Football Leagues
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The
Inventors of Australian Football who
invented Australian rules football? The first rules for Australian football were written in 1859 by Tom Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson, and H. C. A. Harrison. Tom Wills had been educated at England's rugby school and was familiar with its version of football. This link has led some historians, such as Sean Fagon, to argue that the first game of Australian football in Australia was rugby. According to Fagan, "What the "Australian rulers'' don't choose to mention is that it was played between school-boys (Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar) and they used rugby rules on a rectangular field." Most Australians have been reluctant to view the first game as a game of rugby because, even though there was running with the ball, there was no offside rule. The lack of an offside rule resulted in Australian rules sharing more similarities with England's sheffield rules than its rugby rules. (Pre 1850s rugby also lacked an offside rule.) Martin Flanagan is one Australian who has been uneasy with any notions that Australian football is anything but an Australian invention. Instead of being open to the idea that it evolved from rugby, Flanagan has argued that it evolved from the Aboriginal sport of marngrook. Flannagan argued that Tom Wills' ability to speak an Aboriginal language should be seen as an indication that he was probably aware of marngrook. Furthermore, since Wills was of convict heritage, he would have preferred to play an Aboriginal game over an English game.
There are definitely some similarities between the sport that Australian football became and marn-grook. An etching of Aborigines playing "kick-to-kick' by William Blandowski in 1857 bears some similarities to kick-to-kick played today. Furthermore, in 1841, an Aboriginal Protector used marngrook's focus on kicking to distinguish it from the English codes that focussed on handling. "The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise." While Australian rules developed some similarities to marn-grook over time, the only thing that the initial game had in common was that the ball must be kicked instead of thrown. Everything else was different. The high marking didn't become a feature of Australian rules until much later. Furthermore, an oval rugby style ball was used instead of the orange-sized charcoal filled possum skin used in marn-grook, and points were scored by goals, in accordance with British custom, instead of by catches in accordance with marn-grook. For this and many other reasons, the official history of Australian football has downplayed any possible link with marn grook. Historian Gillian Hibbins, who contributed to the official history, wrote: "While endeavouring to make recompense for the errors of the past, falsifying history does that endeavour no favours. Wills and his connection to Aboriginal football is no more than a seductive myth, and wishing it true does not make it so". Just as many Australians of the present day want to believe Australian football came from marn-grook, in previous generations Australians wanted to believe it came from gaelic football. Like marn-grook; however, there is no official acknowledgement of gaelic football in the formation of rules. Furthermore, gaelic football was not codified until 1884 - more than 26 years after the codification of Australian football. For some Australians today, this is proof that the Irish game could not have had an influence. Even though gaelic football was not codified until 1884, a sport known as caid had been played in Ireland for centuries and it is possible that this sport influenced Australian football. This potential influence was recognised by H.C Harrison, the cousin of Tom Wills and a man integral to the establishment of Australian rules in Australia. In his autobiography, Harrison wrote that players were simply ignoring his rules and playing the rules of Ireland instead. In his words: "As Captain, I once protested that such tactics were against the rules, but the only satisfaction I got was the forceful reply, 'to H- with your rules! We're playing the - Irish rules. " Not only does Harrison's recollection indicate a strong Irish influence on the game, it also indicates that the development of the game had a strong level of player input. As Australia was an immigrant nation, these players brought with them prior experiences with other ball games. No matter the social background of Wills, Harrison or others, or whatever rules they wanted, it was players that had the final say on how the game would be played. Although it is impossible to know the extent of the Irish influence, the initial rules of gaelic football were basically the same as Australian rules. Teams were composed of 21 players, an oval ball was used as were behind posts. The gaelic goal posts were at first 15 feet apart, but were soon moved to 21 feet - the exact same distance as in Australian rules. In addition, gaelic football allowed tackling. The similarities between the two codes could not have been a co-incidence. There was a flow of migrants and information between Australia and Ireland and similarities between the codes would have been acknowledged in letters and conversation. The Irish were obviously happy with the similarities. Thomas Croke was one Irishman that definitely had exposure to both games. Thomas Croke lived in New Zealand from 1870-74 and would have had the opportunity, and the motivation, to witness Australasian rules being played in the country. Croke was later involved in the established of the Gaelic Athletics Association which codified gaelic football. His experiences in New Zealand would have influenced his input to the new code. Such nationalistic sentiments may explain why the Irish performed radical surgery on their game, which in turn differentiated it from Australian rules. In 1910, they discarded the behind posts, changed to a round ball and disallowed tackling. This radical surgery was quite contradictory behaviour from an association that continued to argue that their sport had centuries of tradition. A need to be unique provides the most likely explanation for the behaviour. Throughout the 20th century, Australian football continued to evolve. The rules of play in one generation were very different from the next. Much like a language, it isn't possible to say that it had one inventor, or was invented at one particular time. It represents the input of many different Australians across many generations. Just as the Australian version of the English language reflects the input of Aborigines, the Irish, and English, so does the Australian version of football. Rules of the Melbourne Football Club, May 1859
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Invention of Australian sports Cricket
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