Identify and compare the ‘birth stories’ of American baseball and Australian Rules football. How have historians tried to distinguish between ‘myth’ and ‘reality’ in both these cases?

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American baseball and Australian Rules football are both seen as the national games for their respective countries, as they have the greatest exponents of the game and the greatest leagues. The public of these nations sees each respective game as to be truly their own, from creation to current status. This has occurred over time, with the origins of the sports becoming surrounded in myth, with the true creation stories of these games being replaced by more ‘popular’ birth stories. This essay will show that both of these games have English origins but over time each of their ‘birth stories’ have both an actual and mythical origin. This has occurred because of the way historians have either perpetuated fictions or been unable to influence public opinion with revisionist interpretations of the sporting past.





The origins of Australian Rules Football


Australian Rules football is uniquely Australian and it is seen as the only game that Australia has truly invented. The game, however, is accredited to the English for creation, as the borrowing of English sporting aspects helped the game develop the different style of play. Tom Wills is widely regarded as the games creator because he recommended that football should be played in the colony during the cricket off-season as a way to keep players fit and active and was an early rule maker of the game. Games began to be played during the cricket off-season between various districts, but there were no universal rules with each district carrying their own succinct rules which they had carried over from England, these were either the handling game i.e. rugby or the kicking game i.e. soccer. (Whimpress, 14, pg. 4-5). Chaos ensued with these matches ending in dispute and all-in brawls between players and spectators, it was apparent that universal rules would have to be drawn up to allow a fair, and widely accepted game. (Hibbins, 16, pg. 16).


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Tom Wills called for action and on May 17, 185 with a committee of seven set up to discuss the rules of the game, but only four are usually mentioned as the creators of the game. (Hibbins, 1, pg. 11). These four men are Tom Wills, William Hammersley, James Thompson and Thomas Smith, who were members of the committee decided upon the rules of the game, and from this meeting ten basic rules were created. The rules of the game borrowed largely from English sport, especially those of rugby, soccer and cricket. As Whimpress explains


“The Australian game adopted rugby positions of goal-keepers and goal-sneaks; the mark derived from the rugby ‘fair catch’; goals from the field had to be kicked by drop kick or place kicks…a rugby shaped ball was introduced from 1860.” (Whimpress, 14, pg.5).


The game had aspects of soccer by allowing the ball to be kicked along the ground, which was the way that most goals were scored early on. (Blainey, 16, pg. 10). The game also had certain aspects of the game of cricket with players originally dressing in white, a coin toss decided which way a team would go, their were refreshment breaks, play was suspended for rain and bad weather and games would often go for days, almost like a test. (Whimpress, 14, pg.5). Some of the rules were also uniquely Australian, such as their being no off-side rule and less physical contact due to the fact that players did not want to attain black eyes or unsightly bruises and miss work as a result of injuries. This helped shape the physical elements of the game and also the various positions on field. (Hibbins, 1, pg.11-114). Aspects relating to the country such as the abundance of land, helped shape the game as it allowed a lot of players to be involved and due to the hard ground the game was spread out to avoid injuries, which are now both critical elements of the game. The fact that the game was only played in Australia also helped the game develop as rule changes were quick and easy to implement as the game was only national not global, unlike other sports whose rule changes could take years to implement. (Whimpress, 14, pg.7). Australian Rules football came about as a result of strong English influence, but also Australian influence, the game was inspired by England but over time became truly Australian.


However, the games history is also surrounded in great myth as people see the game as uniquely Australian and that the game was entirely created here. As Hibbins comments


“The ‘National Game’ has a particular place in the hearts of Australians for many reasons, not least because it is considered to be born and bred in Australia.” (Hibbins, 1, pg. 108).


As a result of this people believe that the game simply sprung up through the Australian lifestyle. Australian culture and lifestyle did shape the games style of play and rules but in essence did not create the game. The game is strongly shaped by Australian aspects such as the handball and ‘speccie’ but the game came from English roots.


The myth regarding Australian rules being derived from Aboriginal culture is also under great contention with some historians strongly dismissing the story and some backing it up. It is believed that Australian Rules football may have derived from the aboriginal game marn-grook in which Aboriginals would jump high to catch possum skins in spectacular fashion. This game is also believed to be where the overhead mark in Australian Rules football evolved. (Roberts & Winkler, 18, pg. ). Other historians reject this explanation claiming that the myth is simply a result of the grace and skill Aboriginal players have shown such high mark pioneer Charlie Pearson and current superstar Michael O’loughlin who may have influenced this mythical ‘birth’ story. (Whimpress, 14, pg.6). Some historians claim there is no evidence to back up the games creation with marn-grook with Geoffrey Blainey commenting, “The recent idea that that Australian football stemmed from an early Aboriginal brand of football is more a wish than a fact.” (Blainey, 16, pg.1).


