If AFL is so exciting why do they change rules yearly and soccer rules have never change.?
608977
They changed the rules this year deliberately to force more attacking play, and counter the flooded defense the swans used so effectively to win the flag last year, often with low scoring games.\nAs for Association Football never changing the rules, quite apart from transfer rules changing regularly, what about getting rid of the golden goal rule last year. Or the introduction of the golden goal rule in the first place about seven years ago. Goalkeepers were banned from picking up throw-ins, then there would be the banning of backpassing to the goalkeeper in about 1992, changing the offside rule from two defenders to one and the goalkeeper, changing a player from being offside, to only being offside if he was interfering with the passage of play, introducing the offside rule in the first place. The introduction of substitutions, changes to the number of substitutions, rules about goal celebrations being too excessive etc.... It actually happens quite regularly, as you can see, and happens in most sports.
493926
Well seeing as this is the Australian Football thread, and not (soccer) Football, I will assume your question relates to the AFL International Cup, which was held in Melbourne in August last year. It was a great tournament with teams from Canada, the UK, USA, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Samoa, New Guinea, New Zealand, Spain, Denmark and Nauru. It was a tough tournment, with New Zealand being crowned world champs over New Guinea in a bruising Grand Final.\nMore Info:\nhttp://afl.com.au/?pg=intcup
322461
It would change the entire nature of the game and, being a traditionalist, it would ruin it.  All FIFA needs to do is make the officials ACTUALLY call the rules as they are written.  This would keep the thugs (defenders) from mugging their opponents, creating the offensive space needed to make the game fun.  Just go back and watch the matches in the last world cup that were called by the tall, bald Italian official...great, fun, exciting matches because he called them as they should be!!!!!!
579012
Rugby is played on a rectangular field and points are awarded for tries (when the ball is touched on the ground past the try line), conversions and field goals (when the ball is kicked through the goal posts above a horizontal bar). The ball can only be passed backwards.\n\nAustralian Rules is played on an oval field, there is no restriction on the direction of foot or hand passes and points are awarded for goals kicked through the two larger sticks or behinds kicked just missing the goals but within a smaller stick (two of which sit laterally to the goal posts). In Australian Rules a player must make an effort to dispose of the ball when tackled, which they need not do in rugby.\n\nIn Australia, rubgy is the main sport of New South Wales and Queensland, whilst Australian rules is the main sport of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.\n\nAnd for the record, the NFL has NO right to be referred to as football. I suggest cocky Americans take a good look at what's about to happen in Germany (at least support YOUR team!!!).
610407
I hate to tell you this but Football was invented long before your game "grid iron". "Soccer" was used because your game hijacked our name. The idea suppose to be that you use your "FOOT" primarily and not your hands and arms for the game hence the name "football". Frankly your ignorance and your american ego disgusts me. If grid iron is the best game in the world, why hasn't it over-taken football as "the" world game, the most loved and watched game in the world?\n\nIf you want to compare "your" game...compare it to Rugby or even Aussie Rules then you'll come to realise which game is really pissy-weak.
987163
Soccer has been has been my favorite for years. The rest of the games are aight but they just don't compare to soccer, and it doesn't acquire all the different components you need to play the "beautiful game." Period.
680133
The Premiership is the best and most entertaining league in the world. It may not always have as much skill involved as the Spainish league but who wants to watch a bunch of fairies dancing about anyway. The English Premiership is fast and aggressive, alot of top players can't adapt to it because of this. It makes games much more exciting.
1036722
They don't use those kindof systems any more, golden goals and silvergoals are like old school, they usually stick to the normal one.u know like 30 minutes of extra time for both teams\nand ofcourse the deadly penalties, for the second one players can play for as long as they want, but 35-38 is the age limit in my opinion.
1051611
Some football factions have an interest in allowing the results of matches to be influenced.\n\nWho's to say some games aren't bought?\n\nWe certainly know that Italian teams in the Sere A can't be trusted 100%.\n\nUntil Fifa actually THINK about what these "footballers" and their antics (diving, checking, looking for free kicks) are doing for the greater good of the game, we'll all just have to accept that teams who exploit the referee the best will ALWAYS win...\n\nAustralia went out there and played fairly, like MEN, and were robbed by a soft decision. If Italy had of earned that match all would be well, but seeing as they could only "win" by fowl means they have lost my respect permanently.
406679
Of course the other first division leagues are better.  Those teams have been around for a hundred years.  The MLS is only 10 years old.  Give it time before you start trying to compare it to the EPL.  It may not be as pretty as the games from other countries, but it is still soccer and still great to watch.  It is also helping move the game along and make the US a more competitive national team. No complaints about it here.
912648
I think the answer to your question was answered allready last year when revenues were up all around the league.  Fan support is in my opinion as high as ever.  The game is faster and more open to goals now that the salary cap has been issued.   The leauge is better off now then it was 3 years ago.
66868
I'd assume because it's not as action packed as basketball or football, and not an American sport like baseball.  Hockey follows the same path as Soccer simply because they tend to be the only sports that can end with a score of 1 to 0.  Boring, simply put.
600130
well most americans have not yet been exposed to the spirit of soccer.\nLuckily though americans have started to make a move in the right direction. I hear of new MLS teams arrising each season and also more MLS stadium being revamped. \nSo hopefully in a decade or two soccer will be more of a adrenaline rush here too.
498785
Because football mirrors the American psyche better than any of the other major sports. Americans find "soccer" boring because there simply isn't enough scoring. Baseball, which used to be America's game is much too analytical and the action is too intermittent. Basketball has become more of a "black" sport for middle America. Hockey is too much of a "Northern" sport.\n\nWhich leaves football which is popular in every region of the country.Actually, football is different than it was 100 years ago, which illustrates one of the reasons football is popular- the rules can be changed slightly or even in bigger ways to make it more exciting. In baseball, you can't change the rules without purists crying foul. In football, they change the rules in subtle ways almost every year to make it more exciting.
997948
Would you rather have a game filled with talent, but where every player was looking for the chance to hurt a rival player? It would then become a twisted version of American football. The fact that soccer is a respectful game (for the most part), is a big part of what makes it so beautiful. All these yellow and red cards are only encouraging fair play.
243803
American and Canadian football are basically the same game if you are referring to what the rest of the world refers to as gridiron. America, Canada and Australia all play what most the the world call football - this is called soccer in these countries. Australian football is different again. In fact there are another 3 football codes in Australia, Australian Rules Football (or 'AFL'), which is an entirely indigenous game, Rugby League, which is predominantly played in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and Rubgy Union, which is played by many countries around the world and includes competitions such as the Super 14 competition and the 6 nations tournament as welll as a world cup every 4 years.
642610
People like soccer because it is exciting. Goals do add to the excitement but the class, the skill and team work of the players is what makes soccer so attractive. You can have a game with lots of goals but the quality of the play is poor and that is not interesting. \n   90 mins is just right and is not the cause of crowd frustration. Crowds do not like to see their team lose so they riot, or they may disagree with the refs decision and in one case 2 countries in Central America went to war over a soccer game because of national pride.