midfielder
Well-Known Member
Enjoy this an article from a rugby league history guy.
Well here is a good article to help expose the 150 years hype.
http://www.rl1908.com/blog/afl-hoax-edited.htm
THE 150 YEAR OLD HOAX: AFL'S FIRST GAME WAS RUGBY
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
This article was published in
The Sunday Telegraph - 18 November 2007
CLAIMS that Australian football was born of a single match played in 1858 are nonsensical, writes rugby league historian Sean Fagan
Australian rules lore tells us the code began with a match in 1858.
What the "Australian rulers'' don't choose to mention is that it was played between two schools using rugby rules on a rectangular field, and that the first uniquely Australian rule (the need to bounce the ball before running) didn't arise until 1866.
To say that that 1858 rugby match was the game now known as Australian rules is nonsense. To paraphrase Kipling, "rugby is rugby'' - what came after doesn't change what was played in 1858.
The AFL is looking at a caterpillar and calling it a butterfly.
The only connection that game has with Australian football is that it was played in Melbourne.
Many clubs in England, including those playing "Sheffield rules'' (from the Sheffield FC formed in 1857), began with a remarkably similar story to the first "Melbourne rules'' (1859).
Sheffield rules were formed "to keep cricketers fit in winter'', had no crossbar, awarded a free-kick for a mark, and recorded "minor points'' for missing a goal.
Rugby spread through the Empire like wildfire in 1857 and 1858 on the enormous popularity of Tom Brown's Schooldays, a book about Tom's fantastical life at Rugby School. It included a dramatic and enticing chapter about the joys and excitement of a football game.
Rugby rules in the 1850s were scant - for most part they only covered matters where there had previously been argument.
They set out what could not be done, rather than what could. At the start of each winter the schoolboys would haggle and find consensus on the rules for the coming matches. It was their prerogative to shape rugby rules each year however they wished.
When the first clubs were formed, their members did the same. In England, this created mayhem as every club had its own take on the rules. Those favouring a kicking game codified their rules into soccer in 1863 with the formation of the FA.
The "ball-carriers'' codified in 1871 by forming the RFU.
Other versions, including Sheffield rules, disappeared as soccer and rugby consumed all else.
But Melbourne football, geographically isolated, continued to evolve on its own, and was codified in 1877 when the VFA was formed.
Since federation the Victorian-born code has screeched that the rest of the nation should adopt the game "invented by Australians for Australians''.
At first they covered over the story of their true origins; and now, generations later, have forgotten it.
To admit now that its so-called first game was rugby, and that the code wasn't "invented'' by Australian ingenuity in 1858, but that instead it took decades before a uniquely Australian game existed, will no doubt be difficult to accept.
But now that Australian rules has gained greater exposure in NSW and Queensland, it has in effect returned to the wider football world. Its marketing messages will be received by not only those devoted to its code, but by others who will question the validity of the stories being told.
The isolation of Australian rules is over. That can be taken as a sign of successful expansion. But with it will come greater scrutiny, and even occasional criticism.
Read the unedited version of this article.
________________________________________
Re the criticism of the above 1858 & Aust rules article: The article concerns the 1858 Scotch College match and a comparison with Rugby School rules at that time (first codified in 1845 - pdf version) - discussions of subsequent rule changes in the article need to be read within that context. It is my assessment that the first rules of the Melbourne FC (1859) were primarily based upon rugby, albeit it in a simplified form. I have not disputed that Australian rules football has evolved into a unique game.
My interpretations of the rules, match reports, and Blainey's A Game of Our Own, are based on having read them from a rugby perspective (particularly using the 1845 Rugby School rules and 1859 Melbourne FC rules).
The practise of haggling over rules before matches was a Rugby School tradition (even after the laws were first documented in 1845). Modifying, even simplifying/deleting rules, was within the traditions of Rugby School football for each year and/or each match. "Kick-to-kick" is a Rugby School custom, known as "punt-about".
The use of rectangular boundaries (even on oval fields) was the norm until the formation of the VFA in 1877 (it faded from use elsewhere in the 1880s) - refer to Blainey's A Game of Our Own, also confirmed with John Devaney http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/. The last application of restricted "off-side" remained in the game until the abolition of on-side centre-field kick-offs in 1891.
