Rugby League Merchandise – A History of the Australian Football League

The origins of the Australian Football League (AFL) can be traced back to 1896 when 8 teams decided to split from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) to form the Victorian Football  League (VFL). The VFA had been formed in 1877 but organised Australian Rules Football had been played in Victoria long before that with the first documented game taking place in August 1858 between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. In 1897 Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne contested the first VFL season with Essendon winning the first premiership.

St Kilda struggled in the new league losing their first 48 games before finally breaking through in the 1st round of the 1900 season defeating Melbourne by 1 point.  The game finished with the scores deadlocked on 68 points apiece but St Kilda successfully argued that one of Melbourne’s points had been scored after the three-quarter time bell so the game was awarded to St Kilda. Success for the Saints was short-lived though with St Kilda losing their remaining 13 games in 1900 and their first 12 games in 1901 before posting another victory.

Round 1 of 1903 saw Geelong defeat St Kilda by 50 points meaning that St Kilda had managed to win only 2 of their first 100 League games.  But by round 6 that same year something had changed.  St Kilda started winning and finished the year in 5th position on the ladder with 6 wins just missing out on the Final Four.  Read more... (1595 words, estimated 6:23 mins reading time)

September 2nd, 2010 by admin
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Unassuming Melbourne: Australian Football Heartland of Australia

As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through deception when explorer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal languages, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.

While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them off the land, the fact that the native people had little understanding of rents, leases or indeed, the concept that land was something to be bought, sold and leased at all, made his arrangements no less exploitative. In return for a long term lease of 240,000 hectares of the finest grazing land in Australia, Batman gave the aborigines axes, salt, flour, blankets and jewelry. The total value of the goods is estimated to be around 200 pound.

Colonial rulers later declared his leases unlawful, claiming that the government, not the Aborigines, were the true owners of the land. After paying Batman compensation, they took over the territory and founded a settlement as the seat of regional government. The settlement became the city of Melbourne in 1837, named after Viscount Melbourne, the British prime minister at the time.

A sensible town plan

Melbourne s location was its strongest suit. While the “acquired” farmland was of excellent quality, the city’s location on the banks of the Yarra River and well protected Port Phillip Bay contributed to its rapid commercial development. The influx of energetic immigrants and eager investors from England were factors in the economic growth of the young city.  Read more... (661 words, estimated 2:39 mins reading time)

August 21st, 2010 by admin
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How to Pick Away Bets in Australian Football

Many punters do not realise that the Australian Football match results sequences are quite different to UK and European results. There are patterns which can only be identified by digging deeply into the results and performance statistics. The smart punter can use this information to help pick the most likely away bets, and it is not hard to do if you know the tricks.

Unexpected Patterns

Analysis shows that there are a number of strange patterns of results. Teams which lose at home are much more likely to win away on their next match than would be the case in Europe. This is a sort of ‘bounceback’ effect and is quite noticeable.

Win/Draw/Lose Runs

Sequences of wins, draws and losses tend to be longer than in the UK. As I am writing this, the following form is evident for the current week:

Western Australia Premier Division, Joondalup,  last 4 results DDDD
Western Australia Division 1, SW Phoenix, last 4 results WWWW
Western Australia Division 1, Queens Park, last 4 results LLLL
South Australia State League, Northern District, last 4 results WWWW
Tasmania North Premier League, Burnie, last 4 results LLLL
Tasmania North Premier League, Launceston, last 4 results LLLL

There are other examples on this coupon, which is typical. The reasons are mainly due to the fact that the range of performance difference within a given league is very wide. The playing standards of the top teams in a league are way beyond those of the lower teams. In a given match, you might see a team with a performance rating 220 playing a team rated at 10. This is clearly going to be one sided, and it helps us.  Read more... (573 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

August 9th, 2010 by admin
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What you should know about Staking Strategies for the Australian Football Pools

Australian football is not at all like soccer, either in the purely physical sense, or in its organisation. It is generally accepted (and supported by statistics) that Australian football teams play closer to form than do teams in British soccer – for example, the range of playing standard between top and bottom teams in a league is quite wide leading to greater predictability.

First off, a basic fact about the statistics: Teams come and go (and change their names) very often in Australian football. A team may disappear for a season or two and then re-form. So, tracking teams in a statistics database can be quite a challenge.

Leagues

Digging at the statistics shows that some leagues have much higher standards than others, and in particular some leagues have much higher draw percentages than others (for example South Australia), whereas other leagues have a much lower percentage of draws. So, if you are playing the treble chance (draw games) then you bias your selections towards the leagues with higher draw rates – that is forecasting more draws in the upper half of the coupon. Obviously, this depends on using a suitable performance rating system to assess likely match outcomes, before introducing bias.

