In 1924 the very first issue of the annual school magazine (The Brown and Gold) devotes two pages to lively and detailed descriptions of every match for the very successful season. The writing style is rather different from modern commentators.
‘An important feature of the Australian game is that it is forbidden to touch a man below the knees; it is forbidden to touch his arms; it is forbidden to touch his back. These drastic rules leave little opportunity for players to be rough….Football! There is a charm in the very word. Just hear it breathed and you immediately picture to yourself a green oval with four uprights at each end, and on it thirty six athletic figures… You immediately see that tense struggle, feel the excitement, hear the roar of delight when the ball skims gracefully between the goal posts.
In 1939 another contributor eloquently writes that ‘ the strenuous game of football leaves us rather tired and bruised, but we learn the meaning of obedience to rules, self-confidence, self-control, the two pleasures of play (winning and losing), and a lot more. Those are lessons you learn when you are prepared to strip and get out into the cold and wet and chase that football with a will. Certainly you feel more comfortable in your overcoat, and it requires very little effort to lean against the fence and howl at the players. But who prefers to be a spectator when he can sit down after that strenuous third-quarter and wipe his wet brow while he sucks his orange? And there’s more than an orange to be gained from it!’
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