanaglias]

Love Razor Ray on the thumbnail!

[@RileyJane7]

What a legend

[@maxferraro8243]

Hate him

[@181blinker]

not as much as razor does

[@DeathhAU]

Razor thinks he’s the main character

[@patlavery1630]

Another funny example of the 19 man rule was in the regional country league in Victoria, one team was winning by about 100 points with 8 minutes to go in the 4th quarter when the losing team called a head count, and it was revealed that the winning team accidentally had 19 men on the field, so their 100 point lead was reduced to a 25 point defecit. In the ensuing chaos of this 120 point turnaround, a member of the team that was previously losing ran onto the field to taunt the opposition, who called for ANOTHER head count, it was found that THAT team now had 19 on the field, and their score was also erased. Complete and utter madness.

[@shramo]

Who won???

[@VelumCaeli]

Which league?

[@ashleawithers2482]

It’s hard to actually do this, as the interchange is heavily monitored now a days. A mistake on interchange results in a fine, such as players crossing the interchange line before the sub has left the field. Also, a 19th person can make a difference in an AFL game, as players are matched to an opponent and generally have to defend that player. So if there’s an extra player, they could easily sneak towards the goals without being defended.

[@WizKhalifaAustralia]

Ashlea Withers This happened in the league a few years ago, and I’m fairly sure they just gave a 50m penalty, it created a media stir for a week and then we forgot about it. I’m sure this whole story of a head count happened in the 70s but it doesn’t happen anymore.

[@biasedconfirmations]

I have no idea how these mopes don't think having more players on the field is cheating. Obviously they are 'guys' who think playong sports is sitting on the couch with an xbox controller...

[@sevret313]

@@WizKhalifaAustralia Oh 50 meters. Not 50 million AUD fee. I was wondering how rich the teams were for such a penalty.

[@bigfoz]

@@biasedconfirmations many sports an extra player on the field for a minute or 2 could possibly not even effect the game in a meaningful matter, although in afl an extra player for that period of time would likely cause a goal to be scored.

[@walterxbenjamin]

@bongo155 It's literally called WAFL.

[@short600]

Had to double take when i saw Razor Ray on an SB nation thumbnail

[@4thplace696]

biggest click bait...not a single razor ray moment

[@isaaccullen8708]

same i was checking to make sure it was SB

[@doctorvladandhisbluejaysd2802]

@@4thplace696 its about the rule not the guy dumbass

[@onebigadvocado6376]

@@doctorvladandhisbluejaysd2802 that's never the case with Razor...

[@josephbickley8933]

Me too.

[@TimK2702]

There was a more recent incident around this in September 2018. In the SANFL Semi-Finals, North Adelaide was discovered to have had 19 players on the field for about 5 minutes - during this time scoring 8 points, going on to win by 5 points. The player count wasn't done, because only the captain can call for the count and the extra player was off by the time it was noticed. Woodville-West Torrens (They merged) protested the result, but rather than overturn the result the SANFL opted to let North Adelaide play in the Final the following week - which they went on to win, fine them $10,000 and start the 2019 Season on -2 wins

[@nicksherlock9507]

Drunk on farmers union iced coffee probably

[@DaDualityofMan]

Wait, -2 wins? Not 2 losses?

[@CallanKilderry]

Your One Black Friend Who Gave you the N Word Pass In the SANFL you get 2 premiership points for a win, 1 point for a draw (rare) and 0 points for a loss. North Adelaide started the next season on -4 points.

[@DaDualityofMan]

@@CallanKilderry Lol

[@Brucetiki1]

@@DaDualityofMan it was a 4 premiership point penalty handed to North for the 2019 season (a win is 2 points in the SANFL). As North have only won 1 game so far this season, they're still on -2 points for the season!

[@N.I.R.A.T.I.A.S.]

0:34 And yet not even in the top ten harshest things about Australia. Also, "Norm Dare" is such a 1970s football name.

[@Jon_9715]

A rule about as harsh is the rule in golf where if you don’t sign your score card you points are taken away. It’s like you never played the game at all.

