Why we call it Man of the Match

[russ13]

http://tribe13.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/award/


“MAN OF THE MATCH” v “BEST ON GROUND”

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Tribe13
Written bySean Fagan for Tribe13.com.au
Like just about everyone else who saw the 2010 NRL Grand Final coverage, I thought the pre-match entertainment was a big yawn - then again, apart from the year the Hoodoo Gurus performed, when hasn’t it been?
There’s no argument that the AFL do the pre-match entertainment far better than the NRL. For the most part though, it hasn’t really bothered me as I figure that like me, most rugby league fans are more interested in getting on with the kick-off to the game itself, rather than worrying about whether Lionel Ritchie was more compelling than Jessica Mauboy.
It did strike me as a bit strange that once commentator Ray Warren took over, he felt compelled to compare the St George Illawarra Dragons to Collingwood, and then quickly tempered his enthusiasm for the Olympic Stadium atmosphere by showing due reverance to Australian rules fans and the MCG.
Why there should be any need in coverage of rugby league to refer to Australian rules at all is perplexing, to say the least.
There’s a few commentators who seemingly by reflex can’t help but refer to AFL whenever a rugby league player leaps in the air to catch the ball, as if this is a new skill previously unknown throughout the past 100 years or more of the game.
An equally disturbing trend is the “man of the match” in rugby league being referred to as “best on ground” – the latter is a term that has been part of Australian rules since the early 1900s, but has only over the past two to three years begun to creep into rugby league media.
The Clive Churchill Medal is awarded to the “man of the match” in the Grand Final.
The Courier Mail’s Peter Badel described [here] the award differently:

“Brisbane pretty much didn’t want me,” Boyd recalled as the best-on-ground medal glistened around his neck. “They said you can stay but we probably won’t re-sign you when you’re off contract.
​

Not that the code’s official journals are immune, as the NRL’s own website wrote [here] after the 2009 Grand Final:

Who Was Hot… Slater was awarded best on ground. He was stirring in attack, his whippet-like darts (165 metres) setting up plenty of Storm raids. But NRL.com’s player of the match was Storm halfback Cooper Cronk
​

Obviously, the idea of singling out one player for special mention is as old as team sport. But the phrases/terminology are unique in origin. Generally, one local newspaper writer probably used a phrase a few times and it then came into common usage.
Many traditions in rugby league come from cricket. Cricket reports in England after WW1 singled out for mention the top run scorer using a phrase the “high score man of the match.”
The earliest “man of the match” use in a newspaper I’ve seen here in Australia (in any sport) was in cabled reports from England to Australian newspapers of rugby league matches during the 1933 Kangaroos tour.
So “man of the match” appears to have morphed across from English cricket to English rugby league (and probably English soccer too.) In amateur rugby union, of course, it was not the done thing to boost up one player above the team.
After WW2, with rugby league firmly pushing its image as “a man’s game” (notably popularised via Vic Hey’s 1950 biography booklet that had “A Man’s Game” as its title), “man of the match” suited well and has stuck eversince…well, until now that is…
The Australian rules term – Best on Ground – has an entirely different story, belonging alongside “Grand Champion” and other prize winning award titles for farm and stock animals that originated in late 19th century agricultural shows.

“One feature was that small graziers carried off some principal prizes against larger graziers. The prize for grand champion ram and best on ground went to George Knight, selector, on Wunnamurra, beating all principal station breeders. Riverina grand champion ewe and best ewe in yard went to the executors of D McCaughey, Coree Station.” [Jerilderie Show, July 1905]
​

The “best on ground” is judged solely upon appearances, while the “man of the match” – with the emphasis on the “man” – infers conduct, and how you played the game “as a man”, not merely that you were the best player.
Some will ignore the above and continue to argue the two terms are inter-changeable, and of so minor import and merely semantics, that who really cares if one is used or the other.
Aside from imagining the outrage in AFL circles if that game’s commentators started to use ”man of the match” in lieu of “best on ground”, my reply would be to say that if any sport cares so little for maintaining its own cultural traditions and unique sporting lexicons, then it really ought to examine what it stands for, and where it is heading.

