The Weird Attempt to Combine American & Australian Football

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  • Опубліковано 4 лют 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 109

  • @dylanhahami
    @dylanhahami 14 днів тому +47

    I would pay good money to watch a modernized Austus game between an NFL all-star team and an AFL all-star team

    • @Gallalad1
      @Gallalad1 13 днів тому +7

      AFL does this every four years with the GAA. Its called the international rules series

    • @maxscameraguy
      @maxscameraguy 13 днів тому +3

      ​@@Gallalad1 it's so much fun to watch and unique to watch.

    • @brianbarry5673
      @brianbarry5673 13 днів тому +4

      Snowballs chance. The NFL can't even get their million-dollar babies to play an all-star game.

    • @BallparkHunter
      @BallparkHunter 13 днів тому +1

      @@Gallalad1 I have watched this game as well. It is a great combo of the two codes.

    • @shmick6079
      @shmick6079 12 днів тому +2

      @@Gallalad1not for a while. I think it’s been shelved.

  • @Waywind420
    @Waywind420 8 днів тому +5

    I think objectively AFL is one of the smartest designs for a sport.
    It emphasizes a high degree of fitness, mixed with a moderate level of kicking, sprinting, side stepping and tackling.
    The tackles are tough but rarely do they break a man.
    There is no position requiring players be obese to play, all the players are muscular but lean.
    The high marks are spectacular feats to watch and the variation of kicks players use is quite artistic.
    The game is almost always flowing with activity so you never get too bored.
    With that being said, American Football seems more idyllic, with more intriguing tactics and athleticism.

    • @4whomittolz846
      @4whomittolz846 5 днів тому +1

      excellent point about American Football being "Idyllic", with the whole game being done from a set play it makes the game so much more about perfecting the minutia of the strategy and execution.

  • @Big_MikeyPipes
    @Big_MikeyPipes 14 днів тому +4

    Brother, stumbled across this channel through my consumption of too much Rugby content and it just tells me the algorithm knows me better than my own mother. Love these niche deep dives man.

  • @andrewhazlewood4569
    @andrewhazlewood4569 11 днів тому +10

    A handball in Aussie rules is nothing like that demonstration.

    • @BenDRobinson
      @BenDRobinson 11 днів тому +1

      Yeah if you're sitting behind a desk you need to make some room to show the proper underhand action.

    • @iankearns774
      @iankearns774 10 днів тому

      Completely hit it wrong, he was trying to do a Volley ball serve.

    • @aarontume
      @aarontume 8 днів тому +1

      He was doing the hit pass from VFA in the 40s, not a handball

    • @iankearns774
      @iankearns774 8 днів тому +2

      @@aarontume Was called a flick pass and it was open handed and not with the fist.

    • @aarontume
      @aarontume 8 днів тому +3

      @iankearns774 in that case his demonstration was atrocious

  • @toastnjam7384
    @toastnjam7384 13 днів тому +9

    Way, way back in the mid 1960's me and my Jr High schoolmates came up with a football game. It was American football with a bit of soccer. The basic rules were everyone was eligible to catch, throw, kick both forward and backwards. So, everyone was trying to get open or defend. No blocking and no stoppage on a dropped ball which could be picked up by anyone or kicked like soccer. You lose possession on a tackle with the other team taking the ball out of bounds for a throw in also like soccer but can only be throw back towards your own end zone. Since you lose possession on a tackle, you were always trying to keep the ball ln play, so it was constant action and needless to say was a blast.
    We came up with this game because everyone wanted to be the QB or receiver and now everyone can throw and catch.

    • @CHARLES-p3o
      @CHARLES-p3o 12 днів тому

      That sounds fun. I would have played it.

    • @michaelbirch5270
      @michaelbirch5270 11 днів тому +1

      you should have patented/trademarked it and shopped it around. That game sounds like so much fun.

    • @brianandrea3249
      @brianandrea3249 11 днів тому +1

      Te fundamentals you outlined sound a lot like Australian Rules but with a round ball???

    • @toastnjam7384
      @toastnjam7384 11 днів тому

      @@brianandrea3249
      Could be but we never heard of ARF at the time. We used an American football.

    • @toastnjam7384
      @toastnjam7384 11 днів тому

      @
      Never thought of it and I forgotten all about it until I saw this video.
      It was a lot of fun.

  • @NapTownKid410
    @NapTownKid410 14 днів тому +11

    Well International Rules is a thing. Maybe you'll be the first step in the Austus revival. We have Aussie Rules players here who may be open to giving it a try

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  14 днів тому

      It sounds kind of fun to play. You could definitely see this being something college kids would try.