[@ABrecher]

Yeah there are rules in other sports that basically amount to a forfeit.

[@tylerlarsen1842]

SB Nation actually has a video where they explain a golf incident where a golfer unknowingly committed a penalty by using a towel or blanket to keep his pants clean, and he didn't record it in his score card, which invalidated his score. It was as if he never even showed up.

[@Omoplataha]

I forget what golf tournament this was. Player played as normal. One spectator watching the tournament noticed on some hole that the player had teed of few cm before the spot where you supposed to tee off (between those two balls). Player was disqualified from the tournament.

[@jaymothman]

Do a beef history on AFL player and team captain Wayne Carey sleeping with his teammates wife

[@Lachm83]

Jay Godwin big yes

[@drbosommd]

Good idea.

[@tomgalway8919]

Omg yes

[@harvesteroftone5473]

Old news mate. I think we’ve all moved on after nearly 20 years.

[@themightytk]

Just a note, players do know the exact score, and as far as i know they they've always been able to. There are large scoreboards at every stadium and even at local grounds. But correct regarding the time. The clock actually counts up, similar to soccer, with time added for stoppages. So a quarter is 20mins plus stoppage time, but they don't advertise to the players how much time is being added. If you're watching on tv you can see the countdown clock though, so coaches and bench players always know and make the players on the field aware exactly how long is left.

[@milindbordia]

Aye when Australia makes SB Nation!

[@wce05308]

Never clicked so fast for a video in my life!

[@Oliviben]

All we need now is an AFL rewind

[@drbosommd]

Oliviben 20301 what would you rewind to ? Nick Riewoldt smothered kick in the GF? Jim Stynes cruising the mark?

[@Oliviben]

I was thinking either carlton collingwood gf, the heath shaw smother in 2010 or leo barry 2005 gf or nick davis 2005 prelim

[@elfro1237]

@@Oliviben what about the 2018 final? Lots of injuries and Collingwood were smashing them at the start.

[@purplecoffee3620]

Hey sb nation. There's a lot of idiots in Australian media that cover the sport. There could be a market on your channel for Aussie rules football videos. Great video, please make more. You could do one on the line in the sand match

[@chubbs.mp3435]

I’m an American and would love to learn more about Australian football

[@rohinkartik-narayan7535]

You mentioned Mario Party and losing everything, so allow me to point out that in Mario Party DS on Bowser's Pinball Machine, there is a string of 5 spaces *in a row* that if you land on them you lose all of your Coins AND all of your Stars. They are by far the most brutal spaces in any Mario Party game. I've seen it happen with people that had like 10 stars (DS is a very high-scoring game).

[@HarryCollett]

This happened last year!!!! It's rare but last year North Adelaide in the SANFL they had 19 men on the field for a minute or two. They managed to get their player off before a head count could be called. It was a huuuuuge deal in South Australia including a hearing with an ex-supreme court judge to decide whether they could play next week or have the result overturned. They won that game, then the next weekend won the grand final.

[@Imawesomeking900]

Im proud of SB Nation, as an Australian viewer and huge fan of this channel, I'm glad you guys recognise Australian sport. Lotta love from down under.

[@Anonynomad]

Dreaming of a Brisbane Lions collapse vid

[@cpmenninga]

Jacob Den Dryver they didn’t recognize anything about Australian sport, but they tried anyway.

[@baileyfry7031]

Craziest story o this was in the SANFL last year, preliminary final to make the grand final and North Adelaide made a 40+ point comeback, but for a 5 minute period they had 19 on the field and scored around 7-10 points, which was the margin they won by. However after the game they had 2 games deducted from next seasons tally and a fine. They went in to win the Grand Final.

[@Tanaglias]

Bailey Fry honest lay that’s what I though they were going to talk about when he said the SANFL

[@KantiDono]

I feel like there's another whole side of this rule that isn't addressed at all in this video, which is, if your score was already zero, such as at the very start of the game, there's effectively no penalty for playing too many people on the field. Okay, first quarter? I send out 50 people on my side of the field. What are you gonna do? Make my score _more_ zero?

