TOPIC:

A comment by gtrxuone on the SD page got me thinking when did the MODERN game of football actually start?

QUOTE - “A game at Subi oval Swans would of given the Hawks a good game as Subi did in 1986. If Dermie starting playing up Boucher would of sorted him out Freeze.
In the 1970's the VFL was still big mark + Torpedo Punt and in WA we where playing run on footy already.Mark + hand pass moving the ball quickly.”

If we assume there was:
Pre war.

Post war to 1960.

1961 to 1985. The era of the gun ruckmen, rovers and centremen.

1986 to 2002. The dominance of the ruckrovers.

2003. The rise of the athletic, non footballers.

Was it when the # of handballs started exceeding the # of kicks in a game or the start of flooding?

.

Dev Graeme Farmer changed the way VFL was played when he went to Geelong. In the 61-85 era.2003-till today the athletes are replacing the gifted footballers.Maby the next Rioli and Jarman brothers may not make it to AFL.

Interesting thread. In WA, 1956 is considered a watershed year - EP's attacking style using handball was atypical compared with earlier years. Swans with handball and backup took it to a new level in 1961, but I agree, top ruckman were an important component between 1956 and the 1980s.

1995 was the beginning of the "FuglyFooty" as far as I am concerned - The Mercenary for hire Neesham brought that awful chip & draw style that dictated the almost complete removal of classic one on one contests I loved & still do

Pretty soon the Sheedys , Malthouses etc started figuring it out & adapting it for their own use

Australian Rules has become a mixture of soccer , Union & Waterpolo ever since

Tradionational stance in the halcyon wafl days of the 70s was the line was drawn at WW 11 before and after, modern era after, times have moved on, that was pre eagles, I guess you can now draw a lane after 1986. Pre Afl and after.

The game is such rubbish these days that I don't bother watching it at all. The worst day of the code occurred when Sydney won the flag with that ultra defensive style of play.

It is not just the well known suspects whom had wrecked the game -- Roos, Lyon -- even someone, such as Pagan, startted the rot with his 'Pagan's paddock'; that is pushing all the forwards up the ground to create space for his players to kick and run into during games.

If you are any good as a footballer -- in traditional sense of the term -- the only spaces you should be worrying about are in front and beside you.

The Olympics are over, so with a bit of luck, we might see some of our beloved WAFL this week.

All good posts above by the way.

Southerner wrote: 1995 was the beginning of the "FuglyFooty" as far as I am concerned - The Mercenary for hire Neesham brought that awful chip & draw style that dictated the almost complete removal of classic one on one contests I loved & still do

Pretty soon the Sheedys , Malthouses etc started figuring it out & adapting it for their own use

Australian Rules has become a mixture of soccer , Union & Waterpolo ever since

Yep and once the second AFL side was rushed in here . just as WAFL was getting back on its feet , it really was the death knell , the clock was ticking and then came the alignment and there is more to come change wise.

These recently uploaded videos are really interesting. The place kick, the introduction of numbers on guernseys and of black shorts for home teams. The drop kick, the field umpire holding the ball with one hand and slapping it into the ground with the other instead of what became the standard centre bouncedown. The controversial flick pass. While not mentioned in these videos, the introduction of the out-of-bounds-on-the-full rule which saw a free kick awarded instead of a thrown in.

An old fellow I sit with, reckons that the 1980's were the pinnacle of footy as a spectacle and he should know because he has beeen watching since the 1940's. He even saw John Coleman play for Essendon in a game against West Perth.

To be honest, the skills are somewhat agricultural in the early days in as much as although there were some brilliant players, there were also some pretty wonky kicking styles and a fair bit of double handling. The good players would have really stood out from the rest. You only need to see a few moments of Haydn Bunton snr to see what I mean.

The period between 1975 and 2005 was the game at it's best for me.

Since then, in just 11 years there have been more rule changes than in the previous 111 years. Coaches have taken the brilliance out of the game, encouraged role players, battlers, guys who can play within a team structure regardless of their lack of talent and thus they don't want contests....afterall, where are the outstanding one on one footballers. There are very few champion players in 2016. Not to mention characters, eccentrics and personalities.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that most of the newcomers to footy are those that were brought up on it via their parents. I mean is there much about the sport that is going to hook in the non-converted anymore? In 20 years soccer will be the number 1 sport in Australia in my opinion.

No doubt the authorities will continue to make all the wrong changes as they have done and miss the point at the same time.

Sad to see. At least we all got to watch the game at it's best.