    • @shmick6079
      @shmick6079 12 днів тому

      Except the Irish don’t like playing it because they’re amateurs and don’t like the contact/physicality.

  • @dragonoftheeast695
    @dragonoftheeast695 12 днів тому

    Dude you are an absolute legend ❕❕❕
    You told me a year ago you’d do an AFL episode
    And you delivered❕❕
    Thanks mate 👍👍👍
    Completely enjoyed this
    And taught me something I didn’t know..
    Thank you Thank you Thank you

  • @NoName-ds5uq
    @NoName-ds5uq 11 днів тому

    I’d never heard of this until now, and I live in an AFL heartland state! There is International Rules Football which has been played between Australia and Ireland, a cross between Gaelic football and Aussie rules though.

  • @maxscameraguy
    @maxscameraguy 13 днів тому +3

    There have been a few AFL exhibition games in the US, the 1989 game at Joe Robbie stadium comes to mind immediately.

    • @goodmaro
      @goodmaro 12 днів тому +1

      That's nothing when you consider there are (or at least have been) actual Australian football clubs in the USA. A lot of them, however, are just an "extra" among people who otherwise play Gaelic football. Gaelic football doesn't get promoted outside their ethnic circle.

    • @maxscameraguy
      @maxscameraguy 12 днів тому

      @goodmaro Im well aware. I have 2 jerseys for the BWI eagles/DC eagles.

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  12 днів тому +1

      This video was a byproduct of me trying to find information on the AFL game played at Portland's Civic Stadium in 1989/90.

  • @mikeythehat6693
    @mikeythehat6693 11 днів тому

    Just so you know, in relatively recent times the AFL (Australian Football League) organized a series of combined rules games between Australia and Ireland (Gaelic Football). It was more popular than you'd think and very violent. They played a best of 3 series and it continued for several years (I'm not gonna look it up but, maybe, ten years).

  • @philosophyfraillon9362
    @philosophyfraillon9362 13 днів тому +3

    Great video! Although, when you demonstrated a handball you used the wrong part of your fist - you want to hit the end of your fist into the end of the ball so that it spins backwards.

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  12 днів тому +1

      I'm just happy you didn't complain about me passing the ball toward the ground.

  • @michaelbirch5270
    @michaelbirch5270 13 днів тому +2

    a billionaire, tech bro or streaming service out there could become really popular if they came up with the funding to introduce a one-off competition of this, just to test the waters. Ideally with the blessing of both the NFL and AFL (Aussie Rules). I'm not that big a fan of either sport but I would definitely be intrigued enough to check Austus out.

  • @TrestinMeacham80
    @TrestinMeacham80 12 днів тому

    I had an idea a while back for a crazy kind of Aussie rules football. Three teams with three goal areas, played on a smaller circle, with narrower goal posts and less players. The players would be allowed to advance the ball like in Austus, but you still have to kick to score. When you score on anouther team's goal it not only gives you points, but takes half that many points away from that team.

  • @JRPete
    @JRPete 14 днів тому +7

    As a league fan IMO it would be possible to merge these sports
    1- Aussie Rules 🇦🇺 & Gaelic Football 🇮🇪
    2- Rugby Union & Rugby League
    3- NFL & CFL
    4- Cricket & Baseball

    • @BroadwayJoe99
      @BroadwayJoe99 14 днів тому +3

      A hybrid of Australian and Gaelic Football already exists. It's known as International Rules Football, and prior to the pandemic, there had been a series (the International Rules Series) featuring all-star teams from the AFL and GAA playing the hybrid game every two years or so, with the games alternating back and forth between Australia and Ireland. The pandemic cancelled a series scheduled for 2020, the 2022 series was "delayed", and talks between the two organizations began talking in October of last year about scheduling a new series.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rules_football

    • @maxscameraguy
      @maxscameraguy 13 днів тому

      There have been a few NFL vs. CFL exhibition games. they split the rules up between half's. This was back when the goal posts were in front for the NFL.

    • @brianbarry5673
      @brianbarry5673 13 днів тому

      @@BroadwayJoe99 While International Rules have only been played between AFL All Stars and GAA All Stars, there have been a few scrimmages between local USAFL players and US-GFA players i the Boston area going back to the 90s.

    • @brianbarry5673
      @brianbarry5673 13 днів тому +1

      There is a better chance of the NFL and MLB creating a hybrid game, then Rugby Union and Rugby League cooperating.

