Reels have come a long way from the wooden reels with gadgets that enable you to twist the reel on the rod to face forward (or backwards if you fitted it wrongly) the only alternative for the average angler was to use fresh water gear that was not up to the job. I believe that the Australians still use the same system but with more advanced reels for beach fishing.

 Today the main choices are Fixed spool or Multipliers they both have their merits: 

Fixed Spools

Advantages

very easy to cast and use,  they are easy to set up maintain have fast rate of retrieve. being cheap to buy they are ideal for the novice angler.

Disadvantages  

They are heavy to use, lack of feel with a hooked fish, the line twists  no matter how good the roller although this can be improved by using low memory line and distance can suffer with lines above 0.4mm

Multipliers

Advantages

they have good feel with hooked fish, good casting performance with a wide range of lines, smoother clutch operations,

better for reeling in heavy loads fish or weed (or Tesco carrier bag) and are light and a pleasure to use.

Disadvantages

they can be expensive, can be difficult to use for the novice, can be difficult to set up and need constant attention to keep set up,  retrieve rate can be to low over rough ground, and they  need plenty of maintenance