milton writes:

Subject: oldest game in the world

Australian football is directly derived from Marn Grook [the aboriginal name for the game]. Marn Grook was played throughout the continent before European settlement. In remote areas, Marn Grook is still played today and is almost identical to Australian football [except for the possum skin ball and the lack of formal goal posts]. The aborigines have always claimed Australian football to have been their game [with a European accredited as its FOUNDER merely because he wrote the rules down on paper]. That European [Tom Wills] was largely brought up by a local aboriginal tribe and was one of the few Europeans that spoke the language. How long have the aborigines been playing Marn Grook? Given that the aborigines have been demonstrated as occupying the whole of the continent minimally 40000 years ago and that Marn Grook was played by [as far as it is known], by every mainland tribe, then it is highly probable that it was played before recorded history or any recorded civilisation!