    • @87glove87
      @87glove87 13 днів тому

      @@BroadwayJoe99 The GAA also have a cross-code game for their other major sport: the Irish hurling team plays against a Scottish shinty team in the composite rules international. Like the International Rules Football, it took a hiatus during COVID, but it's been played again the last couple of years. ua-cam.com/video/fueuSDTsPWI/v-deo.html

  • @sentimentalbloke185
    @sentimentalbloke185 11 днів тому

    A well researched video, chief 👍In 1906, the controlling body of the Australian game, the Australasian Football Council, attempted, via Teddy Roosevelt, to get it introduced in to American colleges at time when Roosevelt wanted to reduce the level of violence in American football.
    IMO, Austus was never really viable as an organized sport, it was more of a 'espirit de corps' thing between servicemen fighting on the same side brought about by curiosity on both sides. It was the unique circumstance created by WW2.

  • @brianbarry5673
    @brianbarry5673 13 днів тому +2

    Great show. Are you going to do a similar show on how American GI brought baseball to Australia. Baseball in Australia didn't suffer from the two problems Austus suffered from. First, the Australian public was introduced to the game during the war so there was a ready-made audience and second the development was fully supported by MLB.
    P.S. You hit a hand pass UPWARD with thumb and index finger of the fist, not downward with the knuckles.

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  12 днів тому

      I believe baseball in Australia dates back to pre-1880s. The Cubs (when they were still called the White Sox) played down under at some point in the 1880s too.

    • @Yoshimitsu420
      @Yoshimitsu420 11 днів тому

      ​@thetouchback well everyone knows what rounders is

    • @sentimentalbloke185
      @sentimentalbloke185 11 днів тому

      @@thetouchback AG Spalding brought a team to Australia as part of his 1889 world tour which was a catalyst for organized competition & resulted in many leading cricketers playing the game; consequently, it became a winter game to accommodate cricketers. The game was first recorded during the 1850s goldrushes, however.

  • @BenDRobinson
    @BenDRobinson 11 днів тому

    Lots of people mentioning the Australian-Gaelic games, of which I was a fan. (It seems not many others were.) It may be a relevant precedent, but there are some huge differences. Firstly, rules: Australian and Gaelic footy are pretty similar to begin with, much more so than either compared to American. Secondly, money: GAA is amateur, and the top players are happy to pull on a guernsey to represent their country, and enjoy the sponsored travel etc. from a relatively cashed up AFL. But the AFL doesn't have the sort of money it would need to tempt to the top NFL players onto the park. Some sort of engagement with college level football in the USA would be a more realistic target.

  • @mikeythehat6693
    @mikeythehat6693 11 днів тому

    Aussie Rules fan here, I never knew about this, thank you, that's hilarious. (gee I wonder why it didn't work) It sort of reminds me of that time that they organized for Muhammed Ali to fight a wrestler with combined rules. (When Ali was under suspension because of the Vietnam War thing) (look it up I'm not even kidding, it was atrocious and a laughable disaster).
    So, yeah, as others have mentioned, if they tried this mash-up today, at least in Australia, I bet people would pay to see it, even if it was just for the morbid curiosity factor. Like slowing down to look at a car accident.

  • @goodmaro
    @goodmaro 12 днів тому

    What does continue to get played, though not that big of a deal, is the game that's a hybrid between Australian and Gaelic football -- games that are so similar to begin with as to justify the belief that Gaelic football was derived from Australian rules.

  • @prowler6435
    @prowler6435 12 днів тому

    Oddly, in the 2000's, Australian football did a similar thing with IRISH football of all things, and combined their sports together. The experiment lasted about a decade and athletes from both countries / leagues played against each other in the combined sport. Maybe they took some inspiration from the 1940's version.

  • @RobertJW
    @RobertJW 13 днів тому

    On Aussies punting: "In Australia, they were just guys not good enough to make AFL rosters."
    Also Ben Graham and Sav Rocca at the NFL level, for the rather unique post-football career of "more football".
    (insert Doofenshmirtz "if I had a nickel for every time an Australian AFL player went on to be a punter for an NFL team, I'd have two nickels" meme here.)

    • @shmick6079
      @shmick6079 12 днів тому +1

      There’s been heaps of Aussies punting in college teams. Eddie McGuire’s son just won a championship with his college team.

  • @guyfaux3978
    @guyfaux3978 14 днів тому

    The trouble with Austus is that you're not going to be able to play it except on a cricket ground, unless you want somehow to redesign it for a rectangular field. If the former, you could play it at Central Broward Stadium or at Grand Prairie Stadium, during the Northern Hemisphere winter (AFL off-season). If the latter, well, you could play it some weekend at an MLS park where the local team is on the road. I like the cricket-ground idea, to make it a festival-type deal like Rugby League in Las Vegas, rather than a summer tour like PR7's or PLL.

