Code amalgamation bits and pieces I have found but not my notes I was looking for.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... an%20rules
Sydney Mail 22/9/1908
PB0P0SED AMALGAMATION.
RUGBY LEAGUE— AUSTRALIAN RULES.
Tbe carnival to be held in Melbourne during August
promises to be the biggest thing yet attempted in
Australia. In New South Wales and Queensland Rugby
holds sway greatly over the games that lead in the
other States, and consequently the event is not, in
the States mentioned, attracting much notice, beyond
tlie Australian rules players. The team to represent
Queensland in the interstate championship is: — J. Hay,
M. Hicks, E. Miller, A. M'Gregor, T. Morris, V.
Lowndes, M. A. O'Dwyer, J. Greenwood, J. Ken, W.
TIT Po rrof _T WoWnmann .T W'TlAMRfiDlf
L. Perkins, H. Parker, L. Kelly, A. Bolton, H. Hop
kins, R. M'Kellar (captain), H. Coatcs, A. Atkinson,
B. Watts. Emergencies, M. Cooper, A. Tipper, J.
Hicksey, E. Watson.
A conference is to be held at Melbourne on August
17, which will, be attended by delegates from the
Autralian States and New Zealand. One very im
portant matter will come before the conference on the
initiative of Mr. J. J. Giltinan, who proposes an amal
gamation between the Australian and the Rugby League
game. Quite a number of letters have been written
to the Australasian Football Council, and the result
is that the delegates will meet a representative Of the
New South Wales Rugby League in conference.
The proposed alterations, however, as can be gather
ed do not intend to interfere with the off-side rule, ?
nor with tackling. A goal may be kicked with a
punt, a drop, or a place kick. Scrums will be
minimised, and the ball when legally kicked out _ of
bounds will be Bcmmmed. Tbe off-side proposal will,
of course, block the hand-balling of the Australian
game, unless ttie ball is passed back. The number of
players a side is proposed to be thirteen, the present
Rugby League number. There lias been for some yearn
an agitation in other States where the Australian game
holds sway for a bar from post to post, and the ball for
goal to be kicked over it; it is proposed to have one in
the new Rugbv-Australian code. The game will be
played in four quarters, and points will be scored as
at Rugby, behinds being ignored. The rock the move
ment is likely to Eplit upon, from an Australian stand
point, is the suggestion to introduce off-side. If there
is one thing Victorians have no time for it is that.
Mr. Giltinan 'a idea is to bring about a universal
game, which is wanted. In nearly every country
where football is played: there are several codes of
rules. In New South Wales we have four — Rugby
Union, Rugby League, Australian game, and British
Association. What a splendid thing it would be it
the lot were one game. At present it seems impos
sible for the league as at present constituted and the
Australian people to come together. In Victoria the
game is amateur; the league here is professional. How
that difference in the constitution is to be overcome
cannot be seen at present, unless the Rugby League
proposes to run an amateur section.
The Victorian people are so wedded to their game
that it seems impossible for the faintest
hope of the proposed amalgamation meeting
with any success at all. Mr. Giltinan has other pro
posals beyond those already mentioned to lay before
the conference, but lie is not prepaTed just now to
make public. He, however, lives in the hope that b«
may persuade the Australasian Football Council to
send a delegate to England, presumably for tbe pur
pose of laying before the English bodies the point* -
in the Australian game.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... an%20rules
Forbes Advocate
14/7/1933
FOOTBALL MERGER
Rugby League and
Australian Rules
If plans which are now afoot
are realised, a fusion may be
, brought about between Rugby
League and Australian Rules foot
ballers whereby a most spectac
ular combination of each game
would be incorporated wit"
Inauguration of -a National code
of football in Australia.
The scheme, which was nionlioiHKl
before the war, has .now been reviv
ed, principally as a result of the see;
retary of the New South Wales Hug-
by League, Mr. H. R. Miller, conferr
ing with the secretary of the Austral
ian National Football League, Mr.
Hlckey, during a trip from Melbourne
to Sydney during last week-end.
Mr. Miller told delegates at the
New South "Wales Rugby League
meeting on Monday that the League
authorities had agreed to a confer
ence in Sydney with the Australian
National Football League.
