TOM BROWN FROM RUGBY SCHOOL
TRIES KICK-TO-KICK

Sean Fagan

Following on from an earlier article about the connections between football at Rugby School and the origins of Australian rules football (access here), I was interested to read that the AFL's picnic day at the MCG commemorating the 1858 Scotch College match, includes the "kick-to-kick" game.

For those that are unfamiliar with the term, kick-to-kick is a game (more an informal pastime) where two players stand apart, and simply punt or drop kick the football to each other.

The beauty of kick-to-kick is that all you need are two people, a little space, and a football (or even something that can substitute for a football if need be!).

For many Australian rules football teams, kick-to-kick is a warm up routine of match day or before training sessions.

At suburban and country games, "invasions" by fans onto the ground are a frequent occurence at half-time or full-time. It makes for a wonderful sight, with a mass of footballers covering the grass, footballs filling the air as they cross from the kickers to the catchers. The field buzzes and the air sings.

Kick-to-kick is described as a "well-known tradition of Australian rules football", having existed since the game's beginnings - hence its use at a picnic commemorating the birth of the code.

There are some that suggest kick-to-kick is the link between the Indigenous game of Marn Grook and the birth of the code.
(ABC: Kids play kick-to-kick 1850s style The Age: Aussie rules kicked off by Aborigines).

It is claimed by Australian rules enthusiasts that kick-to-kick is a unique custom and that, while the rugby games use a similarly shaped ball, few League or Union players and fans are interested in kicking, preferring touch football (for example). No doubt a few rugbyites (of either brand) will disagree with that definition! - and, by inference, if we are witnessed in the park or on the street kicking a rugby ball per "kick-to-kick", does that mean we are to be (mistakenly) taken to be advocates for Australian rules?

In a point I've been "banging on about" for a while, the Australian rules fraternity really ought to put aside their "rugby-aversion", read some texts from the mid-1800s, and put some context to their code's birth and customs.

A must-read are the rules of football at Rugby School - first documented in 1845 and featuring off-side play and "knocking-on" (punching/hand-passing the ball).

The other is Thomas Hughes' classic novel, Tom Brown's Schooldays.

Published in 1857 Tom Brown's Schooldays was the Harry Potter of its day. Based on Hughes' own experiences of Rugby School, the book was a worldwide phenomena.

Courtesy of a colourful and descriptive chapter recounting a football game on the School's field, the winter sport was suddenly thrust into popularity throughout the English speaking world.

A year later, was anyone really surprised to see that the boys of Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar are more than eager to take part in a "Grand Football Match" under the eye of former Rugby School old-boy, Thomas Wills?

Which brings us back to "kick-to-kick" football, and where it originated from.

A quick read of Tom Brown's Schooldays explains it all - and reveals what is celebrated as an Australian rules game day and park tradition, kick-to-kick is simply the "punt-about" custom of Rugby School.

So, every time a game of "kick-to-kick" is on the park or in the backyard, Australian football fans and players are doing more than celebrating their game's traditions, they are confirming the code's Rugby School origins.

William Webb Ellis and Tom Brown would find more familiar surroundings in 21st century Melbourne football than they would watching England battle on at Twickenham.

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Rugby History Article © Sean Fagan