World Footy News

Every year the AFL clubs seem to find themselves hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, but clubs outside of Australia are by no means immune to controversy either.

Controversy reigned in round 7 of the Golden Gate AFL two weeks ago. The San Jose Hornets were locked in a tight battle with the Oakland Pirates, in a match that would likely have a large bearing on who takes top spot. During the third quarter the Pirates captain called for a head count after suspecting the Hornets had too many players on the field. Many a legend in Australian Rules football speaks of players jumping into the crowd to hide from an unfavorable player count, but obviously the Hornets players were too slow to react or perhaps too fair to do so. They were found to be a player too many but the problems did not end there.

Although the rules are fairly clear on this issue, it is no doubt something that many new leagues around the world have not had to deal with. World Footy News understands that the issue was not handled immediately, but ultimately the correct decision was made - San Jose were stripped of their score for the quarter thus far - 3 goals 3 behinds, leaving them 14 point losers for the day.

An unfortunate set of events, but something not uncommon in amateur football (or at higher levels for that matter) with the numerous interchanges and sometimes confused players after coaching changes at quarter breaks. Hopefully the GGAFL and it's teams will learn from the mistake and move on. And a little bit of controversy can make things interesting (but tell that to the San Jose side).