From Steve Craddock
Ashwood, Australia
Close study of chaos theory may be assisting English football managers
(“Chaos pitch”, 8 June, p 24), but I wonder how many Australian football coaches
consider the behaviour of atomic bonds in a crystal lattice when developing
their game plan?
In our Australian rules game, successful attacking teams consistently exploit
a pattern of play where the ball is moved quickly up the wing from the back line
to goal-scoring positions. They try to develop an unbroken running chain of
passes, either by kicking or handball. When this approach works perfectly, the
opposing defenders, despite all their efforts, end up watching the ball sail
past each of them in turn.
The first player in this chain initiates the pattern by hesitating slightly
in his run off the back line. This feigned indecision “draws” a defender towards
him, thus leaving the next attacker unmarked and ready to receive the pass. Now,
if everything goes right, just as a discontinuity propagates through a plane of
crystals, the gap into which each successive attacker can move to receive the
ball propagates up the field.
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Obviously this attacking style of play demands a high skill level and
involves considerable risk, but it can be very effective indeed, and wins by 10
or 20 goals are not uncommon, since our game doesn’t have an offside rule.