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  14 днів тому +1

      Beaurepaire actually made a few suggestions in that Austus guide, including fewer players (14 per side) and narrower goalposts. When he organized the Aussie rules games in London, they were played with 12-15 per team due to the shape of the pitch.

  • @benjaminrowley
    @benjaminrowley 14 днів тому

    Kinda wanna see this come to fruition in the modern times but idk
    How players can do it as the season are to perfect for their own good nfl season starts during finals week in afl and afl season starts months after nfl season is done

  • @shmick6079
    @shmick6079 12 днів тому

    Overhand passing would be a lot harder with a Sherrin.
    Kicking is more effective, and travels further.

  • @AussieTVMusic
    @AussieTVMusic 10 днів тому

    Never heard of this.

  • @shaundgb7367
    @shaundgb7367 2 дні тому

    I think it becomes a farce if you trying to play a combined game and using an American throw ball. It like trying to combine tennis and golf and the tennis player has to hit a golf ball over the net. Mind you, I suspect, that is all this was meant to be. Just a bit of silly fun between the two groups of soldiers in Melbourne in the 1940's.
    Gridiron is more like Cricket to me as a sport. Both Cricket and Gridiron are more about tactics and setting up the next play like a chess player where you spend more time preparing for the next play than actual time of the actual next play.
    Australian Rules Football and Gaelic Football are more alike as both sports are mainly about actually kicking a ball and continue to flow on rather than stop start nature of Cricket and Gridiron. But Gridiron itself is nothing like Cricket. Cricket and Baseball are closer as sports. The only sport like Gridiron to me is Rugby. Both ball sports are mainly throwing some oblong shaped ball and tackling and touching the ball on some ground area rather than kicking a ball. Both throw ball sports. Rugby seems to throw the ball backwards and Gridiron throw the ball forwards. If those American soldiers had based themselves in Sydney those two groups may have found a more combined sport for each other that made sense for both of them to play.

  • @leighreganarblaster9852
    @leighreganarblaster9852 12 днів тому +1

    Most those can AFL teams but knew make money in NFL

  • @iplayfhorn
    @iplayfhorn 14 днів тому +6

    I’d like to see an adaptation of Rugby League to the American football field. You could probably play Rugby League as is on a Canadian football field.

    • @BigBadAds9
      @BigBadAds9 13 днів тому

      Australia played an international friendly against the USA at Penn state University football field in 2004. You can probably find the footage here on UA-cam

    • @BigBadAds9
      @BigBadAds9 13 днів тому

      Here is the highlights of that game played on an American football field back in 04 ua-cam.com/video/pBcphuR2NPg/v-deo.htmlsi=v8iQnSbviJElvKhp

  • @patrickjspoon
    @patrickjspoon 14 днів тому

    I would LOVE this in a modern form. Imagine Lamar Jackson out there in a game built for throwing on the run

  • @Rage_Harder_Then_Relax
    @Rage_Harder_Then_Relax 11 днів тому

    I have never ever heard of this event. That's wild !!

  • @Gallalad1
    @Gallalad1 13 днів тому

    I like that America also tried to do their own international rules series lol.

    • @BigBlack81
      @BigBlack81 13 днів тому

      Ironically enough, at the amateur level, American clubs of both AFL and GAA still DO run international rules series. We just had one recently in Charlotte area between the codes.

    • @Gallalad1
      @Gallalad1 13 днів тому +1

      @ I didn’t know they did that! Very cool

    • @BigBlack81
      @BigBlack81 13 днів тому

      @ AFL and GAA in America has a lot of links, many of which I observed when I was in Atlanta playing touch rugby. First time I touched a hurley was when some of the Atlanta GAA folk came out to where we were playing touch one afternoon by chance and we got to chirping at one another.

    • @Gallalad1
      @Gallalad1 13 днів тому +1

      @ I’m not shocked by that. I moved to Canada and joined a rugby team with the express aim of not playing Irish sports again (I was gonna be my own man! Not so what every other Irish lad does)…. I signed up for the local GAA within 6 months 😂

  • @LiamJacenMusic
    @LiamJacenMusic 11 днів тому

    Surprised there was no mention of international football

  • @HMDHEGD
    @HMDHEGD 14 днів тому +1

    They let them throw the ball, rather than kick it, becayse that's what they were good at. So they could play the game.