[@siangchengpang772]

Couldn't the opponent just keep calling head count over and over again and basically stop the game?

[@ededwinson5774]

as soon as a goal is kicked the opposition can immediately call head count and remove the 6 points you just got

[@decdeclanlan]

You guys need to do the 2010 Grand Final rematch. It’s super weird, there was no rule for extra time in the grand final (effectively the Super Bowl for AFL), so in 2010, when there was a tie in the Grand Final, they played another game the next week to determine the premier (champion).

[@began1534]

This is pretty rare, in my experience it's always been drilled in my head not to run on the field until the person you're going on for has come off. Also the scores aren't hidden, but the times are, though sometimes in professional games it goes up on the big TVs briefly when it shows a replay.

[@chaeljr.1254]

If theres only 4 subs... wouldn't it be easier to count players on the bench?

[@dankaz]

Nah sometimes subs have to leave the interchange area due to injury. You could argue that the fourth bloke on the bench is away getting treatment.

[@mwarner0]

@@dankaz Such an aussie response "Nah"

[@TheAcdcninja]

Plus at lower levels of competition, you might have a reserve grade player still in his playing gear looking for something they left on the bench during the reserve game while a senior game is going on. There’s plenty of leagues that take themselves pretty seriously, and might potentially apply this rule, but still don’t really take themselves seriously enough to restrict access to the bench. Volunteers and players from an earlier game, as well as fans or partners of players all tend to milk around the benches at suburban grounds and chat to their mates who are coaching or playing. It’s not an entirely easy 4 people to pick out and count at a moments notice.

[@TPWarbat]

Not exactly the case. Some players who get injured and go onto the bench will head down the race into the team rooms to get treated but the medical staff. Another case that comes to mind was when the GWS Giants played the Carlton Blues in 2018. The Giants had 4 players injured on the bench during the game so at some points it would look like the Giants had 6 players on the bench as they had players coming off to get a 1-2 minute break. But those players who were coming off didn't count as going onto the bench (interchanging) as they had no fit players on the bench. This meant the players were running on and off as they counted as on the field. So you had at points the Giants playing 16 players to Carltons 18 players. The result though would not be what you expected though, with the Giants winning by 104 points.

[@alcinobenfica]

lol been watching afl since 1992 and i have never seen this happen

[@TheAcdcninja]

benficamad yeah I think it’s happened like once or twice in the last hundred years in a couple of lower league matches.

[@MattHarris85]

Guy McKenna called a headcount in a match in the 90s

[@senzubean31]

It did happen in the SANFL last year though …

[@123impulse321]

Still nowhere near as good as the replay the final in case of draw rule afl had..... And applied

[@fase1doughnut]

That was an insane year

[@qwertyTRiG]

Gaelic games have that too.

[@Troyza27]

So happy we're finally getting the AFL related SB nation content we all deserve

[@thomaslittle4188]

The one strike rule for track false starts may be more harsh. Especially for distance races.

[@lcsperuzzioliveira]

Imagine if this rule applie to the NFL. A flag on the 4th quarter of the super bowl for too many man on the field and losing all your points 😂😂

[@soundlessbird9181]

Even CFL have one occasion of too many mens in Grey Cup(Montreal-Saskatchewan,2009), and Montreal only get a replay of final play.

[@imperialguard6301]

It's much different because with the NFL you have more players and coaches on the sideline than you do on the field whereas you only have 4 on the bench in the afl so it's easy to keep track of how many you have on the field

[@awgonin3622]

Razer ray in the thumbnail , finally the international attention he craves

[@P0YAIS]

What are they on about “they don’t know the score” every field has some sort of scoreboard

[@DavidMuggleton]

True, but even in the AFL the players don't know the clock...

[@MightyRoys]

Yeah I think they got confused on that point. Aussie Rules players know the score, but the clock on the scoreboard counts up instead of down and doesn't show added time so they don't know how long is left. BUT in the AFL, the TV coverage clock does count down and stop for breaks in play, so the team coaches can just monitor the TV coverage and signal their teams how much time is left. Complicated.