Home/Away/Draw Sequences

Win/lose/draw sequences can appear to be very strange. It is not at all unusual for a team losing at home to go win their next match (if it is an away). The numbers bear this out, but the explanations can be a bit difficult to fathom. One view is that this is because of the range of playing standards within given leagues.  Read more... (450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

July 28th, 2010 by admin
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A History of the Australian Football League

The origins of the Australian Football League (AFL) can be traced back to 1896 when 8 teams decided to split from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) to form the Victorian Football  League (VFL). The VFA had been formed in 1877 but organised Australian Rules Football had been played in Victoria long before that with the first documented game taking place in August 1858 between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar.
In 1897 Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South
Melbourne contested the first VFL season with Essendon winning the first premiership.

St Kilda struggled in the new league losing their first 48 games before finally breaking through in the 1st round of the 1900 season defeating Melbourne by 1 point.  The game finished with the
scores deadlocked on 68 points apiece but St Kilda successfully argued that one of Melbourne’s
points had been scored after the three-quarter time bell so the game was awarded to St Kilda.
Success for the Saints was short-lived though with St Kilda losing their remaining 13 games in
1900 and their first 12 games in 1901 before posting another victory.

Round 1 of 1903 saw Geelong defeat St Kilda by 50 points meaning that St Kilda had managed to win only 2 of their first 100 League games.  But by round 6 that same year something had changed.  St Kilda started winning and finished the year in 5th position on the ladder with 6 wins just missing out on the Final Four.  Read more... (1587 words, estimated 6:21 mins reading time)

July 16th, 2010 by admin
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Australian Football: Steps to Success – 2nd Edition


Product Description
Australian Football: Steps to Success provides the essential skills players and coaches need to master the game and build successful teams. This book contains comprehensive instruction on the techniques and tactics that … More >>
Australian Football: Steps to Success – 2nd Edition

July 4th, 2010 by admin
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Why are the Australian Football Pools Different?

The Australian football season usually gets under way in April, and Australian-based pools coupons are published in Britain from mid-late May. Australian football pools have quite a different statistical profile to British pools. Team-form based systems still work, but with a few subtle changes.

What are the Differences?

The game is rougher. Aussie football is not football as we know it elsewhere in the world. It is much more physical and injury rates are much higher than in soccer.
Playing standards are lower. The best teams play well below the standard of even an English third division team.
Teams disappear and are re-born regularly and team names change regularly.
There are usually several instances of points deductions for breaking of rules each season!
The difference in performance between top and bottom sides in a league or division can be massive, and when this is the case then a lower performing team might not even turn up for a match, resulting in a forfeit.
With a forfeited match, a score of even 10-0 can be awarded against the loser, which has a big impact on goal difference.
Transfers – players change teams with great regularity, and the move of just one good player can make a massive difference to team’s performance

It really is a frontiersman’s game!

Many serious pools punters accept that ‘playing to form’ is much more apparent in Australian football because of the much wider range of standards within a given league, but there are other interesting aspects too.  Read more... (576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

June 22nd, 2010 by admin
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Australian Football Players Signs With Agency

Australian Football Players (AFP) is pleased to announce the signing of a Consulting Agreement with sports management company Hartwell Intergrated Business International (HiBi). This agreement will expose players represented by the HiBi company to Australian and asian clubs and expose AFP players to clubs in Europe and the MLS (USA). This new partnership places AFP in a position to continue building lasting business relationships and exchange important information with HiBi. HARTWELL Integrated Business International (HiBi) Sports Division operates a world wide agency with a network of global contacts supported by first-rate professionals. HiBi benefits from the use of satellite offices to service is clients worldwide. HiBi is grounded in principle and integrity with a vision to make a difference. We have been serving the Sports World since 2000.


 

The Goal of HiBi is to manage, assist, and advise athletes, football (soccer) players, coaches and to provided clubs with personalized services to help them reach the next level of success.

 


At HiBi Sports Division, our goal is to provide you with courteous and expedient professional service with a high caliber. Whether you need a club, an athlete, a spoke person or marketing program HiBi have what you need.Browsing our Web site can help you learn more about Hartwell Integrated Business International Sports Division. Do read our Informative section “Ask the Agent” for more exciting information. 

MIchael HARTWELLEntrepreneur and Founder of HiBi ,FIFA Player Agent. 

 Read more... (608 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

June 10th, 2010 by admin
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