Editing Spectacular mark

{{short description|Type of mark in Australian rules football}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}}
[[File:Ian McKay Spectacular Mark.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Ian McKay (footballer)|Ian McKay]] of [[North Adelaide Football Club|North Adelaide]] leaps for a spectacular mark during the [[1952 SANFL Grand Final]] against {{SANFL Nor}} at [[Adelaide Oval]].]]
A '''spectacular mark''' (also known as a '''specky''', '''speckie''', '''speccy''', '''screamer''' or '''hanger''') is a [[mark (Australian rules football)|mark]] (or catch) in [[Australian rules football]] that typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player.

The spectacular mark has become a much celebrated aspect of the sport. Many of the winners of the [[Australian Football League]]'s annual [[Mark of the Year]] competition could be considered 'speckies', and commentators will often call an individual specky "a contender" in reference to this competition and the mark's likeliness to win it.

== 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>

==In popular culture==
{{see also|Australian rules football in Australian popular culture}}
[[File:Fremantle Oval Statue.jpg|thumb|200px|Statue by [[Robert Hitchcock]] outside [[Fremantle Oval]] of [[South Fremantle Football Club|South Fremantle]]'s [[John Gerovich]] taking a "specky" over [[East Fremantle Football Club|East Fremantle]]'s Ray French in the 1956 [[West Australian Football League|WANFL]] preliminary final]]
The specky has been widely celebrated in Australian popular culture. The phrase "the big men fly" is invariably used to describe speckies and [[ruckman (Australian rules football)|ruckmen]] contesting a [[ball-up]], and has even spawned a [[And the Big Men Fly|play of the same name]], written by [[Alan Hopgood]] and first staged in 1963. [[Alex Jesaulenko]]'s famous specky in the [[1970 VFL Grand Final]] gave rise to the catchphrase "[[Alex Jesaulenko#"Oh Jesaulenko, you beauty!"|Jesaulenko, You Beauty!]]". Songs such as [[Mike Brady (musician)|Mike Brady]]'s "[[Up There Cazaly]]" (1979) also celebrate the popular spectator phenomenon. In his poem "The High Mark", [[Bruce Dawe]] sees the specky as an expression of the human aspiration to fly. The poem ends with a footballer falling "back to Earth"—a "guernseyed [[Icarus]]".<ref>[http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1999/sportsf/sf990312.htm "ABC Radio National – The Sports Factor Transcript – 12 March 1999"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722013607/http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/1999/sportsf/sf990312.htm |date=22 July 2012 }}. Retrieved 24 June 2012.</ref>

There is also a popular series of football-themed children's novels, co-written by [[Felice Arena]] and AFL star [[Garry Lyon]], named ''[[Specky Magee]]''.

== Stepladder and springboard ==

In [[Australian words|Australian slang]], a '''stepladder''' describes the player over whom another player [[Mark (Australian football)|mark]]s to take a ''specky''. In the past, full-backs have been renowned for inadvertently acting as stepladders.

Some players have achieved fame for their role as stepladders of famous marks, including [[Graeme Jenkin|Graeme "Jerker" Jenkin]], who was the stepladder for Alex Jesaulenko's mark in the [[1970 VFL grand final|1970 VFL Grand Final]]. Melbourne band [[TISM]] wrote the 1986 song "The Back Upon Which Jezza Jumped" about him.

Strong [[Football (Australian rules) positions|full-back]]s [[Gary Pert]], [[Mick Martyn (Australian footballer)|Mick Martyn]], [[Chris Langford]] and [[Matthew Scarlett]] have been stepladders for speckies on multiple occasions.

[[Warren Tredrea]] was the stepladder of a rare Grand Final spectacular mark taken by [[Paul Chapman (footballer, born 1981)|Paul Chapman]] in the [[2007 AFL Grand Final]].

In some rare cases, a would-be stepladder becomes a '''springboard''' when the marking player gets a secondary boost off another player. A famous example is a 2001 Essendon–Western Bulldogs game where Essendon's [[Gary Moorcroft]] took [[Mark of the Year]] by using Western Bulldogs' [[Brad Johnson (Australian footballer)|Brad Johnson]] as a springboard, a mark which many consider to be the greatest mark of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The greatest EVER mark confirmed: The fans have spoken |url=https://www.afl.com.au/news/632065/so-what-is-the-greatest-mark-ever-the-fans-have-spoken |access-date=2022-08-07 |website=afl.com.au |language=en}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery
|title=Spectacular marks
|width=160 | height=170
|align=center
|footer=
|File:Howe mark over McDonald.2.jpg
|[[Jeremy Howe]] of {{AFL Col}} taking a spectacular mark in 2017.|File:Puopolo specky.1.jpg
|[[Paul Puopolo]] of {{AFL Haw}} taking a spectacular mark in 2017.
|File:Aussie rules paste up.jpg
|Stencil of [[Stephen Silvagni]] from {{AFL Car}} taking the Mark of the Year in 1988.
|File:John Coleman mark 1950.jpg
 |[[John Coleman (Australian footballer)|John Coleman]] of {{AFL Ess}} takes a spectacular mark over {{AFL NM}} full-back [[Vic Lawrence (Australian rules footballer)|Vic Lawrence]] in 1953.
|File:Barry King spectacular mark over Tom Jones in the VFA from Sporting Globe 21 August 1948 pg 1.png
|Barry King takes a spectacular mark in 1948
|File:Jim Park (1938).jpeg
|[[Jim Park (footballer, born 1910)|Jim Park]] of {{AFL Car}} taking a spectacular mark in 1938.
|File:Laurie_Nash1937.jpg
|[[Laurie Nash]] of {{AFL Syd}} taking a spectacular mark in 1937
|File:BobPrattleaping.jpg
| [[Bob Pratt]] taking a spectacular mark in 1934
|File:Bob Pratt marks over Dibbs from The Herald 15 July 1935 Pg 24.png
 |[[Bob Pratt]] taking a spectacular mark in 1935
| File:Ron Todd 1935-1939.jpg
 |[[Ron Todd (footballer)|Ron Todd]] of {{AFL Col}} taking a spectacular mark in the 1930s
||[[Gary Moorcroft]] of {{AFL Ess}} taking the 2001 [[Mark of the Year]]}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNjgivOBjlk Personal Best - Jeremy Howe's favourite AFL marks] on [[YouTube]]

{{Australian rules football terminology}}

[[Category:Australian rules football terminology]]
[[Category:Australian rules football tactics]]
[[Category:Australian rules football skills]]