[@rapdude99]

David Muggleton the players know how much time has gone just not how long they have left in the quarter

[@BlackGateofMordor]

@@MightyRoys The teams have their own timekeepers. So there are actually four of them every game - one for each team, the ch7 one, and the official one, which is why the siren always goes a few seconds late according to the TV.

[@ericsilver9401]

Someone should do "the creation of SB nation deserves a deep rewind"

[@bradwconnors]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqi7dqGahpmDhKc your wish has kinda been granted!

[@Aunini]

I've never heard/seen the score be hidden at a top-flight AFL game Hiding the exact time of play remaining? Depends on the field, year, personal preference, the weather, availability of hot dogs...

[@okkomp]

Just fyi: Referee is known as an umpire 'Time outs' don't exist in Aussie Rules This rule is basically obsolete Most times you can see the score but not the actual time left. Every time play stops the official game time also stops, but for some reason it's usually just shown to everyone as the the time for that quarter (period). Official game time per qtr is 20 min but the actual time is usually 25-30 min including stoppages.

[@johnburns9634]

How about playing with 19 players until you score, and one quickly runs off the field.

[@gerrywawra]

I’m genuinely surprised how well these fellas talked about footy, apart from the hiding the score. That made me cringe a little but good work regardless

[@lachlanwright8180]

Being Australian and following this account religiously for a while, it's satisfying seeing my favourite sport take the spotlight for a video

[@louispecceu2952]

*Flag on the play* “Too many men on the field, offense. Please reset the game cl... I’m sorry, the visitor team score to 0”

[@madduck09]

Love the show guys! Sure I won't be the only one mentioning this, but England just beat New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup Final. However the match was tied in normal play and extra time 'superover', and NZ lost by 0, tiebreaker of most boundaries was used....i know cricket is a series of weird rules onto itself but this has got to be worth an episode given the circumstances in which it occurred

[@MitchL8812]

Thanks for representing my country's sport.

[@Rysto32]

You should do a video on the CFL's rouge rule. It led to the single craziest play in football history on October 29, 2010 between Toronto and Montreal. In a single play from scrimmage, there was 1 field goal attempt, 3 punts (one of which was blocked) and a touchdown.

[@TheY2AProblem]

Could anyone from one team wear another team’s uniform and run onto field and try to get counted as the 19th man on the other team?

[@calebmorris498]

Probably

[@cpmenninga]

If he was caught, rules say he is to be buried alive.

[@imogenx9145]

No, fans and the umpires know all the players' names, numbers and faces in professional Australian Rules Football. I guess if it's just some kids match, yeah the umpires might not remember each kid's face but they will in AFL and the SANFL mentioned in this video as the SANFL players are often considered future interchange for an AFL team anyway. Their careers are followed closely by the media and the umpires will often reprimand the players on a first name basis. :) TLDR: footy players are too famous for this to happen these days

[@kingtyranius2207]

No, even at basic level of country football you wouldn't be able to, before every game the umpires have the list of registered players for the day's play.

[@kayleighlehrman9566]

If he was on a stretcher, does that mean he /technically/ wasn't /on/ the field? He was above the field, but by that logic you can call a head count as a plane flies over

[@arachnofiend2859]

They were calling a head count on the two guys carrying the stretcher, clearly.

[@GMHSVE]

Still on the field until he crosses the boundary line. But calling a count in that situation is a bit of a dog act.

[@kayleighlehrman9566]

@@GMHSVE but him being injured would disqualify him from being an active player still, no?

[@GMHSVE]

@@kayleighlehrman9566 No.

[@BushTerrors]

@@kayleighlehrman9566 Not until he was off the field

[@BushTerrors]

Amazing that the two most prominent examples of this both involved the SANFL - 43 years apart!

[@nicksherlock9507]

This made my day. Hearing you talk about football

[@matthewwoods632]

I'm wondering how well this would be enforced at the start of the game lol. Like at the start of the game, the score is 0-0, so what's to stop you from fielding 42 players, running your opponent into the ground, and then clearing out all but 18 of them in time for the first goal. At the same time, I kinda want to know how this rule came to be: Ref: "You guys have too many players on the field" "So? What're you gonna do about it, huh?" Ref: *grabs eraser and slowly walks towards a comically large chalkboard*...

