Marn Grook (also spelt marngrook) is an Australian Aboriginal ball game, which is claimed to have had an influence on the modern game of Australian Rules Football, most notably in the spectacular jumping and high marking exhibited by the players of both games.

Marn Grook, literally meaning "Game ball", was a traditional game played at gatherings and celebrations of up to 50 players by the Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people of western Victoria.

Eye-witness accounts

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In 1878 in his book The Aborigines of Victoria Robert Brough-Smyth refers to a man called Richard Thomas (the Protector of Aborigines) who stated that in about 1841 he had witnessed Aborigines playing the game:

The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.

Tom Wills, who drew up the rules of Australian Rules Football, was raised in Victoria's western districts and is said to have regularly played with local Aboriginal children. He recalled watching a game in which they kicked a possum skin about the size of an orange stuffed with charcoal. The game was played between large groups on a totemic basis — the white cockatoos versus the black cockatoos, for example — with the greatest honour going to those who could leap or kick the highest.

Marn grook and the word mark

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Some claim that the origin of the word "mark" is derived from the Aboriginal word "mumarki" used in Marn Grook meaning "to catch". However this is a false etymology as the term mark actually comes from the practice of a player who has just taken a mark physically marking the ground with his foot to show where he took the fair catch. The term to mark is used in English football codes, notably early Association Football.

The Marngrook Trophy

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In 2002, in a game at Stadium Australia, the Sydney Swans and Essendon Football Club began to compete for the Marngrook Trophy, awarded after home-and-away matches each year between the two teams in the Australian Football League. However, the games are played under normal rules of the AFL, rather than anything approaching Marn Grook.

External links

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• Aboriginal Football - Marn Grook

Australian Aboriginal culture | Australian rules football | Sport in Australia | Traditional football