Handball (Australian rules football)

Handball or handpass is a skill in the sport of Australian rules football. It is the primary means of disposing of the football by hand, and is executed by holding the ball with one hand and punching it with the other.

Handball is a method of disposing of possession of the football by hand. It is the most frequently used alternative to kicking the ball. In order to be a legal method to dispose of the ball, the player holds the ball with one hand and punches the ball away with the clenched fist of the other hand. A player typically punches with his dominant hand; i.e. a holding the ball with the left hand and punching with the right hand is considered a right-handed handball.

When a player receives a handpass from another player, play continues – unlike the kick where if a player catches the ball on the full from a kick (a mark), he is entitled to take his next kick unimpeded. Failure to execute a handball correctly is deemed a throw or illegal disposal and results in a free kick to the nearest opposition player. Moving the hand that holds the ball excessively in the direction of the handpass, using an open hand instead of a clenched fist to tap the ball away, throwing the ball off the carrying hand before punching it away, or handing the ball directly to a team-mate will all attract a free kick for illegal disposal.

The rule defines it similarly to the open hand tap/handpass in Gaelic football, but differentiates the hand skills from codes of football derived from rugby football. Unlike gaelic football, punching the oval ball was more frequently used as it was the most effective technique to move the heavier ball larger distances.

Although the rules allowed for the handball, for most Australian rules leagues handball was largely a secondary skill to the kick (i.e. only used as a last resort). Strategically Australian football was viewed as a territorial sport - where the prime aim was not so much possession, but to cover as much distance through the air as possible. As the holding hand could not move, this was best achieved by means of kicking the ball as far as possible.

The principally-used handpass was top-spin in nature. This was used with the belief that the ball could be contained more locally and executed more quickly off the hands when the ball was held in preparation for kicking, as smaller handpasses were originally used mainly when in trouble. The other thought was that, as in tennis, a top-spun ball was more easily directed, dipped faster and possessed more stability in the air.

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