[@DaNinjasDen]

Players don't know the exact time left but they do know the current score. Side note the coaches know the exact time left and can pass it on to players

[@BigMan-mc4vk]

well the time left would be on the stadiums scoreboard

[@anzacxlag2606]

@@BigMan-mc4vk Its not thought. The scoreboard clock counts up from 0 the umpires clock counts down from 20. The scoreboard clock doesn't stop counting at all but the umpires does. The scoreboard clock usually says anything from 25 to 35 minutes for a quarter not 20.

[@RugbyRyan]

My depression has just gotten worse due to the fact Sb nation did an AFL video before doing a rugby video.

[@losfp]

Just a small clarification about players not knowing the time remaining. There is a count-up clock at the ground. And most quarters go for roughly 28-32 minutes, so you know SORT OF how much time is left, but not exactly. There have been times when the big screen uses the direct TV screen with the official countdown clock in the corner, but I haven't seen that in a while. They either superimposed a black square or something over that corner, or nowadays, they use a completely different feed, controlled presumably by a different production crew than the TV broadcast. But the funny thing is that the coaches KNOW exactly how much time is remaining. So the bench knows how much time is remaining. I'll let you guess if they keep quiet about it if it's a tight game. It's a funny one where the TV audience knows the time remaining but the stadium audience does not. Personally I prefer the count-up clock as then it increases the tension. I hate/love it. As for score. Every ground in the country has a scoreboard, which everyone can see. Coaches might direct the players to ignore the scoreboard - ie: play your natural game regardless of the score - but there's usually no point to hiding the score from the players.

[@OldFossil]

Me: See's AFL on SB Nation Also Me: *instantly smashes the video*

[@Adam130694]

Lenny Randle blows ball into foul territory on May 27th 1981. It was hilarious. 1 day later MLB umpires established rule to ban that.

[@merr___7579]

Thanks for shining a light on this sport, didn’t even know it was a thing

[@drunkill]

Check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn69io2ZpKaWi5I Tonights game was a bit controversial with a botched goal review in the last 2 minutes.

[@bradwconnors]

You guys did a pretty good job, with the exception of calling umpires referees and the players always know the score, but the game clock isn’t known to the second. Still super impressed!

[@redcatofdeath]

To me the weirdest part of all about this rule is that the punishment can actually be incredibly light in the right circumstances. If a team hadn't scored yet then losing all your points will do literally nothing. If you were on defense and hadn't scored yet, it seems like there would be no downside to sending out a 19th man.

[@aba84389a]

You forgot to mention that if your call for a headcount and they actually have 18 on the field then you loose all your points. Also in the games there’s 3 umpires on the field and one emergency in case one gets injured, and the emergency is sitting on the bench the whole time, and he will almost always catch 19 men on the field before the other team could.

[@ajh22895]

I have actually been boundary umpire for a game where this happened. The role of a boundary umpire is to stop anyone from leaving the ground. But the game I was in, the team was up by about 50 points. Then the count happened early in the last quarter but because the opponents score was so low (about 3 goals), they almost won again.

[@Xarx3s]

To sort of explain why a single extra player ends up being a big advantage and why it was (and still is in smaller local leagues) punished so heavily without going too in depth about it; If you get tackled with the ball it reverts to something similar to a 50/50 basketball tip off, so a lot of the ball movement relies upon getting a free player or outnumbering the opposition around the ball (2v1, 3v2 etc). Having just one single extra player, means you've always got a free option to pass to on attack while on defense be able to attack the player with the ball while covering all his options to pass to.

[@ARJ7X]

One quick note - they don’t hide the score. They do hide the time so you don’t know how long is left, which is awesome when you are there live

[@therealwill2452]

Finally an AFL video finally this is so amazing

[@bigbrowntau]

2:48 You're right about the remaining time left, only the timekeepers know. Makes for some tense play, not knowing if that last second play has enough time to work. Players can look up at the scoreboard though if they want to know the score. Love your idea of pushing an opposing player into play then calling for a headcount!

