the Flanagan ‘novel’ came in for a bit of indirect (!) criticism via Gillian Hibbins who contributed several essays to the “150 years of Australian Football” publication of this year……especially around the “seductive myth” -

http://blogs.theage.com.au/flanagan/archives/2008/05/the_history_wars_and_afl_footy.html

at any rate - - I reckon too much focus is on what (if any) of Marn Grook that Wills may have brought to the table in May 1859 when he and 3 others put on paper the first 10 rules of the Melbourne Football Club.

Perhaps, instead - there needs to be asked, ‘what of Marn Grook did Thomas Wills bring to the fields of Rugby school?’.

Perhaps, just as Dally Messenger was able to stand apart on the Rugby fields of Sydney in part due to what he’d learnt playing the Victorian game during his couple of years living in South Melbourne with his grand mother (and he acknowledged such) - - that perhaps too, Thomas Wills was able to stand apart on the Rugby fields of England in part by that of Marn Grook that he’d brought ‘to the table’………….perhaps some elements unimagined in x number of years in an English school……..(and yet perhaps imagined over 40,000 years……………..where are you KB??)

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don’t be too literal - - point being the relative merits (in a discussion with Oikee I think) relative to the ‘foundation’ of their ‘codes’.

i.e. Dally Messenger wasn’t sitting at the rules table to work out the rules of Rugby League. He was effectively ‘drafted’ into the All Golds tour (of which he WAS NOT an organisor - but was a significant inclusion). Then to establish the game, it was the likes of Victor Trumper as the business people behind it.

Thomas Wills was both participant of high regard & influence (e.g. Messenger) and co-founder (e.g. Trumper) AS WELL as co-author of the rules - - - i.e. noting that Trumper was simply the founder of the game in Australia (that already existed in Eng and NZ).

So - - on THAT basis. Wills is a hugely significant person - - and it was only an example of his ignorance of him (and supportive of the presumption on this thread of the ignorance of many outside of Aust Footy circles) - - that could lead to some pretty silly claims about Dally Messenger’s importance to his code being unrivalled in this country.

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Yes, I admit it was a bit obscure, but I guess I was referring to elements of the broader NRL community who often display a ferocious hatred for aussie rules, which can spill over to the other footballing communities in Sydney (of course, I do not place your kind selves in that grouping).

So I was struck by that image of the Sydney crowd jeering Tom Wills, the father of aussie rules, in his final game of cricket, and it occurred to me that in a metaphoric sense, the same crowd continues to jeer.

Perhaps I was being over-dramatic.

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Pip

Unsure of your remark about Sydney & Tom.

Joe

Good read and he sounds like an interesting fellow knew nothing of him prior to this article.

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the Sydney crowd? Do you mean the Telecrap? Which is an NRL mouthpiece?

There is a great deal of fear and mistrust of Australian Football by NRL and its lackies, and if this anti-Tom Willis sentiment is from them, then I can understand it (well not really, but given their attitude to AFL, and all things south of the Murray it is).

I see Mr Willis for what he was, regardless of where he was from.

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I’ve drawn reference to a recent publication by Greg De Moore (a book I’ve put on my shortlist for christmas) as a recommended read for anybody with interests in either early Australian (sports) history or Australian footy in particular.

It was only recently that I attempted to illustrate that Dally Messenger would struggle to hold a candle to Thomas Wills - - given that Messenger was more of a ‘pawn’ at the hands of the sporting organisers such as Victor Trumper et al. Where as Wills was, simply, Trumper and Messenger all in one.

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Many try to downgrade Wills’ role in the creation of the great Australian game, but it’s quite obvious that he was the catalyst, and that’s why we should always view 1858 as the beginning of the game, and as one of the most important years in Australian history.

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Terrific and moving article.

You have to wonder with the limelight gone how many sportmen have followed in Tom’s unfortunate footsteps.

There is a statue outside the MCG not far from where the first game was played, it depicts players contesting the ball, in the background is Tom Wills. He stands as the one of the forefathers our Australian game of football.

http://www-static.sportingpulse.com/pics/blog/13/12/131291.jpg

Redb

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