Woggabaliri is a traditionalIndigenous Australian co-operative kicking volley game. Described as a kicking game similar tosoccer played in a group of four to six players in a circle, the game has been encouraged in schools inNew South Wales andQueensland.
In 1999 Australian author Ken Edwards, then Associate Professor in Sport, Health and Physical Education at theQueensland University of Technology, published a bookChoopadoo: Games from the Dreamtime,[unreliable source?] in which he makes mention of a game played by theWiradjuri children near theBogan River andLachlan River.[citation needed] 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.[1] Ken Edwards and Troy Meston stated that the word Woggabaliri comes from theWiradjuri word for "play".[2] However according to the official Wiradjuri dictionary (as researched byDr Stan Grant andDr John Rudder) the word for play iswagigi.[3][4]Robert Hamilton Mathews, studyingAboriginal Australian languages, listed the wordwoggabaliri in 1901 as theNgunnawal word for "play".[5]
TheAustralian Sports Commission (ASC) in 2000 cited permission to "use and adapt" Edwards'Choopadoo book to publish a derivative titledIndigenous 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.[6][better source needed]Indigenous Traditional Games has subsequently been cited as a source for Woggabaliri by others, such as English-Australian fantasy author Malcom Walker.[7]
In 2002 the ASC also funded the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation andAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission to promote Woggabaliri to schools as part of the Indigenous Sports program (ISC).[8]
In 2007 Dr Patrick Greene, CEO ofMuseums Victoria, discoveredGustav Mützel's 1862 engravings of findings from theBlandowski expedition, including a depiction ofJarijari in 1857, observed atMondellimin (nowMerbein, 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 thebulrush). 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".[citation needed]
In 2010Football Federation Australia (FFA) in itsAustralian 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, connected the Australian Sports Commission's Edwards-based game to Mützel's image and cited the similarity tofootball (soccer) as evidence thatfootball (soccer) 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".[9]
Historian John Maynard, in his 2011 bookThe 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 ofassociation football (soccer).[10] The 2011 bestseller received aDeadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature.[11] Maynard's book and its reference to Woggabaliri was subsequently widely cited. A passionate soccer fan, following his Ph.D at theUniversity 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 toAustralian football.[12] Former soccer playerCraig Foster in 2011 wrote anopinion piece supporting Maynard's theory connecting Woggabaliri with soccer.[13]
In 2010, Ian Syson ofThe 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 derogatoryAustralian slang term for soccer, suggesting that the choice of name may betongue-in-cheek.[14]
Historian David Thompson is critical of Ken Edwards' evidence of Woggabaliri, claiming to having found no academic sources.[15]
According to the NSW Office of Sport, it is a kicking game similar tosoccer played in a group of four to six players in a circle 2 m (6 ft 7 in) apart and uses either a soccer ball,volleyball, or soft beach ball.[16] It can be played by groups of four to six players standing in a circle using feet and knees only,[17] 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.[18][19]
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.[18][19]