What is the connection between Australian Rules and Ki-o-Rahi?

Question

What is the connection between Australian Rules and Ki-o-Rahi?

Answer 1

None, as far as I know.  Australian rules is the oldest codified football game and was largely invented by Tom Wills and his cousin from about 1858 on.  Wills was a fine cricketer and had attended Rugby School in England.  He adopted the elliptical Rugby style ball but eliminated or reduced the tackling, scrums, rucks and mauls to reduce on-field injuries, or perhaps these were eliminated later.  Will's idea was to keep cricketers fit during the winter non-cricket season.  

What relationship Australian Rules has to Gaelic football, which is rather similar I'm not sure, whether one was based on the other or developed independently I don't know.  

To the best of my knowledge the Wills family had no connection with New Zealand.  Tom's father Horatio may have been there briefly in the late 1820s as a teenage whaler and sealer but that would have been very brief. After a period as a newspaperman and printer in Sydney, Horatio married and took his family to Burra, not far from modern Canberra and then later to the Mt. Ararat area of Victoria, this would have been away from the Sydney port and news from New Zealand.  The young Tom spent much time with aboriginal children and it's possible that Australian rules might have picked up ideas from aboriginal games.    

After Tom's scholastic failure in England, partly due to his sporting interests, it seems unlikely that Horatio would have given Tom much information on the Maori game, even if he had known about it.  Horatio was killed in October 1861 at Cullin-la-ringo in Central Queensland, more than 1200 miles from Melbourne while Tom was absent from the property, so there could have been no further input from his father.    

However it's possible that Tom had heard of the Maori game from others.      

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_...

Answer 2

Haven't heard of Ki-o-Rahi, but thanks Ken for providing such an informative answer on this question!!

Answer 3

I have no idea.

Answer 4

Below is a cut & paste about the Maori game of Ki-o-Rahi. One can compare the two games & make up their own minds re any connection or similarity.....

******Ki-o-Rahi is a traditional pre-European Māori ball game. It is a fast running contact sport, played on a circular field, involving imaginative handling and swift inter passing of a "ki" (ball). Before the arrival of Europeans, Ki-o-Rahi was played by Māori throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand. Often different tribes would play different adaptations of the game.

A tribe which had especially strong and fit ball players among its members could sometimes be solicited for help by another tribe preparing for war. A messenger would present a "ki" or "poi" to the chief, which would represent an invitation to join the tribe in battle.******