Relationship between Gaelic football and Australian rules football
Encyclopedia
The relationship between Gaelic and Australian football is the subject of a controversy
among historian
s. The question of whether the two codes of football
, from Ireland
and Australia
respectively, have shared origins arises because it is clear even to casual observers that the two games are similar
. They are so similar that matches are held between Ireland
and Australia, under compromise rules, known as International rules football
.
Both Irish and Irish Australian
historians, including Patrick O'Farrell
, Marcus De Búrca, Chris McConville, B. W. O'Dwyer and Richard Davis have supported the theory that the two games have some common origins. Other Australian historians, including Geoffrey Blainey
, Leonie Sandercock
and Ian Turner have rejected any such connection, emphasising instead the influence of rugby football
and other other games emanating from English public schools
. Many sources also suggest that the Australian Aboriginal game of Marn Grook
was an influence on Australian rules.
In 1843, Irish settlers celebrating Saint Patrick's Day
in South Australia
played some kind of football. Since none of the modern football games had been codified at the time, the match was most likely a traditional form of football, such as Caid
. Patrick O'Farrell has pointed out that another Irish sport with ancient origins, hurling
— which has similar rules to Gaelic football — was played in Australia as early as the 1840s, and may also have been an influence on the Australian game.
B. W. O'Dwyer suggested that there is circumstantial evidence
that traditional Irish games influenced the founders of Australian rules, when the game was codified by Tom Wills
and others at Melbourne Football Club
in 1858-59. O'Dwyer argued that both Gaelic football and Australian rules are distinct from other codes in elements such as the lack of limitations on the direction of ball movement — the absence of an offside
rule. According to O'Dwyer:
However, it has not been shown that the need to bounce or solo (toe-kick) the ball while running and punching the ball (hand-passing) rather than throwing it were also elements of caid. For example, the requirement that players bounce the ball, while running, was not in the first Australian code, the 1859 rules drafted by Wills and other members of the Melbourne Football Club
. There is no conclusive evidence to prove a direct influence of caid on Australian rules football.
Another theory suggests that a relationship may have originated from the opposite direction: Archbishop Thomas Croke, one of the founders of the GAA, was the Bishop of Auckland
and lived in New Zealand
between 1870 and 1874. As a result of the New Zealand gold rushes
of the 1860s, there were many Australian-born settlers in New Zealand, and Victorian rules was popular there at the time. Croke therefore had an opportunity to witness the Australian game being played .
The first GAA football games of the 1880s allowed players to grab or push each other, similar to the Australian rules version of tackling. However, this was soon barred from the Irish game. If either code was influenced by each other, from the 1880s they developed and diverged in isolation.
In 1967, following approaches from Australian rules authorities, there was a series of games between an Irish representative team and an Australian team, under various sets of hybrid, compromise rules. In 1984, the first official representative matches of International rules football
were played, and the Ireland international rules football team
now plays the Australian team
annually each October.
Since the 1980s, some Gaelic players, such as Jim Stynes
and Tadhg Kennelly
, have been recruited
by the professional Australian Football League
(AFL) clubs and have had lengthy careers with them.
Controversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn...
among historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s. The question of whether the two codes of football
Football
Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...
, from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
respectively, have shared origins arises because it is clear even to casual observers that the two games are similar
Comparison of Australian rules football and Gaelic football
A Comparison of Australian rules football and Gaelic football is possible because of the games' similarities and the presence of International Rules Football, a hybrid code developed to allow players from both codes to participate in tests....
. They are so similar that matches are held between Ireland
Ireland international rules football team
The Ireland International rules football team is the representative team for Ireland in international rules football, a compromise between Gaelic football and Australian rules football...
and Australia, under compromise rules, known as International rules football
International rules football
International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
.
Irish Australian
Irish Australians have played a long and enduring part in Australia's history. Many came to Australia in the eighteenth century as settlers or as convicts, and contributed to Australia's development in many different areas....
historians, including Patrick O'Farrell
Patrick O'Farrell
Patrick O'Farrell was a historian known for his histories of Roman Catholicism in Australia, Irish history and Irish Australian history...
, Marcus De Búrca, Chris McConville, B. W. O'Dwyer and Richard Davis have supported the theory that the two games have some common origins. Other Australian historians, including Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...
, Leonie Sandercock
Leonie Sandercock
Leonie Sandercock is an Australian academic currently teaching at the School of Community & Regional Planning at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada...
and Ian Turner have rejected any such connection, emphasising instead the influence of rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
and other other games emanating from English public schools
English public school football games
During the early modern era students, former students and teachers at English public schools developed and wrote down the first codes of football, most notably the Eton College...