Further, Rule 9 from the Melb FC of 1859 - "IX. When the Ball goes out of bounds (the same being indicated by a row of posts) it shall be brought back to the point where it crossed the boundary line, and thrown in at right angles with that line."
An oval boundary line couldn't fit under this rule - only a straight/rectangular boundary line could be "indicated by a row of posts", and the ball could not be "thrown in at right angles with that line" if the boundary was curved.
Two of Australian football's signature features - off-side play and the hand-pass (striking it on with the fist) - were strongly featured in rugby at the time the first "Melbourne rules" were written (1859). The other unique feature of Australian football - striking the ball on the ground when running with the ball - was introduced in 1866 to hinder players making unrestricted "William Webb Ellis" type rugby running.
Most Australian rules text or article on the subject of the game's birth and evolution point to its "unique feature of lacking the offside rule of rugby". Yet - that isn't true - and wouldn't be true in rugby until the 1862 rules of Rugby School.
The concept of off-side players in rugby being "out of the game" was not a trait of rugby until after the first rules of the Melbourne FC were devised.
The first written rules of Rugby School (1845) did not prohibit off-side players - they did however restrict what off-side players could do - the fact these rules exist is evidence in itself that players were permitted to be continually "off-side" during rugby games in the 1850s (a trait adopted by the Melb FC laws of 1859 - who simplified the matter by placing no restrictions on off-side players).
A number of Australian football texts cite a quote from Tom Wills in the early 1860s as evidence of his preference to cast aside rugby rules: "I think the ground should be free to all, so that the captain of each side could dispose of his forces in any position he likes." Yet, this is exactly what a captain could do in rugby before 1866! Wills wasn't speaking out against rugby, he was speaking out against the growing calls to change rugby, turning into a game where the off-side player was "out of the game".
Rule 12 of Rugby (1845) permitted off-side players to take a fair catch (mark) - which entitled the player to either run or to make "a fair knock on" (defined as "striking the ball on with the arm or hand"). Off-side players could not kick the ball or run in a try, however, as with all players (off-side or not) they could knock the ball on or backwards (in the manner defined above - which clearly came to be a trait synonymous to Australian rules alone).
Throwing (or passing) the ball between team mates was not prohibited by Rugby laws, but it was against the spirit of the game. To pass/throw the ball away was seen to be too easy, unmanly, and akin to cheating.
The Melb FC chose to specify throwing as an illegal act in its first rules (1859). Rule 8 of the Melb FC (1859) The Ball shall be taken in hand only when caught from the foot, or on the hop. In no case shall it be lifted from the ground is the same as Rule 8 of Rugby School (1845) Running in is allowed to any player on his side, provided he does not take the ball off the ground, or take it through touch i.e. lifting the ball from the ground in rugby was not permitted until the mid-1860s / players in both codes could run with the ball if caught on the full or on the bounce (but not if on the ground). The only difference was that rugby permitted "running in" - what we call a "try". There was no Melb FC rule in 1859 which restricted running with the ball (the need to bounce the ball when running was adopted in 1866).
A conventional rugby ball (size & shape) was used by the VFL until the 1930s, a time when loose scrummaging and rucking in informal packs was still a major part of the game. There is nothing to suggest that Melbourne/Victorian rules may have influenced rugby and soccer in England in the 1880s.
According to a 2005 article by Gregory M de Moore (see link below), at the 1859 meeting to compose the first rules of the Melbourne FC, Tom Wills advocated adopting the rules of Rugby, a designated team place-kicker, and (in 1865) was still pushing for the use of a rugby cross-bar. Wills acted as umpire in the Scotch College match of 1858, a game that went for three days (another Rugby School trait - see Rule 20 of 1845).
Gregory M de Moore: "...distracts from the evidence that points to Rugby School football as the dominant influence in the game as conceived by Wills."....."The early descriptions of the Australian game, at least for the first two decades, which coincide with Wills' playing period, make it clear that the game was characterised by play that was for the most part, close to the ground. The play involved repeated scrimmages, and running by individuals with verve [i.e. daring] to break the monotony of a knot of players moving about the ground. The emphasis was on a bulk of players to move the ball forward. There are repeated references to this from papers of the time where the advantage was given to the team with the greatest mass. There are no references to high marking as a characteristic of the game on any kind of regular basis that suggests it was a key part of the early game." Source: http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook-no.html
Well here is a good article to help expose the 150 years hype.
http://www.rl1908.com/blog/afl-hoax-edited.htm
THE 150 YEAR OLD HOAX: AFL'S FIRST GAME WAS RUGBY
Sean Fagan of RL1908.com
This article was published in
The Sunday Telegraph - 18 November 2007
CLAIMS that Australian football was born of a single match played in 1858 are nonsensical, writes rugby league historian Sean Fagan
Australian rules lore tells us the code began with a match in 1858.
