50-metre penalty

When the umpire pays a 50-metre penalty, he calls time-off, measures out approximately fifty metres from the spot of the mark by running in a straight line towards the goals, and setting the new mark, unless:

• the player is already within 50 metres of goal, in which case the mark becomes the exact centre of the goal line.
• in the Australian Football League's (AFL's) preseason competition, where a goal kicked from beyond 50m scores nine points instead of six, a team may choose to cut short a fifty-metre penalty at the fifty-metre line and take the higher-value, longer-range set shot.[1]

Players are given a short period of time to follow the play down the field before the clock is restarted. The player cannot play on while the umpire is measuring out the 50-metre penalty, and must wait for the field umpire to blow time-on.[2]

Infractions which can result in a 50-metre penalty include:

• Arguing with, disputing the decision of, or using abusive language towards an umpire.
• Scragging the player who has taken a mark; that is, to tackle the player or impede him from taking the kick as quickly as he would like. This rule has been applied more stringently since 2006 to give defensive players less time to flood the defence, and to keep the game more flowing.
• Failing to return the ball quickly and on the full to a player who has been awarded a free kick.
• Wasting time, deliberately or inadvertently, by kicking the ball forward after one's team has conceded a free kick.
• Using unnecessary roughness against a player who has already taken a mark.
• Running over the mark; the man standing on the mark cannot move forward, and must respond if called to recede by the umpire.
• Running through the mark; other defensive players who are not standing on the mark may not run across the imaginary line between the man standing the mark and the man taking the kick, unless following his direct opponent.
• Entering the protected zone; defensive players may not impede an opponent by entering or remaining within the corridor of space extending ten metres either side of the imaginary line between the man standing the mark and the man taking the kick, and extending backwards, unless following his direct opponent.
• If any free kick is paid against the defensive team while a mark or free kick is to be taken, the umpire either pays the free kick to the violated player at the spot of the foul, or awards a 50-metre penalty to the player with the ball, depending upon which penalty brings the attacking team closer to goal.
• Any free kick resulting from an interchange infringement or a line-up has an additional 50-metre penalty applied to it; these are the only circumstances under which a 50-metre penalty is automatically applied to a free kick without further infringement.

The fifteen-yard penalty was first introduced at senior level by the Victorian Football Association in 1939, as one of the rules included in its rival code of Australian rules football. The rule was introduced to give the umpire a means of penalising a player who cribbed over the mark or wasted time on the mark;[3] under standard rules at the time, such infractions could only be policed by reports.[4] The Australian National Football Council introduced the rule into the national rules during 1954 (leagues began using it in 1955), which was applied to both time-wasting and to crude, late challenges on the player with the mark.[5][6] The length was increased to 50 metres in 1988 when it was determined that the fifteen metre penalty had become insufficient to deter time-wasting and scragging.[7]

For the 2022 AFL season, as part of the AFL's crackdown on umpire abuse, umpires have been empowered to penalise players who talk back to them or remonstrate physically, for example by raising their arms. Due to the increased frequency of the 50m penalty for relatively minor infractions, questions over just how punitive the rule is have led to discussions over whether a 25m penalty should be introduced. Legendary ex-Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy and AFL icon Leigh Matthews backed the implementation of a new 25m penalty, based on how frequently the penalty is now applied for minor offenses.[8]

Fifty metres is the average length of a long kick. As 50-metre penalties are awarded only to players who have already taken a mark or been awarded a free kick, the penalty is the equivalent of having made a long pass downfield (with the playing area being over 150m long). This interpretation allows the fifty metre length to be adjusted to appropriate values for lower age groups.

With the exception of interchange infringements, a player must already have a free kick or a mark to receive a 50-metre penalty. Often, crowds will call for "fifty!" when they see a player hurt behind play or in a marking contest. However, many fans are unaware that unless the mark is taken, fifty metres can never be awarded. There was an exception to this rule made in 2000, when a 50-metre penalty would automatically be awarded against any player who was reported for a non-wrestling offence; so unpopular was the change that it was repealed after seventeen rounds.

Some observers of AFL Women's football regard the 50-metre penalty as too harsh for the women's game, since it amounts to almost two average length kicks, and since goals from 50-metre penalties have a greater impact on the result of a women's game due to its much lower scores than the men's game.[9] In the 2020 AFLW season up to round four, 5.6% of the league's goals kicked came from 50-metre penalties, compared with only 2.7% per cent of goals in the 2019 AFL men's season.[10]

• Laws of Australian rules football
• Penalty (rugby union): a similar rule exists in rugby union, where the mark is moved forward 10 metres if the defending team do not retreat sufficiently far after a tapped penalty or free kick, or if dissent is shown to the referee.