. Many sources also suggest that the Australian Aboriginal game of Marn Grook
Marn Grook
Marn Grook , literally meaning "Game ball", is a collective name given to a number of traditional Indigenous Australian recreational pastimes believed to have been played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players. It is often confused with a separate indigenous game resembling Association...
was an influence on Australian rules.
In 1843, Irish settlers celebrating Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
played some kind of football. Since none of the modern football games had been codified at the time, the match was most likely a traditional form of football, such as Caid
Caid (sport)
Caid is the name given to various ancient and traditional Irish football games. "Caid" is now used by people in some parts of Ireland to refer to modern Gaelic football.The word caid originally referred to the ball which was used...
. Patrick O'Farrell has pointed out that another Irish sport with ancient origins, hurling
Hurling
Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...
— which has similar rules to Gaelic football — was played in Australia as early as the 1840s, and may also have been an influence on the Australian game.
B. W. O'Dwyer suggested that there is circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
that traditional Irish games influenced the founders of Australian rules, when the game was codified by Tom Wills
Tom Wills
Thomas Wentworth "Tom" Wills was an Australian all-round sportsman, umpire, coach and administrator who is credited with being a catalyst towards the invention of Australian rules football....
and others at Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
in 1858-59. O'Dwyer argued that both Gaelic football and Australian rules are distinct from other codes in elements such as the lack of limitations on the direction of ball movement — the absence of an offside
Offside
-Sport:* Offside , a rule in a number of field team sports designed to help ensure players move together as a team** Offside ** Offside ** Offside ** Offside ** Offside...
rule. According to O'Dwyer:
- These are all elements of Irish football. There were several variations of Irish football in existence, normally without the benefit of rulebooks, but the central tradition in IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
was in the direction of the relatively new game [i.e. rugby]...adapted and shaped within the perimeters of the ancient Irish game of hurling... [These rules] later became embedded in Gaelic football. Their presence in Victorian football may be accounted for in terms of a formative influence being exerted by men familiar with and no doubt playing the Irish game. It is not that they were introduced into the game from that motive [i.e. emulating Irish games]; it was rather a case of particular needs being met...
However, it has not been shown that the need to bounce or solo (toe-kick) the ball while running and punching the ball (hand-passing) rather than throwing it were also elements of caid. For example, the requirement that players bounce the ball, while running, was not in the first Australian code, the 1859 rules drafted by Wills and other members of the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
. There is no conclusive evidence to prove a direct influence of caid on Australian rules football.
Another theory suggests that a relationship may have originated from the opposite direction: Archbishop Thomas Croke, one of the founders of the GAA, was the Bishop of Auckland
Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland
The Latin Rite Catholic Diocese of Auckland is one of the two original dioceses in New Zealand. Although formally a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Wellington, both were erected on 20 June 1848...
and lived in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
between 1870 and 1874. As a result of the New Zealand gold rushes
Central Otago Gold Rush
The Central Otago Gold Rush was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand...
of the 1860s, there were many Australian-born settlers in New Zealand, and Victorian rules was popular there at the time. Croke therefore had an opportunity to witness the Australian game being played .
The first GAA football games of the 1880s allowed players to grab or push each other, similar to the Australian rules version of tackling. However, this was soon barred from the Irish game. If either code was influenced by each other, from the 1880s they developed and diverged in isolation.
In 1967, following approaches from Australian rules authorities, there was a series of games between an Irish representative team and an Australian team, under various sets of hybrid, compromise rules. In 1984, the first official representative matches of International rules football
International rules football
International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
were played, and the Ireland international rules football team
Ireland international rules football team
The Ireland International rules football team is the representative team for Ireland in international rules football, a compromise between Gaelic football and Australian rules football...
now plays the Australian team
Australia international rules football team
This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team....
annually each October.
Since the 1980s, some Gaelic players, such as Jim Stynes
Jim Stynes
James "Jim" Stynes OAM is an Irish former professional Australian rules footballer who is currently a businessman, philanthropist, writer, youth worker, qualified teacher and chairman of Melbourne Football Club since 2008....
and Tadhg Kennelly
Tadhg Kennelly
Tadhg Kennelly is an Irish sportsperson known for his top level careers in both Gaelic football and Australian rules football....
, have been recruited
Irish experiment
The Irish Experiment is the popular name for the interest, primarily from VFL/AFL clubs, in bringing Irish sportspeople to Australia to play Australian Rules Football professionally ....
by the professional Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(AFL) clubs and have had lengthy careers with them.