What the "Australian rulers'' don't choose to mention is that it was played between two schools using rugby rules on a rectangular field, and that the first uniquely Australian rule (the need to bounce the ball before running) didn't arise until 1866.
To say that that 1858 rugby match was the game now known as Australian rules is nonsense. To paraphrase Kipling, "rugby is rugby'' - what came after doesn't change what was played in 1858.
The AFL is looking at a caterpillar and calling it a butterfly.
The only connection that game has with Australian football is that it was played in Melbourne.
Many clubs in England, including those playing "Sheffield rules'' (from the Sheffield FC formed in 1857), began with a remarkably similar story to the first "Melbourne rules'' (1859).
Sheffield rules were formed "to keep cricketers fit in winter'', had no crossbar, awarded a free-kick for a mark, and recorded "minor points'' for missing a goal.
Rugby spread through the Empire like wildfire in 1857 and 1858 on the enormous popularity of Tom Brown's Schooldays, a book about Tom's fantastical life at Rugby School. It included a dramatic and enticing chapter about the joys and excitement of a football game.
Rugby rules in the 1850s were scant - for most part they only covered matters where there had previously been argument.
They set out what could not be done, rather than what could. At the start of each winter the schoolboys would haggle and find consensus on the rules for the coming matches. It was their prerogative to shape rugby rules each year however they wished.
When the first clubs were formed, their members did the same. In England, this created mayhem as every club had its own take on the rules. Those favouring a kicking game codified their rules into soccer in 1863 with the formation of the FA.
The "ball-carriers'' codified in 1871 by forming the RFU.
Other versions, including Sheffield rules, disappeared as soccer and rugby consumed all else.
But Melbourne football, geographically isolated, continued to evolve on its own, and was codified in 1877 when the VFA was formed.
Since federation the Victorian-born code has screeched that the rest of the nation should adopt the game "invented by Australians for Australians''.
At first they covered over the story of their true origins; and now, generations later, have forgotten it.
To admit now that its so-called first game was rugby, and that the code wasn't "invented'' by Australian ingenuity in 1858, but that instead it took decades before a uniquely Australian game existed, will no doubt be difficult to accept.
But now that Australian rules has gained greater exposure in NSW and Queensland, it has in effect returned to the wider football world. Its marketing messages will be received by not only those devoted to its code, but by others who will question the validity of the stories being told.
The isolation of Australian rules is over. That can be taken as a sign of successful expansion. But with it will come greater scrutiny, and even occasional criticism.
Read the unedited version of this article.
________________________________________
Re the criticism of the above 1858 & Aust rules article: The article concerns the 1858 Scotch College match and a comparison with Rugby School rules at that time (first codified in 1845 - pdf version) - discussions of subsequent rule changes in the article need to be read within that context. It is my assessment that the first rules of the Melbourne FC (1859) were primarily based upon rugby, albeit it in a simplified form. I have not disputed that Australian rules football has evolved into a unique game.
My interpretations of the rules, match reports, and Blainey's A Game of Our Own, are based on having read them from a rugby perspective (particularly using the 1845 Rugby School rules and 1859 Melbourne FC rules).
The practise of haggling over rules before matches was a Rugby School tradition (even after the laws were first documented in 1845). Modifying, even simplifying/deleting rules, was within the traditions of Rugby School football for each year and/or each match. "Kick-to-kick" is a Rugby School custom, known as "punt-about".
The use of rectangular boundaries (even on oval fields) was the norm until the formation of the VFA in 1877 (it faded from use elsewhere in the 1880s) - refer to Blainey's A Game of Our Own, also confirmed with John Devaney http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/. The last application of restricted "off-side" remained in the game until the abolition of on-side centre-field kick-offs in 1891.
