{{Short description|Free kick awarded in Australian rules football}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}} A '''push in the back''' (colloquially "in the back") is a free kick awarded in Australian rules football against a player who illegally tackles or interferes with a player from behind when contesting possession.
Due to the lack of an offside rule, with the exception of when a free kick or mark is paid players can be challenged from any direction at any time not always with full awareness of their opponent's positioning, potentially disadvantaging those playing in front whole sole intention is gaining possession.
The rule is applied in two different circumstances: when the ball carrier is tackled and marking contests.
While it was widely introduced in 1897, the rule is as almost old as the sport with its necessity to ensure the safety of players having been debated since 1860.<ref name="Bells Life">{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5683331|title=Tuesday, May 29, 1860|date=1860-05-29|work=Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848–1957)|access-date=2019-10-01|pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201377803|title=Football|date=1860-06-02|work=Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic.: 1857–1868)|access-date=2019-10-01|pages=4}}</ref>
==Push in the Back: Tackle== [[File:Marinoff push in the back to Clifford.jpg|thumb|A Melbourne FC player is pushed in the back (into the ground) during a tackle by an Adelaide FC opponent in an AFL Women's match.]] A tackler, loosely speaking, is not allowed to push an opposition player in the back during a tackle. By the strictest definition of a push, any contact from behind could be considered a push in the back, so the rule is usually enforced under only the following three circumstances: *If a player is bent over or on his knees, usually to win or protect the football, and an opponent knocks them over from behind. *If a player is lying face down on the ground, and an opponent falls onto his back, intentionally or unintentionally. The first circumstance often directly causes this second circumstance also. *If a tackler pursuing a ball-carrier uses one or both hands to push them from behind, causing them to be knocked off-balance as he attempts to dispose of the ball. A chaser often attempts this when he sees that the ball-carrier is about to kick the ball, and he is not close enough for a tackle. While the second and third circumstances are objectively applied by umpires, there is some subjectivity concerning the first interpretation. This arises because a bent-over player can be easily knocked over by incidental contact, forcing the umpire to make a judgement call regarding whether or not he considers the push to be sufficiently substantial to warrant penalty. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to see a player "take a dive" when he feels contact from behind, and umpires will not pay a free kick if they believe this to be the case. Nevertheless, it is relatively easy for fans to predict when these free kicks are going to be paid. Umpires are much less lenient if a player pushes another near the boundary line, due to the increased danger of crashing into the fence.
==Push in the Back: Marking contest== [[File:Jy Simpkin and Ben Brown marking contest.jpg|thumb|A Port Adelaide FC player appears to be illegally pushed from behind by a North Melbourne FC opponent while jumping for the ball while others attempt to legally spoil the mark.]] One of the rules introduced by the VFL when they split from the VFA 1897 was the protection of a player who jumped for a mark from being put off balance by a player pushing them from behind. Pushes in the back are usually paid under the following three circumstances. *If a player pushes an opponent who has jumped to take a mark. *If a player on the lead is put off-balance by contact from behind with the arms of an opponent. *If a player in a pack or standing one-on-one marking contest is pushed out from behind, with the use of the hands. Free kicks under the first circumstance are easy to spot and are always paid, because a player already in the air cannot take a dive when pushed. However, under the other two circumstances, making judgement calls can be very difficult: it is easy for a player to take a dive in these circumstances; a sprinting player who is pushed may, in the act of trying to fall safely, take an unnatural leap which inadvertently makes the play look like a deliberate dive. As such, paying free kicks for pushes in the back in marking contests has always been contentious.
However, these pushes are all caused by the arms. Players in marking contests are allowed to push their opponents out of the contest with their bodies, within reason; so, a subtle nudge with the shoulder would not be penalised, but a full-blooded bump in the back would be penalised.
==="Hands in the Back" (2007)=== In 2007, the AFL introduced an interpretation of the push in the back in marking contests, referred to as '''hands in the back'''. Under the rule, any player who placed his hands upon an opponent's back in a marking contest, whether there was a visible push or not, would be penalised.
The rule was introduced after a 2006 season, in which there was an increasing tendency for forwards to play from behind in standing one-on-one marking contests, using their hands or bodies to nudge their opponents under the ball. It has become very difficult to adjudicate whether or not these nudges should be penalised, and there was a high degree of inconsistency. The AFL introduced the hands in the back rule to remove the subjectivity of these calls: in other words, a push with the body/forearms/closed hand was fine, but a push with open hands was not, regardless of the strength of the push.
