Summary

Game type: 'Australian Rules Football' (sports game)
Alternative types: ball games

Handwritten description of the sports game 'Australian Rules Football' compiled by Niel Walsh, a 12 year old student at Errol Street Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard on 25 August 1954. Walsh describes several of the key rules of the game including: holding the ball, holding the man, around the neck, dropping the ball and marking the ball. He describes 'Australian Rules Football' as a seasonal game usually played by boys at school or in a paddock during the winter. Walsh writes that two teams of 18 players are required, noting the various positions. He lists other players of 'Australian Rules Football' including Arthur Thomas, Darryl Laye, Jim Blair, Claude Naggs, John Keating, Thomas Gibson, Alan Laye and Robert Cooper.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in blue ink on paper. Features borders ruled in red pencil; text written on one side of page only.

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