Shepherding (Australian rules football)
Using their body as an obstruction, Australian rules footballers can influence the movement of opponents, most often to prevent them from gaining possession or reaching the contest.
[1] A number of high profile incidents in the professional Australian Football League which have caused controversy and have resulted in the rules regarding shepherding to be more strictly applied.
[5] Like American Football offensive line players many Australian rules football teams feature specialist blocking roles known as taggers whose primary role is tagging, that is to run with, shepherd, close check, and intimidate attacking midfielders from gaining possession and thus significantly impact the outcome of a game.
Though generally, a charge will tend occur outside five metres and other criteria are taken into account, such as: severity of contact, intent or recklessness, and injury caused.
Playing the game therefore requires considerable courage, as little padding is worn by players to protect their bodies from high impact collisions.
[citation needed] Bumping is often described as happening behind the play, meaning that unless it occurs during a contest for the ball, it is not always the focus of television cameras or spectators.
Use of the hands in the back to hold ground is illegal in the AFL but is legal under the Laws of Australian Football and is not penalised in other leagues.
Although a bump can be a harder physical hit; however, it is less likely to be effective in dispossessing a player of the ball and more likely to concede a free kick than a tackle.
[citation needed] The game's highest governing body, the AFL, set a precedent in 2005 when it charged Byron Pickett with rough play for bumping James Begley with his head over the ball during the pre-season NAB Cup—even though both players were involved in the contest.
In response, the league progressively introduced a range of new interpretations giving it the power to penalise players for similar actions.
Many players had learned the game and grown up knowing how to protect themselves and with the instinct to bump in these situations and the rule changes drew criticisms for these reasons.
[citation needed] In 2006, Justin Koschitzke was rendered unconscious by Daniel Giansiracusa with a legal hip and shoulder after both players accidentally clashed heads.
This condition would have ruled out a career in any professional contact sport had it been diagnosed earlier, and added to the sense of relief that the injury was not considerably more serious.
It continues to be accused of inconsistency and a lack of clarity in the interpretation of such rules, particularly after a bump incident involving Collingwood's Alan Didak's elbow.
In defence, the AFL has released reports by medical experts claiming that serious head and neck injuries could be caused by this type of bumping, especially at high speeds[citation needed].
Despite these claims, the only case of quadriplegia in the history of Aussie Rules was suffered by Footscray's Neil Sachse in the 1970s, and which was both accidental and not related to a bump.
During a match between Geelong and West Coast at Kardinia Park, Gary Ablett, Jr. executed an old fashioned front-on bump or shirtfront on David Wirrpanda as both players ran at full speed from opposite directions.
The AFL match review panel ruled the severe impact of the collision as rough play and charged Ablett.
Viney arrived slightly later and as Lynch gained possession and was tackled by Alex Georgiou turning his body to protect himself from impact.
[17] Other than the accidental head clash, the bump appeared to be well executed, and inconsistency in the tribunal ruling had many commentators once again calling for it to be banned to eliminate the grey area around it.
