Australian Rules Football During the First World War

Description

The book explores the intersection between the Great War and patriotism through an examination of the effects of both on Australia’s most popular football code. The work is chronological, and therefore provides an easy path by which events may be followed. Ultimately it seeks to shine a light on and provide considerable detail to a much-ignored period in Australian Rules football history, including women’s football history, that was subject to much upheaval and which reflected considerable social and class divisions in society at the time. One hundred years on, the Australian Football League presents past soldier footballers as unequivocal representatives of a unifying national ‘Anzac’ spirit. That is far from the reality of football’s First World War experience. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix War! (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 1-15 ‘King Football’ (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 17-37 Football Under Siege (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 39-52 Women, War and Football (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 53-68 Football and the Military (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 69-87 Conscription (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 89-104 “Like Old Times” (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 105-120 Conclusion (Dale Blair, Rob Hess)....Pages 121-125 Back Matter ....Pages 127-143