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A spectacular mark (also known as a specky, speckie, speccy, screamer or hanger) is a
mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...
(or catch) in
Australian rules 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
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 The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
's annual
Mark of the Year The annual Australian Football League Mark of the Year competition (currently also known as the Four'N Twenty AFL Mark of the Year) is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark. A mark is the action of a player cleanly catchin ...
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

Up until the early 1870s, Australian football was typically played low to the ground in congested
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
-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 The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...
player was praised for leaping "wonderfully high into the air" to mark the ball. 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 Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...
's 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."
Albert Thurgood Albert John Thurgood (11 January 1874 – 8 May 1927) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), VFL/AFL, Victorian Football League (VFL) and the West Australian Football League, Western Australian Football ...
was a later exponent at the turn of the century.
Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan father, Lee Kip Lee, (who wrote for ''The Straits Times'') and his wife , Elizabeth Tan. He was th ...
pulled down consistent high marks in the early 1900s. In South Australia Harold Oliver was considered the best exponent of the high flying mark prior to World War I. It was only when the
push in the back A push in the back (colloquially "in the back") is a free kick awarded in Australian rules football against a player who illegally tackles or interferes with a player from behind when contesting possession. The rule is applied in two different ...
rule was introduced in
1897 Events January–March * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a puniti ...
that high flyers were protected from being pushed in mid air. This prevented potential serious
injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...
. In
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
, "unintentional interference" paved the way for forwards to climb up opposition players' backs to take spectacular marks. In the 1980s it 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. 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 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
effectively disallowed this type of spectacular mark altogether with a polarizing adjustment of the " hands on the back" rule. The intention was that players would use
vertical leap A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...
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.


In popular culture

The specky has been widely celebrated in Australian popular culture. The phrase "the big men fly" is invariably used to describe speckies and ruckmen contesting a
ball-up A ball-up (pl. ball-ups) in Australian rules football is the method by which the field umpire restarts play at a neutral contest after a stoppage within the field of play. It involves the throwing or bouncing of the ball up between two players, ...
, and has even spawned a
play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...
, written by
Alan Hopgood Alan John Hopgood AM (29 September 1934 – 19 March 2022), also known as Alan Hopwood, was an Australian actor, producer, and writer. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film ''Alvin Purple'' and made appearances in television shows such as ...
and first staged in 1963.
Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; uk, Олександр Васильович Єсауленко, Oleksandr Vasiliovych Yesaulenko, ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and t ...
's famous specky in the
1970 VFL Grand Final The 1970 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 26 September 1970. It was the 73rd annual Grand Final of ...
gave rise to the catchphrase " Jesaulenko, You Beauty!". Songs such as Mike Brady's "
Up There Cazaly "Up There Cazaly" is 1979 song by Mike Brady, written to promote Channel Seven's coverage of the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was first performed by the Two-Man Band, a duo of Brady and Peter Sullivan, and has since become an unofficial ...
" (1979) also celebrate the popular spectator phenomenon. In his poem "The High Mark",
Bruce Dawe Donald Bruce Dawe (15 February 1930 – 1 April 2020) was an Australian poet and academic. Some critics consider him one of the most influential Australian poets of all time.
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 In Greek mythology, Icarus (; grc, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros, ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, King Minos suspe ...
"."ABC Radio National – The Sports Factor Transcript – 12 March 1999"
. Retrieved 24 June 2012. There is also a series of football-themed children's novels, co-written by AFL star
Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...
and
Felice Arena Felice Arena is an Australian children's author, actor and playwright. He is best known for the bestselling and award-winning football-themed ''Specky Magee'' series; the action-packed bionic hero series ''Andy Roid''; the sports-themed ''Spor ...
, named ''
Specky Magee The ''Specky Magee'' series is a highly popular and best-selling children’s book series in Australia. The books, written by Felice Arena and renowned Aussie Rules player Garry Lyon, chronicle the life and times of teenager Simon Magee, an aspir ...
''.


Stepladder

In
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 ...
, stepladder describes the player over whom another player
mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...
s to take a ''specky''. In the past, fullbacks have been renowned for inadvertently acting as stepladders. Some players have achieved fame for their role as stepladders of famous marks, such as Graeme "Jerker" Jenkin, who was the stepladder for Alex Jesaulenko's mark in the 1970 VFL Grand Final. Melbourne band
TISM TISM (an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) are a seven-piece anonymous alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia on 30 December 1982 by vocalist/drummer Humphrey B. Flaubert, bassist/vocalist Jock Cheese and keyboardist/vocalist Eu ...
wrote the 1986 song "The Back Upon Which Jezza Jumped" about him. Strong fullbacks
Gary Pert Gary Pert (born 28 May 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Tall, well-built and strong in the air, Pert played over 200 league games, despite suffering two serious knee in ...
, Mick Martyn,
Chris Langford Chris Langford (born 2 January 1963) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who has been an AFL Commissioner since 1999. Player Langford is best known for his 303-game career for the Hawthorn Football Club between 1983 and 1997. ...
and
Matthew Scarlett Matthew Scarlett (born 5 June 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer, who formerly played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A fullback, who is tall and weighing , Scarlett is the eldest son of forme ...
have been stepladders for speckies on multiple occasions.
Warren Tredrea Warren Gary Tredrea (born 24 December 1978) is a former Australian Rules Footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and former Weekday Sports Presenter on ''Nine News Adelaide''. Since his retire ...
was the stepladder of a rare Grand Final spectacular mark taken by Paul Chapman in the
2007 AFL Grand Final The 2007 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2007. It was the 111th annual ...
.


Gallery


References


External links


Personal Best - Jeremy Howe's favourite AFL marks
on
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{{Australian rules football terminology Australian rules football terminology Australian rules football tactics Australian rules football skills