Why is a 50m penalty NOT a penalty?

[KysaiahMessiah 725]

50m Penalties in the AFL stat's are credited to the side benefiting.   Surely it's not a penalty then?  Has irked me for a long time.  Definition (admittedly Wikipedia, but still, accurate)  .
(in sports and games) a handicap imposed on a player or team for infringement of rules.

Anyone know why it's recorded this way?

[mauriesy 7,444]

The side that gets the advantage is getting a 50m "benefit".

But more importantly, I want to know if the umpires have an accurate way to measure them, or are they just roughly estimated. One a couple of weeks ago was measured at 65 metres.

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 11,064]

11 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

The side that gets the advantage is getting a 50m "benefit".

But more importantly, I want to know if the umpires have an accurate way to measure them, or are they just roughly estimated. One a couple of weeks ago was measured at 65 metres.

Maybe in the benifits of the accuracy of definition we are seeking in this topic, we should also rename them 50 ± 15m benifits? 😊

Edited April 28, 2022 by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,137]

15 hours ago, KysaiahMessiah said:

50m Penalties in the AFL stat's are credited to the side benefiting.   Surely it's not a penalty then?  Has irked me for a long time.  Definition (admittedly Wikipedia, but still, accurate)  .
(in sports and games) a handicap imposed on a player or team for infringement of rules.

Anyone know why it's recorded this way?

Isn't it the same principle as a free kick - ie, for and against? For every free kick for that a team is credited with, a free kick against is credited to its opponent. Isn't it the same with 50m penalties? 

[layzie 34,528]

I don't know about you all but I am finding it extremely difficult to find where 50m penalty stats in games?

[KysaiahMessiah 725]

45 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Isn't it the same principle as a free kick - ie, for and against? For every free kick for that a team is credited with, a free kick against is credited to its opponent. Isn't it the same with 50m penalties? 

I'm maybe caught up on the language.  Isn't a free kick given?  But the word penalty means to penalise,  not award.  Anyway, probably one of my quirks 😀

[Dr. Gonzo 24,468]

16 hours ago, KysaiahMessiah said:

50m Penalties in the AFL stat's are credited to the side benefiting.   Surely it's not a penalty then?  Has irked me for a long time.  Definition (admittedly Wikipedia, but still, accurate)  .
(in sports and games) a handicap imposed on a player or team for infringement of rules.

Anyone know why it's recorded this way?

Agree this has always bugged/confused me too.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,137]

To be honest, when reading stats of a game I haven't seen which says (hypothetically) that it was Melbourne 2 x 50m penalty and our opponents 0 x 50m penalty, I have no idea whether that means we received two or gave two away.