Woggabaliri is a traditional

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

co-operative kicking volley game. Described as a kicking game similar to

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

played in a group of four to six players in a circle, the game has been encouraged in schools in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Origin

Ken Edwards research

In 1999 Australian author Ken Edwards, then Associate Professor in Sport, Health and Physical Education at the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

, published a book ''Choopadoo: Games from the Dreamtime'', in which he makes mention of a game played by the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

children near the Bogan River and

Lachlan River The Lachlan River (Wiradjuri: ''Kalari'', ''Galiyarr'') is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New Sou ...

. Historian David Thompson while investigating Aboriginal games, alleges that Edwards simply coined the term using an existing Aboriginal word and attributed it to various observations across outback Victoria and New South Wales. Ken Edwards and Troy Meston stated that the word Woggabaliri comes from the

word for "play". However according to the official Wiradjuri dictionary (as researched by Dr Stan Grant and Dr John Rudder) the word for play is ''wagigi''.

Robert Hamilton Mathews Robert Hamilton Mathews (1841–1918) was an Australian surveyor and self-taught anthropologist who studied the Aboriginal cultures of Australia, especially those of Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland. He was a member of the ...

, studying

Aboriginal Australian languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, listed the word ''woggabaliri'' in 1901 as the Ngunnawal word for "play". The

Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as S ...

(ASC) in 2000 cited permission to "use and adapt" Edwards' ''Choopadoo'' book to publish a derivative titled ''Indigenous Traditional Games'', listing it as one of 19 games complete with lists of rules. The ASC's John Evans copied the descriptions of the games verbatim from Edwards' book, though further modified Woggabaliri with additional rules to make it suitable for contemporary children to play.Acknowledgements - Indigenous Traditional Games Australian Sports Commission 2000 ''Indigenous Traditional Games'' has subsequently been cited as a source for Woggabaliri by others, such as English-Australian fantasy author Malcom Walker.

Funding and grants based on Woggabaliri

In 2002 the ASC also funded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting thei ...

to promote Woggabaliri to schools as part of the Indigenous Sports program (ISC).

FIFA World Cup bids

In 2007 Dr Patrick Greene, CEO of

Museums Victoria Museums Victoria is an organisation that includes a number of museums and related bodies in Melbourne. These include Melbourne Museum, Immigration Museum, Scienceworks, IMAX Melbourne, a research institute, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Roy ...

, discovered Gustav Mützel's 1862 engravings of findings from the Blandowski expedition, including a depiction of Jarijari in 1857, observed at Mondellimin (now Merbein, Victoria). In the background of this engraving a child can be seen kicking the "ball" with others attempting to catch it, the caption translated from German reads "A group of children is playing with a ball. The ball is made out of typha roots (roots of the

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland graminoid, grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **''Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **''Scirpoides'' **''Isolepis'' **''Schoenoplectus'' **''Trichophorum'' ...

). It is not thrown or hit with a bat, but is kicked up in the air with a foot. The aim of the game - never let the ball touch the ground". In 2010

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

(FFA) in its Australian 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, connected the Australian Sports Commission's Edwards-based game to Mützel's image and cited the similarity to

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as evidence that

had a history in Australia stretching back thousands of years. Rod Allen, FFA media relations was quoted "We'd hope a wider knowledge of Woggabaliri might encourage more indigenous kids to play football"."The Australian Game - FFA highlights indigenous soccer ties", by Tim Hilferti. ''The Advertiser'', 24 October 2010, p.79.

John Maynard research

Historian John Maynard, in his 2011 book ''The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe'', reiterating the FFA's attribution of Mützel's image, proclaimed it as Australia's first football game, and strongly link it to the modern game of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(soccer). The 2011 bestseller received a

Deadly Award The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ac ...

for Outstanding Achievement in Literature. Maynard's book and its reference to Woggabaliri was subsequently widely cited. A passionate soccer fan, following his Ph.D at the University of Newcastle in 2003, Maynard began studying Aboriginal involvement in 2004, writing in 2008 of the significant under-representation of Indigenous Australians in the "world game" in comparison to

Australian football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

. Former soccer player Craig Foster in 2011 wrote an

opinion piece An opinion piece is an article, usually published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about a subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals. Editorials Opinion pieces may take the form of an editorial, ...

supporting Maynard's theory connecting Woggabaliri with soccer.

Hoax claims

In 2010, Ian Syson of ''The Footy Almanac'' alleged that Woggabaliri was a hoax perpetrated by the Australian Sports Commission to further Australia's World Cup bid. He pointed out the similarity between the words "Woggabaliri" and "wogball", a derogatory

Australian slang Australian English is a major variety of the English language spoken throughout Australia. Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences. The vocabulary of Australia is drawn fr ...

term for soccer, suggesting that the choice of name may be

tongue-in-cheek Tongue-in-cheek is an idiom that describes a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walte ...

. Historian David Thompson is critical of Ken Edwards claim of the existence of Woggabaliri, having found no academic sources to support it.

Modern play

Basic rules

According to the NSW Office of Sport, it is a kicking game similar to

played in a group of four to six players in a circle apart and uses either a soccer ball,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, or soft beach ball. It can be played by groups of four to six players standing in a circle using feet and knees only, in no set order but without consecutive touches, the players attempt to keep the ball from touching the ground. The group that has the most touches in a set time wins. If the ball touches the ground the count is restarted.

Team rules

Two teams of four play on a volleyball-court-sized pitch with football (soccer) goals at each end. A game consists of two halves lasting 10 minutes each. Players may use feet, knees, thighs, chest and head to keep the ball aloft with the team losing possession if the ball touches the ground, is intercepted or an infringement occurs. Tackling is not permitted, and goals can be scored from any part of the pitch.

References

Sources

* *{{Cite book, title = A New Wiradjuri Dictionary , last1 = Rudder , first1 = John , last2 = Grant , first2 = Stan , author2-link = Stan Grant (Wiradjuri elder) , year = 2010 , publisher = Restoration House , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7VqzXwAACAAJ&q=,+A+first+Wiradjuri+dictionary, , isbn = 978-0-869-42150-5 Indigenous Australian culture Cooperative games Ball games Ancient sports Indigenous Australian sport Sports originating in Australia Australian Aboriginal words and phrases