This is the first of eight fact sheets that will tell you the ins and outs of the Tribunal, the Appeal Board and even the Supreme Court. To spice it up a little we've also included our own cybergame that illustrates the information at various points. If you just want the facts - read the fact sheets, if you want the whole story don't forget to click on our cybergame (it first appears in the next fact sheet "Getting Reported"). Why do we have rules? Yes, we hate the rules – but we also love it when our full-forward gets a charity free kick ten metres from goal. Of course, it's little different than the law and order debates that take place in the general community – some of us want more laws, just as many want less, but we’re mostly ready to take advantage of them when it suits us. Who makes the rules? Good question! After all, we know how Parliaments make laws – don’t we? – tick, tick, tick….yes, they get their power from the Constitution. But who gives the Australian Football League the power to make the laws of the game?Who controls the AFL? The Australian Football League is a company and operates according to the Corporations Law, which tells it what it is allowed to do. It has a Memorandum and Articles of Association: that’s a fancy name for the rules of a company, and they set out the way the AFL intends to run the game of football, including the activities of the Commission, the body appointed by the League's Articles of Association to manage the game. To carry out these aims, the AFL is permitted to make laws for playing the game. One of the clauses of the Memorandum of Association allows the AFL to: "…inflict fines or penalties by way of suspension, expulsion or otherwise for any breach of the Rules of the League". The player's contract Players also sign a "Standard Player’s Contract" – why? Because otherwise they don’t play! The details are mostly the same for all players, apart from the "conditions" (for example, the salary). This contract is made between the player, his football club and the Australian Football League. By signing the contract the player agrees to stick to the rules made by the Australian Football League. What about the Tribunal? Let’s recap: the Australian Football League makes the rules, and the player and his club agree to do what the rules say. One of those rules deals with the power of the Tribunal and the Appeal Board, so the player has agreed, as part of his contract, to be under the authority of the AFL Tribunal. But what about the interpretation of the rules? The spirit of the laws Now’s the time to look at the "spirit of the laws". You’ve probably heard that expression before, as in: "we don’t want the game to be over-umpired; it’s the spirit of the laws that’s important." Or: "why don’t umpires let the game flow and follow the spirit, not the letter, of the rules?". It’s certainly true that umpires are encouraged to invoke the "spirit of the laws", but what does it mean in practice? What it means is that the laws of football are open to interpretation. What about certainty? Flexibility is fine, but shouldn’t there be some certainty in the interpretation of the rules? Otherwise, how do players and coaches know what to expect once they hit the field? In truth, umpires are meant to do what judges do: they apply the law as it is written, but they interpret it according to the spirit of the law, so we are not stuck with ridiculous interpretations. The spirit of the law should be seen as the umpire’s guide to interpreting the rules – it means that umpires are allowed to use their judgement in situations where a strict interpretation of a rule would be inappropriate.
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