So much revisionism in ‘history’ that causes half the farking issues on our planet, and people are worried about whether footy ‘originated’ from the Irish or the locals …wgaff? Let’s strike it from the record, shall we? Put uppity people back in their place, what? We didn’t conquer this sunny land just so that the origins of our sport be hijacked and claimed by indigenous upstarts! Someone needs a good thrashing, I do say!
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Sure, I’m on board.
Native Australians also invented electrictity, wifi, the stump jump plough and the Safety Dance.
Why not?
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That sounds like a Furphy to me.
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In fairness, nobody would ever admit to inventing Safety Dance.
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Is that the guy who played HBF for Fitzroy in the 1930’s?
Allegedly.
But high marking was not a feature of our game in 1878. Essendon’s Charlie "Commotion: Pearson was the first to take hangers and that was in the mid-1880s.
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Won’t someone please think of the children?
Agree, … kinda odd.
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Because there’s bugger-all evidence to suggest it?
It’s not odd.
It’s not racist.
I’d love Australian Rules to have a thousands year-old history, but it just ain’t so.
One of the creators of the code met some people who met some people who played kick-to kick with a stuffed possum?
And we’ll disregard all the rugby stuff.
And all the other people who codified the rules.
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I can understand why people believe everything the AFL says.
No, really.
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Huh? Who is saying disregard rugby as an influence?
There’s also a pretty long bow that white Australians were taking all that many social cues from the indigenous.
There were still slaughters happening at that point.
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Eh. Fair point.
I’m saying Marn Grook probably wasn’t.
I’d like it if it were, but I have a hard time believing that when they worked out the game anyone was thinking, ‘How about this thing I heard someone tell me about once? That sounds good.’
And it’s me that has an issue with, ‘Who knows? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Let’s not and pretend we did.’
There’s much better evidence that the AFL wants to whitewash it’s history with indigenous australia than there is any evidence it grew from there.
It’s a bit of a leap to suggest Tom Wills borrowed from an indigenous game to start his game - then didn’t bother inviting any of them to play it.
Particularly when we know he was involved in organising indigenous cricket teams.
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I thought Kevin Sheedy invented Aussie Rules Football.
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I’d like to think there was some influence but if there was I suspect it far more subtle than that
Ah, my bad. I’ve moved it there, thanks for the heads up.
How ever it came to be, I’m glad it did.
I can just see @Alan_Noonan_10 invoking some Kevin ■■■■■■ Wilson: “Honest mate fair dinkum, that’s what he really said!”
@Mero is there a website with a list of VFA players in its formative years? The best I could find is https://australianfootball.com/ and http://www.thevfaproject.org/ but there is no record of VFA players in that period.
I am after a player in particular: John E. Muir of Fitzroy. He is in a photo of the team in 1883 but I can’t find his record.