Kick-in

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Essendon's Dustin Fletcher stands in the goal square, preparing to kick in during a match against Fremantle. Dustin Fletcher kick-in 23.08.09.jpg
Essendon's Dustin Fletcher stands in the goal square, preparing to kick in during a match against Fremantle.

In the sport of Australian rules football, a kick-in (sometimes known as a kick-out, and known for much of the game's history as a kick-off) is the common name for the procedure to restart the game after a behind. It involves a defender from the team who did not score kicking the ball back into play from the defensive goal square.

Contents

Rules

The process of the kick-in is described under Law 16 of the 2019 laws of Australian rules football, Procedure after a behind has been scored. [1]

After the goal umpire has signalled a behind (but not necessarily after communicating it to the other goal umpire with the waving of one flag), any player from the team which did not score takes possession of the ball in the defensive goal square. No defending players are allowed within the protected zone, which extends fifteen metres beyond the top of the goal square (the kick-off line) and 6.4m to either side, which is the width between the behind posts). The man on the mark stands no closer than ten metres from the kick-off line.

The player taking the kick-in may either kick from within the goal square; or, may exit the goal square, at which point the umpire will call play on. The umpire may also call play on if the player does not take a kick or play on within a reasonable time. Once play on has been called, the normal rules of general play apply, and opposing players are allowed within the protected zone to put pressure on the player kicking in. The player kicking in may not handpass from the goal square until play on has been called.

In accordance with Law 10.5.2, the time clock does not run until the player kicking in has brought the ball back into play – either by kicking or being called to play on.

History

The kick-in (or kick-off, as it was originally known) has been part of the laws of the game since the very beginning, covered in Law 5 of the Melbourne Football Club's original May 1859 rules. Resembling the process for restarting play in many English school football codes, the original law stated:

5. In case the ball is kicked "behind" Goal, any one of the side behind whose Goal it is kicked may bring it 20 yards in front of any portion of the space between the "kick off" posts, and shall kick it as nearly as possible in line with the opposite Goal.

The rules governing kick-ins have changed several times through the game's history:

Tactics

Until the 1970s, conventional wisdom was to have one of the team's longest kickers kick the ball into play as far as possible so that, in the event of a turnover, the opposition would need at least two kicks to score a goal. Drop kicks, even after they otherwise had disappeared from field play, were often used for kick-ins well into the 1970s, as they were longer than any other type of kick except for the hard-to-control torpedo punt. [12]

The 1970s saw players defending the kick-in frequently punch the long kick back towards their crumbing forwards who would be close enough to score; and this began to change tactics, as teams began to favour making a safe, accurate short pass to a team-mate from the kick-in, followed by a long kick to put extra distance between the ball and the goal. The huddle became a well-known tactic: several players would gather 40-50m from goal, then break on leads in all directions – making it difficult for the defending team to cover all players and usually giving the full back at least one safe kick-in option. [12]

Through the 2000s, the development of defensive zone tactics designed to prevent opponents from freely rebounding the football made kick-ins increasingly difficult to execute well. Several rule changes made during the 2000s were designed to speed up kick-ins, giving teams less time to set up tight defense and giving the kicking player more space.

Terminology

Although the most common names are kick-in and kick-out, these terms are not used in the laws of the game. Since 2019, the procedure has officially been known as bringing the football back into play; [1] and, up to 2018, as kicking the football back into play. [13]

The procedure was originally called a kick-off, but this term is now disused; a remnant of it still exists in the laws, in that the top of the goal square (9m from the goal line) is still called the kick-off line.

Other common terms associated with the kick-in are:

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Laws of Australian Football" (PDF). Melbourne, VIC: Australian Football League. 2019.
  2. Goal Post (2 May 1883). "Football Notes". The Sportsman. Melbourne, VIC. p. 2.
  3. "Football – the Australasian Laws of Football". The Sportsman. Melbourne, VIC. 10 November 1886. p. 6.
  4. "Sporting Notes". The Bendigo Advertiser. Bendigo, VIC. 14 June 1892. p. 3.
  5. "Football". The Sportsman. Melbourne, VIC. 25 July 1898. p. 4.
  6. "Victorian Football League – a Football Squabble". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 16 April 1907. p. 16.
  7. "Football - New rules in force". The Morwell Advertiser. Morwell, VIC. 4 May 1939. p. 6.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Rule changes 1858-2019". Australian Football League. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  9. Daryl Timms (16 March 1988). "'Go' on footy rules". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 84.
  10. Ryan, Peter (11 October 2018). "Kick-in rules to change as 18-metre goal square idea discarded". The Age . Fairfax Media . Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  11. "Game adjustments for the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season". Australian Football League. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  12. 1 2 "The kick that got the boot". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 20 July 2003. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  13. "Laws of Australian Football 2018" (PDF). Australian Football League. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  14. "Toyota Fixture Throwback: Roughy's sixth from seven-point play". Australian Football League. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  15. "Neade's seven-point play". Australian Football League. Retrieved 13 April 2025.