The game has different names in different Koorie languages, but is now generally referred to as Marngrook. Marngrook is a ball-game played between two teams. In South Western Victoria, it was usually played with a possum skin ball, however in different areas the ball was made from other materials.
Possum skin Marngrook, Koorie Heritage Trust. Marngrook is played with large teams up to 50 to players per side with both men and women playing. Each team competes to catch the ball after it's kicked high in the air. One aim is for players to jump the highest and take the best mark. Players that take a mark are then able to have a free kick. In the past, Marngrook games were usually long and could last up to 2 days. Often the two teams were represented by their totems, for example black cockatoos versus white cockatoos.
This shows that Marngrook is not only a fun activity and a way of keeping fit and healthy, but also a social activity that reinforces kinship systems and connection to totems, family and Community.
Teams would also travel from different areas to play against different communities, creating a way to connect and develop relationships with different mobs. There are many historical records that show Marngrook being played across Victoria. The ball is kicked into the air not along the ground, there is a general scramble at the ball…When caught it is again kicked up in the air with great force and ascends as straight up and as high as when thrown by hand.
Source: Meanjin. Enthusiastic spectators encroached onto the field and disrupted the game, sometimes intentionally. Cricket clubs had refused regular requests to allow footballers onto their grounds on the basis that the unruly players and spectators would ruin the turf. Unfortunately, those first games at the MCG did nothing to convince them otherwise. Football was again banished to the parks. In Carlton in the football club fenced off a new ground and smoothed it out. An admission fee was introduced to cover costs and, although it was largely resented by spectators, paid to watch Carlton play Melbourne.
It became clear to cricket clubs that money could be made this way. Around the city, and particularly in country towns, football moved onto cricket grounds and the game evolved from being played on a roughly rectangular field, to being played on an oval.
Paying spectators also pushed for changes to the game, demanding better organisation of matches and more entertaining play. The Victorian Football Association VFA formed in May comprising delegates from all levels of the game — senior, junior and country clubs.
Its brief was to supervise all matters relating to football including revising the rules, resolving disputes, and providing umpires for the bigger games. It was also responsible for the promotion of the game and the organisation of intercolonial matches. However, the disparity between weak and powerful clubs caused conflict within the Association, especially over the distribution of gate-takings.
The more successful teams drew larger crowds and felt that they were entitled to a greater share of the funds. Clubs put much of the money raised into improving the ground and facilities for both spectators and players, but by the s money was also being offered to lure players from one club to another.
The VFA promoted the amateur ideal of sport, where the game is played for its own benefits rather than financial reward. Meanwhile, the clubs were moving towards professionalism.
Tired of 'carrying' the weaker clubs, they were keen to make the sport economically viable, commercial and more appealing to spectators.
The evolution of the game continued, with new rules introduced to speed up play and reduce the likelihood of a draw. Richmond and University joined the league in , although the latter left after the season; and Footscray now the Western Bulldogs , Hawthorn and North Melbourne joined in This game featured an oblong ball made of possum skin, slightly spongy, and included high jumps to catch the ball, a large side of players, and long kicks of the ball over long distances.
Sound familiar? Players were also divided into teams that often had totems as a team symbol cockatoo, crow, eagle. Kristin Otto in her history of the Yarra River states that Marn Grook was probably played on the same site as the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG , home to current football matches, as it is on the site of the Woiwurrung meeting and corroboree ground.
For anthropologists the landscape, weather and geological timeline e. In this case, large, flat and clear tracts of land around the early settlements of Melbourne, provided by the Yarra River flats, can be said to contribute to the origins of Australian Football. They enabled a game to be played across a wide space in a fluid, fast pace, rather than fixed manner; and quick growing grass in all seasons plus a temperate climate, provided a ready pitch and opportunities for outdoor games most of the year.
Given that the ground was often hard, players kept the ball off the ground, preferring to run with it and throw or kick it to each other, and opted for games that involved less tackling and throwing of players to the ground in opposition to English rugby. Europeans naturally brought their own traditions of sport and games with balls.
The knowledge and understanding of a game with rules, played with a ball and against opposing sides was present as soon as Europeans were. In Melbourne , the first formal rules for an Australian Football match were written down and agreed upon. The aim was to create a game that could be played during winter, when the cricket season was finished, taking into account the physical environment, and drawing from games that were already being played informally across the country by both indigenous Australians and new Australians.
A hand written copy of these rules still exists: published and widely distributed at the time. He was the Chairman of the Melbourne Cricket Club and a renowned cricketer.
Present at this meeting were journalists and several other men who were interested in introducing a game, with clear and agreed upon rules that could be played in Australian schools. From this time in the s, the VFL competition increased in strength relative to other state leagues as leading players from around the country increasingly began to play in this competition, or join this competition for parts of their senior careers.
In , further significant change occurred when the VFL competition moved to expand to 14 teams and include the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears. See the original handwritten document here. This content is unavailable in your region. You can access more content with Watch AFL.
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