Push in the back

An 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 be 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.

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.

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.

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.[1] 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.[1] One of the commonly cited reasons for its rejection is the difficulty in officiating was seen to outweigh the benefit.

The Ballarat Football Club enforced such a rule in 1872.[6] 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.[7] The rule was then debated by clubs at a 1874 conference but was again voted down.[8] In practice, however its use as a tactic was increasing and umpired began to penalise it with free kicks despite the absence of a rule.[9]

By 1876, South Australian leagues, also playing under their own rules, began to outlaw the practice in marking contests.[10] 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 they included the ability to push players from behind.

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[11] as something that rugby fans in the colony would not stomach.

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 of argued that without the Push in the Back rule, their game was much safer to play than the Victorian code. 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. In Queensland, 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.[12]

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.[13] The NSWFA believed that the Victorian league would follow its lead to "reduce the game's roughness", however it did not.[14]

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.[12] In 1884 the QFA in response finally went against the VFA's advice and passed a push in the back rule,[15] however it was seen by many as too little too late to prevent rugby from gaining traction in the colony.

South Australian leagues began agitating for the change to what was considered by far the most dangerous aspect of the game.[16] Deliberate pushing in the back by unspirited clubs was seen as a blight on the game by South Australians.[17] As such, representative matches in South Australia frequently rejected the Victorian rule allowing pushing.[18]

Between 1885 and 1887 high marking was becoming popular in Victoria[19] and clubs began requesting more protection for players jumping for the ball.

At a meeting of the Australasian Football Council in 1890 a motion was passed banning pushing in the back in a marking contest.[20]

After decades of controversy a rule against pushing for both marking and "running with the ball" was finally adopted in 1897 by the Victorian Football League. The introduction of 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) in 1904 helped usher in an era of spectacular marking which further increased the code's appeal.

In 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.[21] The Tigers lost the game, and widespread debate about the hands in the back interpretation followed in the next week.[22]