Shepherding (Australian rules football)

Shepherding is a tactic and skill in Australian rules football, a team sport.

Shepherding is the act of legally pushing, bumping or blocking an opposing player from gaining possession of the ball or reaching the contest.

The term originates from the word shepherd, someone who influences the movement of sheep in a paddock. Through shepherding, Australian football players are able to influence the movement of their opponents.

The prevalence of shepherding is distinctive in Australian rules football as it is an illegal form of play in many other codes of football where it is subject to obstruction rules. It is completely banned in soccer. In rugby, it is illegal to tackle or obstruct any player not carrying the ball. Ice hockey allows (body checking) only on a player in possession, as does gaelic football. The concept of shepherding, however, is very similar to blocking in American Football.

Under the Laws of Australian Football, a player can shepherd an opposition player when the ball is within five metres, with the exception of contests where players contest the ball in the air, i.e. marking contests and ruck contests, or when the ball is not in play. In marking and ruck contests, no shepherding is allowed. Players may not make high or low contact during a shepherd, nor hold their opponents; free kicks should result from any of these infractions. Nevertheless, there have been a number of incidents in the professional Australian Football League which have caused controversy and have resulted in the rules regarding shepherding to be more strictly applied behind play.

Glossary of professional wrestling terms

Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature through its long existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnivals and circuses, and the slang itself is often referred to as "carny talk." In the past, wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the worked nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms. Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of pro wrestling in addition to performance-related terms.

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Bumps race

A bumps race is a form of rowing race in which a number of boats chase each other in single file, each crew attempting to catch and "bump" the boat in front without being caught by the boat behind.

The form is mainly used intramurally at the University of Cambridge, since 1827, and at the University of Oxford since 1815. Bumps racing in fours is also the format of intramural rowing at Eton College and at Shrewsbury School. It is particularly suitable where the stretch of water available is long but narrow, precluding side-by-side racing. Bumps racing gives a sharper feel of immediate competition than a head race, where boats are simply timed over a fixed course. Few rowers worldwide use rivers as narrow as the Cam or the Isis, but bumps races are also contested elsewhere (see below).

Racing practice and procedures

Bumps races are typically raced in a series over several days. The starting order of each day's race is based on the previous day's results; the first day's starting order each year is determined by the results on the last day of the previous year. Each day the boats line up bow-to-stern, usually along the bank of the river, with a set distance between each boat and the next (usually about one and a half boat-lengths of clear water). The starting positions are usually marked by a rope or chain attached to the bank, the other end of which is held by each boat's cox. Boats wait along the bank, and may be poled out just in time for the start, to avoid drifting. At the start signal the cox lets go of the rope and the crew starts to row, attempting to catch and bump the boat in front while simultaneously being chased by the one behind.

Bump (TV series)

Bump was a television programme aimed at young children, created by Charles Mills and Terry Brain (also responsible for The Trap Door and Stoppit and Tidyup), produced by Queensgate Productions and originally aired on BBC1. It was a cartoon that featured an elephant named Bump and a bluebird named Birdie. The first series was aired from 14 September to 7 December 1990, and the second from 10 January to 4 April 1994. The two series ran a total of twenty-six episodes, each 5 minutes long. In 1994 there was a Christmas special which was 10 minutes in length. The programme was narrated by Simon Cadell of Hi-de-Hi! fame, who died in 1996. Bump was known to be very clumsy, a trait that was emphasised by a bandage stuck onto his forehead. Birdie would often give Bump advice on how he could become more graceful. Bump and Birdie regularly encountered animals that had a problem (such as Whizzer the mouse, Munch the tortoise, McDuff the dog, Big Bun and Little Bun the rabbits and Batty the bat) and would help them to find a solution. Most of these animals were recurring characters, and all of the characters' Stoppit and Tidyup-esque sounds were made by analog synthesizers.

Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football is understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. Sports commonly called 'football' in certain places include: association football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby football (either rugby league or rugby union); and Gaelic football. These different variations of football are known as football codes.

Various forms of football can be identified in history, often as popular peasant games. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the nineteenth century. The expanse of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside of the directly controlled Empire, though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.

Football (video game)

Football (released as NFL Football) is a multiplayer sports video game produced by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1979. The players each control a football team competing in a standard four-quarter game. Like Mattel's other sports video games, NFL Football did not use any official National Football League team names or player names, even though Mattel obtained a license from the NFL and used the league's logo in its box art.

Gameplay

The player controls a five-man football team, actively controlling one team member at a time, with the computer controlling the rest. As in traditional American football, the player's team must score more points than the opponent's team within the time limit of the game. The game consists of four quarters, each a simulated 15 minutes in length, and takes place on a horizontally scrolling 100-yard simulated football field.

Player 1 always starts the game on offense and receives the opening kick-off from Player 2; at the start of the second half, Player 2 will receive the kick-off from Player 1. NFL Football is played in the same basic manner as a regulation game of football, with the offense being given four downs to advance the ball a minimum of ten yards before losing possession of the football to the opposing team. At the start of each down, the players use their controller's keypad to input a formation and a play for that down; descriptions and diagrams of the plays were printed in the game's instruction manual and not visible on-screen. When both players have entered their formations, play resumes.

Ball (association football)

A football, soccer ball, or association football ball is the ball used in the sport of association football. The name of the ball varies according to whether the sport is called "football", "soccer", or "association football". The ball's spherical shape, as well as its size, weight, and material composition, are specified by Law 2 of the Laws of the Game maintained by the International Football Association Board. Additional, more stringent, standards are specified by FIFA and subordinate governing bodies for the balls used in the competitions they sanction.

Early footballs began as animal bladders or stomachs that would easily fall apart if kicked too much. Improvements became possible in the 19th century with the introduction of rubber and discoveries of Vulcanization by Charles Goodyear. The modern 32-panel ball design was developed in 1962 by Eigil Nielsen, and technological research continues today to develop footballs with improved performance.

History

In 1863, the first specifications for footballs were laid down by the Football Association. Previous to this, footballs were made out of inflated leather, with later leather coverings to help footballs maintain their shapes. In 1872 the specifications were revised, and these rules have been left essentially unchanged as defined by the International Football Association Board. Differences in footballs created since this rule came into effect have been to do with the material used in their creation.