The main myth regarding the birth of Australian Rules football is that it was derived from the strikingly similar game of Irish Gaelic football, which also gains its roots from rugby and soccer. This however is a myth as Australian Rules football predates the birth of Gaelic football and it is therefore impossible for it to attribute its history to the game, as it was not around when Australian Rules was created. The games are strikingly similar but most historians put this down to luck, claiming that over time some sports may become similar. (Whimpress, 14, pg. 6). Another reason for the creation of this myth was along with the Aboriginal birth story, is the natural talent that the Irish have at the game. Like ex-Melbourne star Jim Stynes and the new promising Sydney Swans recruit Tadge Kennelly. (Blainey, 16, pg. 1). To promote this myth is the annual inter code games in which the AFL All-Australian team play Gaelic football players in a match in which both styles of play are modified into one game. This, as a result, shows how strikingly similar these games are.


Australian Rules football is derived from English sports and Australian lifestyle, which effected the rules and the way the game was played. There is no evidence to support the claim that either Aborigines or the Irish created the game, nor is it independently Australian.





The origins of American Baseball


Baseball is known as America’s favorite past time and is seen by most as a truly American sport. However this is not true with the games origins being derived from the English game of rounders, despite the many mythical stories that imply that the game is entirely American. Baseball was derived from the English children’s game rounders, which was brought over by English settlers. The game much like baseball had a pitcher, a batter, a catcher, fielders and posts in a diamond shape in which the player had to run around in order to score a run. This game was mentioned and illustrated in books such as ‘A Little Pretty Pocket-Book’ (1744), ‘The Boys Own Book’ (188), and ‘The Book of Sports’ (184). These books show how rounders was instrumental to the creation, and rules of baseball. (Adair, 001, pg. 1-). Rounders was played in England and was brought over by English settlers, who began to play it instead of cricket as it could be played in almost any area, with any amount of players. Prior to and during the Civil war the game became wide spread throughout America, with soldiers playing and teaching one another the game. After the civil war the game boomed and overtook cricket as the nations favorite game. (Adelman, 17, pg. 64). The game became seen as uniquely American and proved that America had become a nation, even though that they were playing an English game.


However, many Americans do not know that baseball is derived from an English game due to the fact that the myth of baseballs creation became so wide spread. People came to see baseball as American because the English never really embraced the game of rounders, and hence because the U.S. did, it became renowned that it was an American game. (Adelman, 17, pg. 74).


Nationalism is seen as a major attributing factor to the success of sport and a nation, and this is why Albert Goodwill Spalding a former player of the game pushed to make the game to be seen as if it was purely American made and played for the games success. Spalding was an equipment manufacturer and his dream was to popularise the game, which in turn would help him profit, through equipment sales. (Voigt, 176, pg. 7, 8). Spalding saw that if America’s ‘favorite pastime’ was of English origin in such an anti-imperialist society it could not and would not succeed, so he decided to alter history for his own benefit. (Hibbins, 1, pg. 10).


In 104, Spalding set up a commission with some nationalistic friends to investigate the origins of this game. In 108 the commission’s findings were that the creator of baseball was Abner Doubleday, who they claimed created the game with its modern rules in Cooperstown, 18. Even though there is evidence that the game had been played as early as 1778 in Valley Forge and in 1787 at Princeton, with some clubs being set up in New York around 185, which was well before Spalding had claimed Doubleday’s creation. (Adair, 001, pg.1). The commission found the sports origins to have come from an American child’s game ‘Old Cat’ which was a game of baseball with modified numbers i.e. three-old cat had three players etc. ‘Old Cat’ however was simply a nickname given to the game of rounders by children of the time when less players were involved. (Turkin & Thompson, 17, pg.1).


The findings encouraged people to play the game as it showed the countries independence from English ties i.e. through sport. These findings were later dispelled by in 1 as investigator’s realsied that Spalding’s committee had conjured the ‘birth story’ for their own like-mindedness. (D, Adair, 001, pg. -). However, this creation story has survived over time due to the fact that many American have come to treat and teach this myth as if it were reality.





Conclusion making sense of birth stories in sport


Both American baseball and Australian Rules football are similar in origin, as they emerged in countries whose major sports were influenced by the English. The other similarity is that both these games origins are surrounded in myth, which are often taken as reality by the public, due to the way the nation has been educated about the game. As Adelman puts it


“Many Americans innocently presumed that the game (baseball) was native to this country since they had been playing it for so long and since rounders attracted no public attention in England.” (Adelman, 17, pg. 74).