 

[skeepe]

Of more concern to me is the amount of people who refer to winning the premiership as winning the flag. Who the f**k wants a piddly little flag for being crowned the best team in the competition?

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Of course the AFL pre-match entertainment is better. It has to be. That's what happens when you have nothing meaningful before the AFL GF as opposed to NSW Cup - a break long enough to refill the bar fridge - NYC - a break long enough to refill the bar fridge - Grand Final.

 

[BunniesMan]

Seriously? Someone devoted an article to debating the merits of "man of the match" compared to "best on ground". So we stole one term from cricket and now we're stealing another one from AFL. Big deal. It's obvious the bloke who wrote this was on a deadline, couldn't think of anything better and came up with this.

 

[fourplay]

I thought the article was interesting. I also think it's important to preserve the cultural traditions of our great game.

 

[mrpwnd]

Can I just say, Who gives a f**k?

 

[innsaneink]

Of more concern to me is the amount of people who refer to winning the premiership as winning the flag. Who the f**k wants a piddly little flag for being crowned the best team in the competition?

Peter Tunks of all people called it this last week or the week before, I unloaded on him about it in an email, no surprise it wasnt read on-air.

Even Collingwood afaik recied a trophy, no flag...but maybe Im missing something there that I really couldnt give a sh*t about

 

[Nuke]

It's a minor point, but I agree with the article. Maybe not so much how the best player in the game is termed, but moreso how commentators, journalists, ect, seem happy to refer to aussie rules when commentating or writing about Rugby League. I personally hate it when a commentator refers to someone's catching ability to that of a AFL player. I always have - even as a kid when I liked that sh*t 'sport'. I can almost guarentee that League is never referenced during aussie rules games.

Actually, I tell a lie. About 10yrs ago, I wanted to watch Ch9's Friday night movie that was on after their aussie rules game. As tv programmes do, it was running overtime by a few minutes, so I walked out of the room for 5mins. When I returned, they were doing that bit where they promote other Ch9 sporting programmes over the weekend. One of the commentators (full of Victorian arrogance which I can't stand) had to promote the NRL game coming up later that night and did so by saying "It's a moronic game, but the locals seem to like it". By contrast, later that night at the same point in the NRL telecast, Peter Sterling promoted the aussie rules game in his usual professional manner. I would think he was pretty much just following orders and reading the teleprompter, but that's not the point.

There's no need to reference that crap in our great game. When was the last time they reference another sport? Union is our nearest rival as far as comparing sports is concerned ... and I think it's only ever mentioned when talking about Lote Tuqiri's return, or Mark Gasnier's, ect.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Peter Tunks of all people called it this last week or the week before, I unloaded on him about it in an email, no surprise it wasnt read on-air.

Even Collingwood afaik recied a trophy, no flag...but maybe Im missing something there that I really couldnt give a sh*t about

The winner of the AFL does get a flag saying 2010 premiers which they fly over their homeground/officers for the year.
I'm told that it's very much like the gay pride flag.

 

[Brutus]

Of more concern to me is the amount of people who refer to winning the premiership as winning the flag. Who the f**k wants a piddly little flag for being crowned the best team in the competition?

I heard NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell refer to winning the NRL premiership as "the flag" several times during the finals series.

Checked his history to find out he was originally from Victoria.

Barry, if you're going to pretend to be a league fan then at least use the correct terms.

 

[maccattack]

I thought the article was interesting. I also think it's important to preserve the cultural traditions of our great game.

agree totally.

 

[LeagueXIII]

I heard NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell refer to winning the NRL premiership as "the flag" several times during the finals series.

Checked his history to find out he was originally from Victoria.

Barry, if you're going to pretend to be a league fan then at least use the correct terms.

Exactly, even dopey Kevin Sheedy has gone from calling the game rugby (when he lived in Vic) to league now that he is in Sydney.

