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Ive listed the following persons after they expressed an interest in this forum. Feel free to add more
Tag in a Footy Historian!
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SJ
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An appreciation and knowledge of history leads to both a realisation that change is possible but also the understanding that the past was not necessarily different.
"Had the reduction from 18 to 17 men aside been made without announcement, very few onlookers would have discovered the change. In every case the crowding and scrambling about the ball seemed as great an eyesore as ever, for the follower and his rover were being constantly helped by half a dozen or more of their side's placed men, and hampered by similar numbers of opponents. On more than one ground both teams were for the greater part of the fray bodily on the ball, and the two men less did not mate any palpable difference. It cannot be denied that the principle of the change is right; for the reduction in the number of men on the ball is universally desired, but' the crowding is not to be stopped by taking two or even four men out of the field. The only way, of coping with the difficulty is to compel men to keep their places.
A few years back, with 20 men aside, the play was more, open, more scientific, and more sightly than it is to-day with 17 or 18, and the explanation is that in the later style of play every man is a sprinter, and tries to prove himself a stayer as well by chasing the ball from start to finish of the game. What is wanted more than a lessening of the number of players is the unearthing of a few level-headed and strong-minded captains, who shall demonstrate to their men the advantages to be derived from a systematic keeping of places. The skipper who takes this bint will not only benefit the game, but will win matches as well, and most likely land his team at the top of the premiership-list for the season. Leaguers, quite as much as association players, are at present at fault in crowding on the ball."
"Markwell" commenting on the VFA's reduction of the number of players.
Football Notes by Markwell. The Australasian 2 May 1908. p.23 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11425922?zoomLevel=1
Complaint sound familiar?
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."
Edmund Burke
Trove has digitised the Melbourne published weekly magazine, The Australasian (1864-1946) and content is progressively coming on line. Photos of matches from the 1890's and early 1900s are a highlight.
Examples: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11447162?zoomLevel=1 (Opening match of the 1896 season, Melbourne v Essendon at the MCG - note the mysterious boundary-line posts and fixtures on one of the behind posts.)
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11339867?zoomLevel=2 (First VFL match for premiership points at the SCG and first numbers on players.)
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11433458?zoomLevel=1 (AFL - Australian Football League Premiers 1905.)
Also look out for articles by one of the most influential men in the development of the game, Jack Worrall.
"Had the reduction from 18 to 17 men aside been made without announcement, very few onlookers would have discovered the change. In every case the crowding and scrambling about the ball seemed as great an eyesore as ever, for the follower and his rover were being constantly helped by half a dozen or more of their side's placed men, and hampered by similar numbers of opponents. On more than one ground both teams were for the greater part of the fray bodily on the ball, and the two men less did not mate any palpable difference. It cannot be denied that the principle of the change is right; for the reduction in the number of men on the ball is universally desired, but' the crowding is not to be stopped by taking two or even four men out of the field. The only way, of coping with the difficulty is to compel men to keep their places.
A few years back, with 20 men aside, the play was more, open, more scientific, and more sightly than it is to-day with 17 or 18, and the explanation is that in the later style of play every man is a sprinter, and tries to prove himself a stayer as well by chasing the ball from start to finish of the game. What is wanted more than a lessening of the number of players is the unearthing of a few level-headed and strong-minded captains, who shall demonstrate to their men the advantages to be derived from a systematic keeping of places. The skipper who takes this bint will not only benefit the game, but will win matches as well, and most likely land his team at the top of the premiership-list for the season. Leaguers, quite as much as association players, are at present at fault in crowding on the ball."
"Markwell" commenting on the VFA's reduction of the number of players.
Football Notes by Markwell. The Australasian 2 May 1908. p.23 http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11425922?zoomLevel=1
Complaint sound familiar?
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."
Edmund Burke
Trove has digitised the Melbourne published weekly magazine, The Australasian (1864-1946) and content is progressively coming on line. Photos of matches from the 1890's and early 1900s are a highlight.
Examples: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11447162?zoomLevel=1 (Opening match of the 1896 season, Melbourne v Essendon at the MCG - note the mysterious boundary-line posts and fixtures on one of the behind posts.)
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11339867?zoomLevel=2 (First VFL match for premiership points at the SCG and first numbers on players.)
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/11433458?zoomLevel=1 (AFL - Australian Football League Premiers 1905.)
Also look out for articles by one of the most influential men in the development of the game, Jack Worrall.
With an '@' Stanley_Park #tookmeages
MilduraHeat
Cancelled
- Mar 1, 2014
- 172
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- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
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- #8
SJ
Premium Platinum
Mero
Norm Smith Medallist
I'm interested in being part of this forum.
