Editing Spectacular mark (section)

== History ==
[[File:Dick Lee Spectacular Mark.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Dick Lee (Australian footballer)|Dick Lee]], 1914]]
Up until the early 1870s, Australian football was typically played low to the ground in congested [[rugby football|rugby]]-style packs, and as such, marks were generally taken on the chest. Occasional high marks were recorded; as early as 1862 a [[Melbourne Football Club]] player was praised for leaping "wonderfully high into the air" to mark the ball.<ref>''[[Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle]]'', 6 September 1862.</ref> Spectacular marks became more common in the 1880s, a time in which the game's style of play opened up and teams adopted positional structures resembling those in use today. [[Essendon Football Club|Essendon]]'s [[Charlie Pearson|Charlie "Commotion" Pearson]] was a prominent high-flyer of this period. An 1886 match report captured the excitement his aerial skills were generating: "Mr Pearson ... gave spectators many thrilling moments with his phenomenal leaps skyward. What a thrill the game would become as a spectacle if all players tried out this new idea."<ref>''The Argus'', 24 May 1886.</ref> [[Albert Thurgood]] was a later exponent at the turn of the century. 
It was only when the [[push in the back|push-in-the-back]] rule was introduced in [[1897 VFL season|1897]] that high-flyers were protected from being pushed in mid air. This prevented potential serious [[sports injury|injury]]. 

In the 1900s, an "unintentional interference" (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), first introduced by the VFL in [[1904 VFL season|1904]], 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>  This paved the way for forwards to climb up opposition players' backs to take spectacular marks.

[[Dick Lee (Australian footballer)|Dick Lee]] consistently pulled down high marks in the early 1900s. In South Australia, [[Harold Oliver (Australian footballer)|Harold Oliver]] was considered the best exponent of the high-flying mark prior to World War I. In the 1920s, [[Roy Cazaly]] was a frequent exponent, as was [[Bob Pratt]] in the 1930s. In the 1940s, [[John Coleman (Australian footballer)|John Coleman]] was known for his high marking. In the 1970s, [[Paul Vander Haar]] and [[Peter Knights]] were renowned for their aerial prowess.

The 1980s saw an era of increased professionalism including the use of the ruck pad in training, as well as long direct kicking, combining to produce more aerial feats. Several players in this decade would consistently take spectacular marks, including [[Gary Ablett Snr]] and [[Trevor Barker]]. It also became common for exponents of the spectacular mark to achieve extra elevation by levering or propping the hands or arms off the shoulders of opponents. [[Warwick Capper]] was a regular proponent of this technique. According to the strict interpretation of the rules, this is in fact illegal interference. Sometimes, however, umpires would interpret in favour of the marking player if the interference was minor and deemed to be part of the jumping action. The AFL Rules Committee in [[2007 AFL season|2007]] effectively disallowed this type of spectacular mark altogether with a polarizing adjustment of the "[[Push in the back|hands-on-the-back]]" rule. The intention was that players would use [[vertical leap]] only; however, it did not increase the frequency of spectacular marks and resulted in many more frustrating free kicks. Many players use their arms and hands to balance naturally while in the air to gain greater height without pushing their opponent. As a result, the AFL relaxed this interpretation again in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.afl.com.au/news/140698/new-rules-revealed-nine-changes-for-2019|title=New rules revealed: Nine changes for 2019|website=afl.com.au}}</ref>