[@pkz420]

I don't even watch sports, but this series is still fascinating.

[@antdeane6055]

Please make a video about the Cricket World Cup Final! For the world champions to be decided on an arbitrary statistical column is just farcical!!

[@albrown2382]

Welcome fans of the Lateral Podcast by Tom Scott

[@kavyavijay4953]

Huh, I didn’t even search for this but it turned up in my KZbin recommendation the day after I listened

[@mikeselinker2990]

When I learned about this rule a few days ago, I found a team that lost 89 POINTS because it had an extra man on a stretcher. (Ryan already knew about it, of course.)

[@chillnspace777]

Ya list watched 4:00

[@johnstjohn1987]

Did you guys all of a sudden cancel the "Collapse" episodes? Been waiting for weeks!

[@chadrandazzo2305]

Not 100% correct. The offending team loses the points they scored in that quarter alone that they were caught breaching the rule, not the entire game.

[@nickdurrant7047]

Big AFL fan here, loved the video. A suggestion for Rewinder might be the back to back Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles grand finals, both decided by one score. Or the Kennent curse, where Hawthorn, after winning the 2008 grand final, lost 4 or 5 straight years worth of games to Geelong after their president said they'd "never be beaten by Geelong again."

[@VolleyballExplained]

I love that you have an episode for Aussie rules. :) I play in the only Bulgarian team in this sports, don't confuse with my volleyball channel.

[@jordanharcombe84]

Having played Aussie rules for a decade now, one extra player makes a huge difference in the sport.

[@harleyjeanes-grant4269]

BTW Both teams interchange benches are right next to each other, not opposite the field. This prevents advantages of switching players over.

[@davidfogarty6275]

Players are now allowed to know the score, also, the bench is highly monitored so this would let happen anymore haha. Would love to see an AFL rewind! Love this channel and am an avid Aussie Rules fan! We can all tell you games to rewind.

[@refsmithy]

Aussie Rules made it onto weird rules! I was seriously hoping you guys might cover this one day. This has never happened in the top professional league, but that Norm Dare story is one of the best to come out of Aussie Rules. Sadly, the chaos of the headcount is highly unlikely to happen again at the top level because of the introduction of new interchange stewards a few years ago, so no more hiding under coats

[@brooke_sh00ter98]

YOOOOOOO AUSTRALIA REPRESENT

[@rayhs1984]

They use to show some Aussie football at like 2am on ESPN. I watched the championship game ... Which inexplicably ended in a tie.

[@largechips]

They had a replay a week later which was blowout.

[@rayhs1984]

@@largechips Thanks for the info I remembered that they were going to replay the game, but never looked up the results.

[@nicholasbutler153]

There was an example in a lower league last year where this happened. A team played with 19 players for some time, and in that time, kicked more points than what the final margin was. The 19th player was removed before the head count to be enacted. It was in a semi-final (called a preliminary final in Australia) as well. It was decided by that league's tribunal that the result would stand, but that next season, that team would be docked four table points (the equivalent of winning one game).

[@utetopia1620]

You can actually see the score - there's a scoreboard at the side in all levels (probably except kids leagues). You can also see the time as a player in the AFL, but the timer counts up at the actual game, starting at 0:00. When watching it on TV, it counts down from 20:00. Bit complicated, but on TV, the timer countdown will stop during stoppages, but at the ground, it continues up, and the time for stoppages is added. So for example, a 20 second stoppage would make the quarter 20:20, but unless you as a fan or player at the game knew that it was a 20 second stoppage, you wouldnt know when the quarter was due to end. On a side note I think the harshest penalty to be ever laid down was against Essendon for the "player supplement saga" during the 2012 season. They were found guilty, and the AFL forced Essendon out of the finals, fined them $2m, banned 34 players for 12 months, stripped the Essendon player that won the leagues Best and Fairest of his win, and banned them from the 1st two round draft picks for 2 years.