Further, Rule 9 from the Melb FC of 1859 - "IX. When the Ball goes out of bounds (the same being indicated by a row of posts) it shall be brought back to the point where it crossed the boundary line, and thrown in at right angles with that line."
An oval boundary line couldn't fit under this rule - only a straight/rectangular boundary line could be "indicated by a row of posts", and the ball could not be "thrown in at right angles with that line" if the boundary was curved.
Two of Australian football's signature features - off-side play and the hand-pass (striking it on with the fist) - were strongly featured in rugby at the time the first "Melbourne rules" were written (1859). The other unique feature of Australian football - striking the ball on the ground when running with the ball - was introduced in 1866 to hinder players making unrestricted "William Webb Ellis" type rugby running.
Most Australian rules text or article on the subject of the game's birth and evolution point to its "unique feature of lacking the offside rule of rugby". Yet - that isn't true - and wouldn't be true in rugby until the 1862 rules of Rugby School.
The concept of off-side players in rugby being "out of the game" was not a trait of rugby until after the first rules of the Melbourne FC were devised.
The first written rules of Rugby School (1845) did not prohibit off-side players - they did however restrict what off-side players could do - the fact these rules exist is evidence in itself that players were permitted to be continually "off-side" during rugby games in the 1850s (a trait adopted by the Melb FC laws of 1859 - who simplified the matter by placing no restrictions on off-side players).
A number of Australian football texts cite a quote from Tom Wills in the early 1860s as evidence of his preference to cast aside rugby rules: "I think the ground should be free to all, so that the captain of each side could dispose of his forces in any position he likes." Yet, this is exactly what a captain could do in rugby before 1866! Wills wasn't speaking out against rugby, he was speaking out against the growing calls to change rugby, turning into a game where the off-side player was "out of the game".
Rule 12 of Rugby (1845) permitted off-side players to take a fair catch (mark) - which entitled the player to either run or to make "a fair knock on" (defined as "striking the ball on with the arm or hand"). Off-side players could not kick the ball or run in a try, however, as with all players (off-side or not) they could knock the ball on or backwards (in the manner defined above - which clearly came to be a trait synonymous to Australian rules alone).
Throwing (or passing) the ball between team mates was not prohibited by Rugby laws, but it was against the spirit of the game. To pass/throw the ball away was seen to be too easy, unmanly, and akin to cheating.
The Melb FC chose to specify throwing as an illegal act in its first rules (1859). Rule 8 of the Melb FC (1859) The Ball shall be taken in hand only when caught from the foot, or on the hop. In no case shall it be lifted from the ground is the same as Rule 8 of Rugby School (1845) Running in is allowed to any player on his side, provided he does not take the ball off the ground, or take it through touch i.e. lifting the ball from the ground in rugby was not permitted until the mid-1860s / players in both codes could run with the ball if caught on the full or on the bounce (but not if on the ground). The only difference was that rugby permitted "running in" - what we call a "try". There was no Melb FC rule in 1859 which restricted running with the ball (the need to bounce the ball when running was adopted in 1866).
A conventional rugby ball (size & shape) was used by the VFL until the 1930s, a time when loose scrummaging and rucking in informal packs was still a major part of the game. There is nothing to suggest that Melbourne/Victorian rules may have influenced rugby and soccer in England in the 1880s.
According to a 2005 article by Gregory M de Moore (see link below), at the 1859 meeting to compose the first rules of the Melbourne FC, Tom Wills advocated adopting the rules of Rugby, a designated team place-kicker, and (in 1865) was still pushing for the use of a rugby cross-bar. Wills acted as umpire in the Scotch College match of 1858, a game that went for three days (another Rugby School trait - see Rule 20 of 1845).
Gregory M de Moore: "...distracts from the evidence that points to Rugby School football as the dominant influence in the game as conceived by Wills."....."The early descriptions of the Australian game, at least for the first two decades, which coincide with Wills' playing period, make it clear that the game was characterised by play that was for the most part, close to the ground. The play involved repeated scrimmages, and running by individuals with verve [i.e. daring] to break the monotony of a knot of players moving about the ground. The emphasis was on a bulk of players to move the ball forward. There are repeated references to this from papers of the time where the advantage was given to the team with the greatest mass. There are no references to high marking as a characteristic of the game on any kind of regular basis that suggests it was a key part of the early game." Source: http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook-no.html