The rule has encountered a wide range of problems, with two particularly notable ones. *Players were being penalised because they were unable to use their hands to protect their positions, or even feel the position of their opponent while their eyes were on the ball. *Umpires were frequently caught in the wrong position to see hands in the back calls, so the application of the rule ended up just as inconsistent as the previous season.
There were repeated calls for the rule to be repealed, even midseason, and there has been much criticism of the AFL for introducing the rule into the regular season without trialling it first in the NAB Cup. The AFL has stated that the rule would remain beyond 2007, and fans' angst decreased as the season progressed, and as players became used to working within the interpretation.
===Removal of "Hands in the Back" rule (2019)=== Through the Laws of the Game committee, the rule was scrapped for the 2019 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-rule-changes-2019-full-list-of-new-rules-and-explanations-for-this-season/news-story/288433a489e29384b4dbda8d539bb01d |title=AFL rule changes 2019: Full list of new rules and explanations for this season|date=1 March 2019|work=Fox Sports}}</ref> The decision to remove the rule has since been criticised as more and more obvious pushes were not being penalised. Gerard Healy labelled the removal of the rule "a blight on the game".<ref>[https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afls-major-embarrassment-exposed-as-blight-on-the-game-coaches-concede-calls-are-5050/news-story/2de6c10c9fe639c4548aaa9831f71d13 AFL’s ‘major embarrassment’ as push-in-the-back issue declared ‘blight on the game’]</ref>
==Signal== The umpire signals a push in the back by holding both hands open, palms facing outwards, in front of his chest, then making a pushing motion outwards with them. However, his action often reflects the push which is being penalised so a push in a marking contest will see the umpire push his hands outwards, while driving a player into the ground will see the arms pushed further downwards.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
==History== The idea of a Push in the Back rule has its origins in the 1860s just one year after the first Melbourne Football Club rules (Laws of Australian rules football) were published.<ref name="Bells Life" /> Proponents of rugby football, in particular, felt that the practice of pushing a player from behind was unsportsmanlike and especially dangerous. With the Australian rules lacking an offside and defensive and offensive lines, rugby players in general play did not need as much positional awareness of players behind them. Among the earlier advocates of the rule change was the South Yarra Football Club possibly the first club to have such a rule, however its introduction was deemed unnecessary and was voted down at the first committee meeting.<ref name="Bells Life" /> In the early days many serious injuries resulted from players being pushed while contesting the ball, and its practice in marking contests discouraged players from attempting high marks. One of the commonly cited reasons for its rejection is the difficulty in officiating was seen to outweigh the benefit.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
The Ballarat Football Club enforced such a rule in 1872.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219155765 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=XVII |issue=145 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 June 1872 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The club staunchly defended its rule despite calls to fall in line with the Melbourne Football Club's rules. In 1874 in matches against the Melbourne Football Club it succeeded in having the visiting club agree to a no pushing from behind rule.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201973484 |title=NEWS AND NOTES. |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=XIX |issue=111 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 May 1874 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The rule was then debated by clubs at a 1874 conference but was again voted down.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138636722 |title=THE NEW RULES. |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=XVI |issue=424 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 May 1874 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Ballarat continued to enforce the law on visiting clubs for decades.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229825573 |title=Melbourne v. Ballarat. |newspaper=Sportsman |issue=126 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 July 1883 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
By 1876, South Australian leagues, also playing under their own rules, began to outlaw the practice in marking contests.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197692313 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=Evening Journal |volume=VIII |issue=2297 |location=South Australia |date=21 July 1876 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=3 (SECOND EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The South Australian Football Association, the first governing body for Australian rules football in South Australia was the colonial body to outlaw the practice in its official rules in April 1877. However Victorian clubs still allowed the practice and players accepted it as part of the game and when South Australia agreed in 1877 to adopt the Victorian rules to participate in representative matches against Victoria, due to strong pressure from the Victorians they compromised to allow players to be pushed from behind.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
In 1877, Sydney rugby club Waratah, playing an intercolonial against the Carlton Football Club pointed out the unfairness of the practice and the advantage it gave to their Victorian opponents<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162681586 |title=FOOTBALL NOTES. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XXIII |issue=887 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 June 1877 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=821 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> as something that rugby fans in the colony would not stomach.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162681586 |title=FOOTBALL NOTES. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XXIII |issue=887 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 June 1877 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=821 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