[@travstrib]

I played in a game where we were 40 points down, one of the opposition's player was sent from the field for fighting. Then once play resumed, stormed back on the field to fight someone else, our captain called a headcount. They had 19 including the guy who was fighting. Their Score was wiped. Then their whole team went into the locker rooms and refused to come out.

[@joza8518]

I believe in AFL the clock counts up from 0 to 20 mins unlike a sport such as basketball where it counts down (which makes more sense) so sometimes it can be hard to know exactly how much time you have left.

[@BlazinBlz]

true, it does count up But it makes perfect sense, because the clock is stopped at every break,and stoppage, kick a goal, it's stopped, 50 meter penalty, stopped, so on Usually the time will end up being somewhere between 25-30 mins, so it makes perfect sense to count up

[@Voltanaut]

I would love to see these guys take a look at snooker's "foul and a miss" rule. Snooker is an unimaginably hard game to play well, especially when escaping snookers, and this rule basically means the referee calls a miss if the player didn't make a good enough attempt at escaping the snooker. This of course leads to many annoyed players missing shots by literal fractions of millimeters. (Keep in mind, snooker is an extremely British sport, so our version of "annoyed" is different to the Americans.) I would love seeing Americans tackle snooker.

[@jacobsigismondi9948]

Had this happen in final in local footy and the other team literally dragged player off to avoid being over the count because some of the players from their bench had run on to join in the punch on that was taking place. Umpire just said fine then and gave them a score of zero anyway.

[@lachlach3449]

2:51 - In all seriousness, this is a fantastic element of the footy. Really good job I might stress as an obsessed footy fan. Also for a harsh rule, look at the England Pakistan Cricket Test in 2006 (unsubstantiated ball tampering)

[@joshuavanderburg150]

Is this more harsh than the building a stance rule in the PGA for Craig Stadler you covered last year?

[@BlazinBlz]

Firstly, this penalty is absolutely deserved, one extra player, in AFL, is a HUGE advantage, because of how physical, demanding and tough the sport is, you can see a team go "one up" due to 5 players being injured from one side, which, while very rare, you just see how much of an advantage it gives the other team As for the rule it's self, it's very, very rare to see it done, there are common interchange infringements, but usually never a head count, you'll never see it in the top leagues (AFL, VFL, SANFL, WAFL, NEAFL, so on The only example of anything recent I can think of is in my local competition (Broken Hill AFL) where in a game between West and South (very imaginative names, I know) there was a head count, but the local league decided to rewrite that rule a little (perfectly in their powers I might add) to change it to lose all your points scored when that player was on, which I disagree with, but what am I supposed to do, I also remember that the infringing team (West) got away with it because they managed to sneak their extra player off the field Sadly I'm only relaying what someone told me, as I was at the other game (Central v North) because eff both South and West

[@wce05308]

In 1999 West Coast coach Mick Malthouse called for a head count against St Kilda. I doubt Malthouse thought they had a extra player though. It was probably a tactic as St Kilda were beating West Coast badly. That's the only time I've seen it in the AFL.

[@BenTheAussieGamer]

SB Nation talking about my state of South Australia feels so strange

[@braedynwilliams287]

Was expecting to hear two people absolutely butcher our game but was actually a really well thought out and well explained video

[@jakobgib]

Man that is a big f*cking field.

[@BryanLikesCandy]

Minimum distance goal to goal is 155 metres; about 170 yards. It is the largest field for any ball sport that is not played on horseback.

[@drunkill]

Yup. Check this out kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn69io2ZpKaWi5I

[@ronaldraygoon]

It is, but you only have possession for one or two seconds before kicking or passing it on and it makes no sense to have the bulk of the team move with the ball. Play is fast, ball movement is primarily by kicking, and tackling involves wrapping your arms around the upper body.

[@BlackGateofMordor]

The sport was invented for cricketers to keep fit over the winter, so the small differences (some aren't as round as others) are what you'd expect on a cricket oval. But yeah, much bigger than most American sports.

