History
When Australian Football took to the parks around the colony of Victoria in 1858, there were no rules regarding player positions. Even today the rules only declare that a maximum of four per side is allowed in the centre square at the ball-up (ruck, rover, ruck-rover and centre), with all other players free to position themselves as they see fit. In early years this resulted in a pack of players moving with the ball up and down the field trying to get a clearing kick into space that the pack would then run into and repeat the process. Such a process is still evident in some junior leagues (the under 8 years old children) and is known as "beehive football". It was not until 1898 that player positions became regular thanks to Essendon's now famous positions of players around the field. The positioning provided many lopsided contests against teams trying to play pack football, such as beating St Kilda 10.11 (71) to 1.9 (15) on July 23 and Melbourne 11.9 (75) to 2.8 (20) on August 1 in 1898. Other teams mimicked the idea and the "lines of three" quickly became, and still is, the norm.
One of the earliest records of flooding comes from an 1860s match between Geelong captain coached by Tom Wills and Ballarat Football Club in Ballarat. Facing a severe loss against a stronger team, Wills ordered every player into the backline. The Ballarat fans yelled abuse. Melbourne Football Club later successfully copied the tactic.
In VFL football times, the 1909 VFL Grand Final in which South Melbourne, mindful of a Carlton side which beat them in round 11 after trailing 0.11 to South's 4.4 at half-time, packed the arc in the Grand Final after half time to thwart Carlton's advance. South won the final by two points.
Over the years many teams have put extra men in the defensive 50 metre zone to stifle attacks, usually to stop great full-forwards or protect a lead. It was not uncommon for forwards such as Gordon Coventry, John Coleman, Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall and Gary Ablett, Sr., among others, to be seen fighting off three defenders to take a mark. Flooding the defensive zone outright was a rarity due to the level of endurance required from the entire team. However it was used defensively on occasion to avoid a rout.
Read more about this topic: Flooding (Australian Football)
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