 

[grouch]

I agree with the article and believe it is a valid discussion. Language comprises a large part of any culture, and the language of rugby league is no different. You wouldn't accept terms like "pennant" or "superbowl" or "MVP" entering the league lexicon, so why cop "flag" and "best on ground"?

 

[Haynzy]

It's a minor point, but I agree with the article. Maybe not so much how the best player in the game is termed, but moreso how commentators, journalists, ect, seem happy to refer to aussie rules when commentating or writing about Rugby League. I personally hate it when a commentator refers to someone's catching ability to that of a AFL player. I always have - even as a kid when I liked that sh*t 'sport'. I can almost guarentee that League is never referenced during aussie rules games.

They'll sometimes mention RL when Gary Jack's young bloke is playing.
Also i heard them talk about some guy's league background when he made a fairly average tackle...they got all excited about his 'hit' and i was thinking it wasn't all that good :lol:

 

[RL1908]

Interesting to read some of the varying views here. I know in the scheme of things this seems like a minor issue, but over time if nothing is done you can erode the meanings and intentions of the game's culture and history. Being the "best on ground" is not the same at being "the best and fairest", or the "man of the match". As I wrote, that latter term had its origins in a similar term in cricket, but it was RL that shortened it and gave it a meaning that reflected what the game on the field was about - manliness.

Of more concern to me is the amount of people who refer to winning the premiership as winning the flag. Who the f**k wants a piddly little flag for being crowned the best team in the competition?

Spot on. I should have mentioned that one too. It has its origins in baseball, where the winning team raise their pennant ("The Giants win the pennant!"), and it filtered through into other sports in the late 1800s. It briefly existed in rugby, especially in NZ, but only survived down under in Aust rules.

References to "the flag" and NRL are fairly common now on gambling sites and in web-based news sites...which is a give-away that the content didn't originate in NSW or QLD.

But this is the sort of example that irks...especially when in a Brisbane newspaper...

Roosters coach Brian Smith has the last laugh after reaching NRL grand final
Robert Craddock From: The Courier-Mail September 24, 2010

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...-nrl-grand-final/story-e6frep5x-1225929122352

Smith started his first-grade coaching career in 1984 before many of his players on Friday night were born.

Famously - infamously - he has never won a flag and it has been a rugged journey. It is doubtful any team he has ever coached has showed more emotion than the high-fiving, embracing, fist-pumping team that went into celebration mode three minutes before the final hooter on Friday night.

 

[CMUX]

Can I just say, Who gives a f**k?

This

 

[Paullyboy]

I saw the second quarter of the AFL GF while I was at the pub, and someone from Collingwood was referenced as having a rugby league background after he made a 'tackle'.

I agree with all the stuff said about how bad it is that all this AFL terminology is creeping into our game. Warren Ryan of all people has referenced a jersey as a 'guernsey' far too many times for my liking.

 

[rabbitohs]

It is also used in soccer....basically used in nearly every sport in Britain. It is a generic term for the best player.

Man of the match is not particularly leagueish and therefore shouldn't really be too much of an issue if usage lessens.

 

[RL1908]

It is also used in soccer....basically used in nearly every sport in Britain. It is a generic term for the best player.

Man of the match is not particularly leagueish and therefore shouldn't really be too much of an issue if usage lessens.

From what I can see it went from RL in England to soccer in England, or they both started it at about the same time.

In any event, its wider/subsequent use in other sports doesn't diminish its importance to RL's culture/heritage.

 

[Smithtown]

Sports lend themselves to coin phrases from other sports constantly - it's nothing at all new. For example I've heard the 'bomb' on many occassions referred to as an 'up-and-under' or a 'garryowen' - both Union terms. I suppose it would make more sense borrowing from that game.

The influx of Australian Rules Football terminology in League is but a trifle compared to the influx of American Football terminology. And people seem to be quite happy with 'red zones' and 'D' and all the other bollocks that has come from the USA. That is far more concerning imo than AFL inspired terminology.