[@martinpaulsen1592]

@@BryanLikesCandy Well, since it's played on cricket pitches during the off-season, I think it's tied for largest.

[@DavidWoods255]

Shame you didn't include one single second of some AFL footage... Might've given a few viewers a thought of "woah, that was cool, I should look up some more of this Aussie Rules thing". Oh well. Perhaps when you're watching the 3rd hour of some baseball game and it's 0-0 in the 9th inning, just remember "Aussie Rules" really does rule. I'd say 80% or more of all AFL games in a season are great no matter who you follow. Check out a 2016, '17 or '18 season highlights video on youtube. Might take a couple games to understand all of what's going on but I'm confident you'd love it!

[@baoboumusic]

In chess you can forfeit the game for a number of reasons that might sound pretty harsh, including I think not writing down moves or covering up your score sheet.

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

If I'm remembering correctly, it also applies to writing down incorrect moves. Golf also disqualifies you if you verify an incorrect scorecard.

[@cuseyeti_one8three]

Seth, it's great to see you here; Posting and Toasting misses you . Can you tell us what is Sneppy?

[@bruceismay5440]

Never see this rule payed but this year I saw a similar rule played. Each team only gets 75 interchanges per game (players coming on and off the field) North Melbourne was up by less than a goal when they did a 76th interchange. Play was stopped, Sydney was payed a free kick and 50 meter penalty from inside 50 and kicked the match winning goal from that. Very Stange game

[@hardcoreharro]

I wouldn’t even consider this to be harshest penalty in Australian sports. In the early 2000’s the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL (National Rugby League) had one extra player (14 instead of 13) on the field for a period of time and was discovered after the game was over. As a result, the NRL stripped the win result that North Queensland got from the game itself.

[@mrwalk6171]

"Was that a picture of razor ray in my suggestions?" yes yes it was

[@seanvda3612]

They don't keep the scores from the players just the time left

[@williamwilting]

What I would feel to be kinda harsh, for one of the players on a team at least, is that a minimum of one single player will not participate in the game at all. In most team sports with interchanges/substitutions/reserves, there are quite a number of players on the bench, while either an unlimited or just a few number of times can be interchanged. There are only 4 players on the bench, so you'd think that every one of them could have been in the game at some point. But with that few people on the bench, only 3 interchanges per game will be allowed. If other players in the same team as you would on the bench the entire game, then that would look acceptable to me, but if you're the only player not sent on the field, that would feel harsh to me. Also, with so few players as interchanges, how are you going to anticipate properly as a coach to unforseen situations, in which injured players from so many possible positions have to be replaced, if there are so few players to choose from?

[@janomajuano5923]

Please do more videos about AFL, it seriously Is the greatest sport ever in my opinion. A good video to make would be the lack of an ejection rule, it has lead to some insane fights cheif among which is the 1989 grand final, hawthorn vs gelong. They had one guy split a kidney and another puncture a lung. Both played out the entire match

[@tassiehandyman3090]

I umpire local cricket, and in my second game, my colleague and I realised partway through the first innings that the fielding team had 12 players, not 11, and we had no idea how long that had been the case. Good thing there's no headcount rule in cricket, we'd have looked like total idiots..!

[@tylernuske4958]

I have been watching AFL for 10 years and have never seen this rule. I didn’t even know it existed until I came across it. This is NOT the standard punishment for having 19 players on the field

[@thomasuniat2939]

I think they need this rule in all sports to prevent delay of game when someone is injured. Then we will see medical teams at practice doing wind sprints so they can change injured players off the field faster. They can call it the NASCAR rule.

[@thomasmasters8434]

You no longer loose all your points just the points from the quarter being played, From 5.5.3 of the rules (c) the Team shall lose all points which it has scored in that quarter up to the time of the count;

[@BL3446]

In high school soccer, my buddy slid into a guy in the box in like the last attempt to stop a goal from happening and knew he was gonna get a yellow card. There were a lot of same jerseyed teammates around so he just immediately and nonchalantly walked over behind the other defenders so the referees couldn't tell who to card.