Brad King and his team at Australia-casino are well known for their Australian Football League (AFL) betting tips. The team is made up of passionate sports fanatics who enjoy sharing their knowledge with others.
They post weekly articles about the latest news and upcoming events in Australia and they also offer a free newsletter to subscribers which includes regular updates about new games, bonuses, events and more. In this article, we asked them to share their best tips about Aussie rules football to our sports betting readers.
What are Aussie Rules?
Aussie Rules is one of the most popular sports in Australia, and has been played since 1859. The games at the highest level are among the most attended sporting fixtures on the calendar, and are often played in modified cricket stadiums. Each team is made up of 18 players, with the goal being to score more than the opposite sides. Kicking the ball through the middle goals is worth six points, while a kick through the outer posts is worth one point.
The AFL is the highest league in the game, and has been around since its formation in 1986. There are 23 rounds of fixtures during the regular season, before the top eight in each division qualify for the series finals. The most important game of the season is the AFL Grand Final, which is typically played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Grand Final winners are named as the ‘premiers’.
Betting On Aussie Rules
As Aussie Rules is one of the most popular sports in Australia, it has become an exceptionally popular sports betting option for fans across the world. The growing popularity of the sport in the US has also seen a growing number of bets being placed on Aussie Rules football.
Long-term and specific game bets can both be made on the sport. Longer-term betting options include the option to wager on the outright winner of the Grand Final before the season gets underway. However, single-game betting is the most popular, as bets can be placed on the Match Result, Over/Under markets and handicap markets. The match result market is the most popular, as wagers simply have to be placed on the team that will win the game.
Aussie Rules vs Rugby
One of the big questions that often comes up when newcomers want to learn more about Aussie Rules is: how does it compare to, globally successful, rugby. Rugby league has become extremely popular in North America over the past couple of years, which means fans of the sport could seamlessly get into Aussie Rules.
However, there are different rules that newcomers to the sport should be aware of. For example, in Aussie Rules, players aren’t able to throw the ball and instead can only pass to teammates with a kick or hand pass. There are two main types of scores in Aussie Rules. The first of those is kicking through the outer posts; this is called a behind and is worth one point.
Meanwhile, the other way to score is through the inside goal posts, and that is worth six points. Unlike rugby, an Aussie Rules team is made up of 18 players with three substitutes, while the game is played in four quarters of 20 minutes.
Popularity of Aussie Rules In USA
The popularity of Aussie Rules in the United States is steadily rising, with over 50 clubs now playing the game in the US. At present, there are over 2,000 players in total registered as playing the sport, and the governing body in charge of the sport is the USAFL. It has grown massively in popularity since the late 90s, with the AFL going to great lengths through YouTube videos to help the sport become more accessible and easier to understand for an American audience. The record attendance for a game of Aussie Rules in the United States was set in 1990, as 14,787 fans attended a fixture between West Coast and Melbourne at Civic Stadium in Portland.
Both the men’s and women’s American national sides are showing signs that the popularity of the sport is improving, as both have enjoyed standout results on the international stage. The men’s side won the bronze medal at the 2005 Australian Football International Cup, while the women’s side achieved the same feat in the 2011 event. The youth sides are also becoming more popular across the US, with the game modified to non-contact variations of Footy 7s. Further success could be seen by the popularity of matches following the broadcasting of games on ESPN since 2020.