During the 1870s the lack of the rule was a major incumbrance for the game in Queensland and New South Wales, both early adopters of the code. In these colonies rugby was increasing in popularity and its proponents argued that without the Push in the Back rule, their game was much safer to play than the Victorian code.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174692432 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=The Telegraph |issue=3,307 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=19 May 1883 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Elsewhere in practice, however its use as a tactic was increasing and in the late 1870s umpires in Victoria (specifically of the Geelong Football Club) began to penalise it with free kicks despite the absence of an official rule.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147369515 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=Geelong Advertiser |issue=8,447 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 June 1874 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143008432 |title=BELONG V. CARLTON. |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=XXVI |issue=690 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 June 1879 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In 1880, the New South Wales Football Association was formed becoming the first governing body for Australian rules football in New South Wales. As part of its first set of rules, it ignored the Victorian rules and sought to ban pushing from behind in any form, a move which was more popular with rugby fans.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28387762 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=13,226 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 August 1880 |accessdate=7 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The NSWFA believed that the Victorian league would follow its lead to "reduce the game's roughness", however it did not.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161919774 |title=ATHLETIC SPORTS |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XXXII |issue=1098 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 July 1881 |accessdate=8 December 2022 |page=163 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Subsequent appeals by Victorian members to repeal the NSW law were rejected.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237143936 |title=FOOTBALL. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=1960 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 October 1885 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
In Queensland the practice was hugely unpopular and by 1882 had caused building resentment toward the code.<ref name="QLD pushing">The Brisbane Courier Mon 17 Jul 1882 Page 3 FOOTBALL NOTES.</ref> Local clubs including the Brisbane Football Club had for years unsuccessfully lobbied the Victorian Football Association (VFA), whose rules it had affiliated with, to ban pushes from behind in an effort to improve its safety and fairness in comparison to rugby.<ref name="QLD pushing" /> The VFA's reluctance to listen to the Queenslanders eventually helped created a rift which saw the formation of a local governing body for rugby, mass switching of codes by schools, clubs and players and the decline of the sport in the colony.<ref name="QLD pushing" /> Clubs outside of Brisbane lost patience with the Victorian governing body and in early 1884 clubs in Toowoomba began banning the practice and began lobbying other QFA clubs to follow suit.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170590328 |title=Football. |newspaper=Darling Downs Gazette |volume=XXIII |issue=5,655 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=9 June 1884 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1884 the QFA in response finally went against the VFA's advice and passed a push in the back rule,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article178022506 |title=LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. |newspaper=Gympie Times And Mary River Mining Gazette |volume=XVI |issue=1716 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=14 June 1884 |accessdate=29 November 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> however the mass exodus to rugby had already begun a month earlier.<ref>Queensland Figaro 3 May 1884 Page 15 Football</ref>
South Australian leagues began agitating for the change to what was considered by far the most dangerous aspect of the game.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216321581 |title=No Title |newspaper=Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser |volume=XII |issue=1278 |location=South Australia |date=21 April 1885 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Deliberate pushing in the back by unspirited clubs was seen as a blight on the game by South Australians.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216327987 |title=FOOTBALL NOTES. |newspaper=Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser |volume=XXII |issue=1829 |location=South Australia |date=6 July 1894 |accessdate=6 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> As such, representative matches in South Australia frequently rejected the Victorian rule allowing pushing.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106559729 |title=THE BOTANIC GABDENS. |newspaper=Kapunda Herald |volume=XIV |issue=1031 |location=South Australia |date=10 May 1878 |accessdate=7 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208279006 |title=INTERCOLONIAL FOOTBALL MATCH. |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=XXI |issue=6,157 |location=South Australia |date=11 July 1884 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=3 (HALF-PAST ONE O'CLOCK EDITION.) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
It wasn't until the early 1880s that the Victorian media began labelling pushing in marking contests as an unfair practice.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229826137 |title=SENIOR FOOTBALL. |newspaper=Sportsman |issue=127 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 July 1883 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Between 1885 and 1887 high marking was becoming popular in Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181690257 |title=Con Hickey On Great High Marks Of All Time |newspaper=Sporting Globe |volume= |issue=1338 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 May 1935 |accessdate=3 June 2022 |page=10 (Edition2) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Following a conference with intercolonial delegates in 1885 the first restrictions on pushing were introduced by the Victorian Football Association "only when the player is running within five or six yards of the ball", a rule used for some time by and pushed for by Geelong.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149012435 |title=TOWN TALK. |newspaper=Geelong Advertiser |issue=11,9804 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 November 1885 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Delegates from other colonies and umpires were not satisfied and the following year in 1886 successfully pushed that Rule 16 ban the practice of pushing altogether for intercolonial matches<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11578437 |title=INTERCOLONIAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE. |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=12,593 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 November 1886 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> however the VFA and Tasmanian leagues, the last in the country to allow it continued to follow the 1885 rules. In 1886 two Tasmanian football deaths were directly attributed to the practice so the colony adopted the new rule and its intercolonial delegates pleaded for the Victorians to follow suit.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142178926 |title=ATHLETIC SPORTS. |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=XLII |issue=1098 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 April 1887 |accessdate=30 April 2023 |page=32 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
At a meeting of the Australasian Football Council in 1890 a motion was passed banning pushing in the back in a marking contest which was agreed to by its member leagues including Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9150424 |title=OPENING OF THE FOOTBALL SEASON. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=3 May 1897 |access-date=24 March 2011 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
After decades of controversy a rule against pushing for both marking and "running with the ball" was finally adopted in 1897 by the newly formed Victorian Football League.