  • @camerondelamotte159
    @camerondelamotte159 12 днів тому +1

    would never work

  • @sjkebab
    @sjkebab 11 днів тому

    1:38 That is not even close to a handpass.

  • @BallparkHunter
    @BallparkHunter 13 днів тому +1

    I have read about Austus, and it seemed like an interesting idea that would be ideal to demonstrate again in the 21st century. I love mixing up the football codes to create a new sport, and this one could be adapted for today's youth programs. In fact, I would rather watch this than another indoor football league or spring football league in the USA.

    • @AmericansFooty
      @AmericansFooty 13 днів тому

      The biggest problem here would be adapting the game to football fields, since we don't have many cricket ovals. That's why I think AFLX provides a strong template. Have you seen that?

    • @BallparkHunter
      @BallparkHunter 13 днів тому

      @@AmericansFooty Yes, but I had forgotten about it until now. I will have to update myself on the sport again.

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  12 днів тому

      I actually have an idea on how to make this work and might make a follow up video.

    • @BallparkHunter
      @BallparkHunter 12 днів тому

      @@thetouchback Sounds good!

  • @TheLIMREPORT
    @TheLIMREPORT 14 днів тому

    Would love to see rugby league and rugby union merge ala CART/IRL style..

    • @BigBlack81
      @BigBlack81 13 днів тому

      I think the recent 745 game is a good start to this, i.e., unlimited tackles in one's own half and then switching to 6 tackles once you cross the halfway line.

  • @goodmaro
    @goodmaro 12 днів тому

    Actually it's quite credible someone could've been able to throw the ball that far and yet not be a factor in the NFL but play some baseball professionally. There wasn't much money in pro football at that time -- better to take your chance on a baseball career -- and being able to throw a football that far isn't much of a tactical advantage in actual football games. It was hard enough getting completions at the distances the ball was commonly being thrown by contemporaries.

  • @Rob_D74
    @Rob_D74 9 днів тому

    The American football is too small, light and pointed to kick acurately when compared to the Australian Rules Football. Using the American football would have been a big advantage to the Americans.

  • @davecannabis
    @davecannabis 11 днів тому

    well heres a clue in reference is it better to throw the ball or kick it, you thow the ball in HAND ball and you kick it in FOOTball
    geeze you really mangled that handpass , badly

  • @cateplink1633
    @cateplink1633 13 днів тому

    My sister is married to Lindsay White's son.

  • @camerondelamotte159
    @camerondelamotte159 12 днів тому

    aussie rules what rules air ping pong soccer grass snooker boring

    • @Ruzzy821
      @Ruzzy821 12 днів тому +1

      What country are u from Cameron or are you from Queensland

    • @camerondelamotte159
      @camerondelamotte159 11 днів тому

      @Ruzzy821 NSW

    • @sentimentalbloke185
      @sentimentalbloke185 11 днів тому

      @@camerondelamotte159 Much better to follow some game made up by poms, eh.

    • @RyanQuinn0397
      @RyanQuinn0397 9 днів тому

      There are plenty of rules, and they aren't even very complicated. Rugby has heaps of weird rules, like a lot of sports.
      You're just not aware of how the game of Australian football works, but it is very evidently one of the most entertaining sports in the world, gets more fans than NRL and it is an incredibly skilful and intense sport. Try and understand it, you will enjoy watching more sport. We can appreciate all codes of sport, not hate on them because they are not our favourite.
      Even soccer gets its time in the sun when the world cup rolls around, everyone can appreciate a good sporting contest.

  • @shanekopacka2945
    @shanekopacka2945 2 дні тому

    NFL is such a slow sport with all these resets makes game so boring runing around like tampons

  • @michaelkolopelnyk4405
    @michaelkolopelnyk4405 12 днів тому

    Combining AFL and NFL . will only make the AFL a stupid game. Leave NFL to you yank Biden voter's. Mike from Australia 🇦🇺

    • @thetouchback
      @thetouchback  12 днів тому +1

      Dude, you should really watch a video before commenting. Then again, you don't understand how periods or commas work, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised by this astonishing display of denseness.

    • @michaelkolopelnyk4405
      @michaelkolopelnyk4405 12 днів тому

      @thetouchback who cares about punctuation. The facts speak for themselves. Wanker Biden voter.

    • @Ruzzy821
      @Ruzzy821 12 днів тому

      @@thetouchbackwhat a bogan

  • @united9328
    @united9328 8 днів тому

    Australian Football is better than American Football

  • @ismaelfreytes1106
    @ismaelfreytes1106 10 днів тому

    Afl are other hybrid code Universal Football is mix of rugby league and afl