The sponsors of the scheme believe
that in time the English League
might be enticed do adopt the new
and most spectacular code and that
it would later , spread to other coun
tries. The idea behind the proposal Is
to play matches on the Sheffield
Shield basis, with possible tests be
tween England, Australia and other
nations which might adopt the code.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... an%20rules
The (Adelaide) Advertiser
13/7/33
PROPOSED MERGER
OF FOOTBALL CODES
Points Which Would Have To
Be Overcome
EFFECT OF OFFSIDE RULE
By "ROVER"
The suggestion that Australian
rules and Rugby League football
authorities should confer in Syd-
ney during the Australian rules
carnival early next month, with the
object of amalgamating the two codes,
was widely discussed by footballers yes-
terday, but as there are few people in
Adelaide who have played, or have a
sound knowledge of, both codes, no defi-
nite opinion could be obtained as to the
feasibility of a merger between the two
games.
Older officials recalled that an at-
tempt had been made to reach an agree-
ment on the point nearly 20 years ago,
but there were stumbling blocks, not
the least of which was the off side rule
in Rugby, which held up negotiations.
Finally the outberak of war put an end
to the amalgamation movement.
The secretary of the Football League
(Mr. F. Marlow), who has been con-
nected with the South Australian con-
trolling body longer than any other
delegate or official, remembers the pro-
posals made in 1914, and expressed the
opinion yesterday that though a con-
ference between the two bodies would
do no harm, there was little possibility
of any tangible result being reached.
League delegates and former League
footballers, nearly all of whom are totally
ignorant of Rugby League rules, ex-
pressed similar opinions, the general
feeling being that the ideal of a national
game of football which would enable
the huge football-loving crowds of
New South Wales and Queensland to
join forces with the Australian rules
enthusiasts In Victoria, South Aus-
tralia, Western Australia, and Tas-
mania, justified any attempt at amalga-
mation.
Jim Handby, former interstate
player, expressed the opinion that it
was a commendable step towards uni-
formity of football codes in Australia.
The Australian game and Rugby had a
number of points of similarity, and yet
had others so far apart that it was dif-
ficult to imagine an affiliation. Tour-
ing teams, playing the new game,
would attract tremendous crowds
throughout the Commonwealth, but
there would be great difficulty in mak-
ing an international game out of it.
Rugby Point Of View
There is no Rugby League organisa-
tion in South Australia. When the
game was started in Adelaide last year,
it was decided to play the Union code,
which is purely amateur, but the
league rules were evolved from the
Union game, and have few important
differences. Opinion in Adelaide Rugby
circles is that if the proposed merger
did take place, it might be a good thing
for Rugby Union, which is already
established in all the capital cities of
Australia, and which would probably go
ahead still further while the other
games were in a disorganised condition
owing to the change.
Spectacular phases of Rugby, com-
mon to the League and Union codes,
are tackling the man with the ball,
passing movements, and the ability to
run with the ball without any restric-
tion such as bouncing it.
A fundamental difference from the
Australian game is the operation of the
off-side rule. This rule provides that
a man must not get in front of the
ball. A player cannot wait up the
field for a man on his side to kick it
to him, as in Australian rules foot-
ball. Generally speaking, if he is in
front, he must wait till the kicker is
level with him before he follows up the
ball. Passing forward is not allowed,
but passing movements along a line
of men. and straight running, are
other features of Rugby.
Tackling And High Marking
One of the most spectacular phases
of Rugby is tackling. A Rugby player
said yesterday that it would be impos-
sible to incorporate this feature in the
proposed code if high marking was also
included. Hard tackling is quite safe
if the man tackled is running along
the ground, but would be extremely
dangerous if done to a man flying high
for a ball.
Referee Sydney
7/4/1938
UTOPIAN MERGE!
Australian Rules and
Rugby League
The hardy annual. Suggested
in Sydney newspapers that
the throw-pass to he played by
the Victorian Association indicates that Australian Rules and
Rugby League will some day
merge into one game with the
millions hanging on the gates.
Just Utopian.
International football Is not
possible with a hybrid game. It
is possible in Melbourne only if
the Victorian Association adopts
Rugby League holus-bolus.
Even then, It will mean little
since the Victorian League and
its clubs are THE game in Mel
bourne.