In the 1900s, an incidental contact rule (i.e. jumping on an opponent's back in an effort to mark the ball in the air is not considered a push) was introduced first by the VFL in 1904 which reached widespread adoption by the Australasian Football Council in 1907.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235027726 |title=ALTERATIONS OF RULES. |newspaper=The Corowa Free Press |volume=64 |issue=2292 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 June 1907 |accessdate=26 May 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Allowing incidental contact ushered in an era of spectacular marking which further increased the code's appeal.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}
==Controversial Push in the Back incidents== The following push in the back incidents caused significant controversy: * Round 9, 2007 - with the scores tied between Essendon and Richmond and with about three minutes to go, Matthew Richardson nudged Mal Michael out of a standing one-on-one marking contest, using his right hand on Michael's right shoulder blade. Michael, who was in front but slightly out of position, jumped to take the mark exactly as he was pushed, but missed the ball; Richardson took the mark and played on immediately, kicking the ball between the goal posts from 50m out, but was penalised for a push in the back, plus fifty metres for wasting time.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/filthy-richo-lashes-umpires/story-e6frf9if-1111113619700 |title=Filthy Richo lashes umpires|work=Sunday Herald Sun|date=27 May 2007|accessdate=29 May 2012}}</ref> The Tigers lost the game, and widespread debate about the hands in the back interpretation followed in the next week.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/teams/michael-it-was-a-push/story-e6frf9l6-1111113764588 |title=Michael: It was a push|first=Jon |last=Ralph|work=Sunday Herald Sun|date=17 June 2007|accessdate=29 May 2012}}</ref> * Round 4, 2022 - Geelong's Tom Hawkins kicked a match winning goal after a "blatant" push with both hands on Brisbane Lions opponent Harris Andrews, ruled as "standing his ground".<ref>[https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/completely-absurd-controversial-moment-mars-friday-night-thriller-as-tom-hawkins-seals-match-for-geelong/news-story/00399faa04eeea52cdf3eafba6af9799 ‘Completely absurd’: Controversial moment mars Friday night thriller as Tom Hawkins seals match for Geelong] by Catherine Healey from Fox Sports 8 April 2022</ref> The decision drew substantial criticism and Hawkins himself admitted that he should have been penalised.<ref>[https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-news-2022-tom-hawkins-push-in-the-back-harris-andrews-geelong-vs-brisbane-lions-afl-360-interview-video/news-story/7f30af2c277dad0fa1b757dbb3ea11f2 Geelong star Tom Hawkins addresses controversial umpiring call in gripping Lions clash]</ref> * Preliminary Final, 2022 - Sydney Swans forward Tom Papley kicked a match winning goal after a push from behind with both hands on Darcy Moore described as "forward craft".<ref>[https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/controversial-tom-papley-free-kick-proves-to-be-match-winner-in-preliminary-final-epic-between-swans-and-pies-c-8271264 Controversial Tom Papley decision proves to be match-winner in preliminary final epic between Swans and Pies] by Harrison Reid for 7 Sports. 18 September 2022</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Australian rules football terminology}}
Category:Australian rules football terminology Category:Laws of Australian rules football Category:Banned sports tactics