Comparison of Australian Rules Football and Gaelic Football - Origins

Origins

See also Origins of Australian rules football, History of Gaelic football and Relationship between Gaelic football and Australian rules football.

The Australian game was codified first by the Melbourne Football Club in 1859, whereas Gaelic football was codified by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1887. Gaelic football was not officially organised in Australia until 1956. The first compromise games between the two codes did not occur until 1967. Australian rules football was not officially played in Ireland until 2000.

The similarities of the two games have caused their respective origins to become subject to some study and debate. While it is clear even to casual observers that Australian rules football is similar to Gaelic football, the exact relationship is unclear.

Gaelic football is thought to have originated with the ancient Irish game of caid.

Historians such as Martin Flanagan have suggested that Wills was influenced by an Australian Aboriginal game, Marn Grook, as Wills was known to associate and advocate for the indigenous people and grew up in the area of the tribes which played the game. However it has been argued by other historians of Australian rules, such as Geoffrey Blainey, that the origins of Australian rules lie purely with rugby and other English public school football games. A corollary of this argument is that the resemblances of Australian rules and Gaelic football to each other are coincidental and the result of something akin to parallel or convergent evolution.

However, many historians have argued otherwise. For example, the historian B. W. O'Dwyer points out that Australian football has always been differentiated from rugby football by having no limitation on ball or player movement (in the absence of an offside rule), the need to bounce the ball (or toe-kick it, known as a solo in Gaelic football) while running, punching the ball (hand-passing) rather than throwing it, and other traditions. As O'Dwyer says:

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 Ireland was in the direction of the relatively new game ...adapted and shaped within the perimeters of the ancient Irish game of hurling... 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 ; it was rather a case of particular needs being met... —

O'Dwyer's argument relies heavily on the presence of Irish immigrants on the Victorian goldfields during the Victorian goldrushes of the 1850s, and a comparison of the two modern games. While it is highly likely that Gaelic football was heavily influenced by the ancient Irish games of hurling and caid, his argument that elements of Irish football were present in early forms of Australian rules football have been disputed by other historians. For example, the 1859 Melbourne rules did not have a requirement for players to bounce the ball while running. On the other hand, this was not a requirement in caid either.

It is also possible that both Gaelic football and Australian rules shared other influences. Archbishop Thomas Croke, one of the founders of the GAA, lived in New Zealand between 1870 to 1875. It is likely that the Melbourne rules were introduced to New Zealand by Victorians emigrating during the central Otago goldrush of 1861. By 1863, the code played by the Christchurch Football Club in New Zealand (the Christchurch rules), required players to bounce the ball every few yards, at around the same time that the same rule was included in the Melbourne rules. It is possible that Croke had opportunities to witness the Melbourne and/or Christchurch rules being played.

Such claims are regarded by many people as purely circumstantial evidence for a relationship between the two codes.

Like Australian rules, the Irish football games of the 1880s allowed players to grab or push each other. However, the two games were soon developing and diverging, largely in isolation from each other.

Both games are immensely popular in their country of origin and International rules test between the two peak bodies of Australia and Ireland are popular and relatively evenly contested.

Both games are emerging from largely provincial backgrounds and are growing internationally, although the rate of growth of Australian football around the world has increased in recent decades. Gaelic football has been played for longer outside of Ireland than Australian rules football outside of Oceania, primarily in areas of the Irish diaspora, such as North America and Europe. In the 21st century Gaelic football has increased in popularity in Asia.