The general public in both countries tend not to make the connection about how their national games have English influence, as each of these two sports are not major sports in England, which is one of the reasons why these myths have survived and spread. This is where the similarities between the games stop, however, as the games are completely different and so are the origins of each game.


Baseball was completely derived from an English game, whilst Australian Rules only based some of the rules on English sporting aspects. The ‘mythical’ origin of baseball is widely regarded as truth in America, which was caused by the fact that Americans tried to dispel any English origin of the game. The Australian Rules ‘birth’ story is surrounded in myth but most of the information on the game does deny any outside influences apart from English and Australian origins. The reason that the history of baseball is so distorted in relation the game of Australian Rules may be the fact that America were trying to gain independence from England whilst Australia was trying to prove its worth to England. (Hibbins, 1, pg. 10). This resulted in America trying to dissolve all ties with England, which in turn tampered with history and helped the mythical origin of baseball to surface. As Adelman concludes


“The American game of ball, for though of English origin, it has been so modified and improved of late years in this country, as almost to deprive it of any of its original features beyond the mere groundwork of the game.” (Adelman, 17, pg.74).


Whilst, on the other hand, Australia embraced English origins and only the opinion of certain people over time, has tampered with the origins of Australian Rules football.


The problem with the creation stories of these games is that historians have not disregarded the mythical components of these two sports illustrious histories, and this is how these ‘popular’ creation stories continue to this day. The problem is that with such patriotic and nationalistic games of baseball and Australian football, people get caught up in the patriotic ideals and not the truth. This in result causes people to believe that the game was entirely made and played in the respective countries and historians have not solved this dilemma by sternly rejecting these myths, but rather allowing them to continue.


With historians allowing the myths to continue by supporting them or not denying them they are giving the stories credibility. Historians have not clearly distinguished between ‘myth’ and ‘reality’ over time and in result myth has come to be seen as reality. Bernard Whimpress deals with myth excellently by simply saying, “Before closing on the subject of Australian football’s origins it seems appropriate to dispose of a few myths which have long prevailed.” (Whimpress, 14, pg. 6). Whilst other historians simply repeat the myths and do not discuss and disregard these fables. These myths are still regarded as truth due to the fact that historians do not offer a single clear-cut account on the two games origins.


This is shown by two pieces on the origins of Australian Rules football, which contradict one another, they are Geoffrey Blaineys ‘A Game of Our Own’ and G.M. Hibbins ‘The Cambridge Connection The English Origins of Australian Rules Football.’ Geoffrey Blaineys piece, ‘The Origins of Our Game’ implies that although some English aspects were used in the creation of the game, they cannot be accredited with the creation of the game. It sternly rejects the Aboriginal and Irish influence, and claims that the game rose up through the Australian culture and was made to suit the Australian lifestyle. It implies that the rules were based on the ideals of the public, and the whole game is based around the Australian lifestyle, with only moderate credit given to the English. (Blainey, 16, pg. 10-1). As Blainey argues


“Australia is such a young nation and so many of its institutions have been borrowed from Britain that Australian Rules football came to be seen as primarily an imported game. In fact it is an Australian invention, indeed a chain of inventions.” (Blainey, 16, pg.10).


Meanwhile, G.M. Hibbins piece ‘The Cambridge Connection The English Origins of Australian Rules Football’ accredits the games entire creation to the English. Saying that the game copied the creation process the English were using to unify their football codes. Hibbins says the men who decided upon the rules of the game were English emigrants who decided on the game with help of their knowledge of English football. In closing he claims that Australian Rules football completely relied on the English through all elements of the creation of the game and that without English influence and the copying of English traditions, the game would not have been made. (Hibbins, 1, pg. 111, 11 & 17). As Hibbins argues


“It was nourished by the English creed of muscular Christianity, and sustained substantially by the unacknowledged work of two English journalist and one Irish schoolmaster.” (Hibbins, 1, pg.17)


These conflicting arguments will continue to be a problem unless the myths are banished from texts, so people are exposed only to the truth and not the patriotic views of nations creating their own games.


The ‘birth stories’ of Australian Rules football and American baseball have been tampered with and altered over time by historians and nationalists. As a result of this there are often many varying creation stories of these games and due to this the public can not receive one universal story. This is partly to blame on historians as they have not successfully distinguished ‘myth’ from ‘reality’ and hence the myths continue to this day. Historians must eradicate these myths from books so people can attain the ‘true’ history of these games and not the popular versions. To receive a fair account of the games history, historians must stop putting history in doubt and supply the public with a clean cut answer. The aim of historians should be to tell history, not to manipulate events in the past to suit their own perspectives and thoughts on the matter.





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