Specky

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Statue by Robert Hitchcock outside the gates Fremantle Oval of the famous "specky" by South Fremantle Football Club's John Gerovich over East Fremantle Football Club's Ray French at the 1956 WAFL preliminary final.

A specky (also called a screamer, or a hanger) is a slang term for a type of mark in Australian rules football. Short for "spectacular", a speckie involves a player jumping up on the back of another player in order to take the mark, or catch. Many of the winners of the annual Mark of the Year competition could be considered "speckies". A notable example was Gary Ablett's 1994 leap, which was labelled "Mark of the Century".

The movement of other players beneath a marking can cause the flyer to lose balance in mid air and land or fall awkwardly, enhancing the spectacular nature of the mark. In the 1980s, some exponents of the spectacular mark achieved elevation by levering or propping the hands or arms off the shoulders of opponents. If the player being launched off is an opposition player then this is illegal interference, however umpires may interpret in favour of spectacular play if the interference is minor and deemed to be part of the jumping action.

1 History
2 Notable Exponents
3 Specky in Popular Culture
4 External links

[edit] History

The first speckies in the game of Australian rules football began to appear in the 1880s, a time in which the popularity of the sport was heightened. Charles Pearson was one of the first high flyers. Albert Thurgood was a later exponent at the turn of the century. Dick Lee pulled down consistent high marks in the early 1900s.

It wasn't until the 1897 with the push in the back rule that high flyers were protected from being pushed in mid air. This prevented potential serious injury. In 1904, "unintential interference" paved the way for forwards to climp up opposition players backs to take spectacular marks.

[edit] Notable Exponents

Great players known for their ability to take "speckies" include:

Roy Cazaly
Gary Ablett
Trevor Barker
Roy Cazaly
Alex Jesaulenko, who took the Mark of the Century for the Twentieth Century in the 1970 AFL Grand Final, to the oft-quoted commentary of "oh, Jesaulenko, you beauty!"
Peter Knights
Paul van der Haar
Tony Modra
Warwick Capper
Shaun Smith
Declan Cole

Current players that regularly exhibit spectacular marking include Chris Tarrant, Jeff White, Russell Robertson, Brett Burton, Luke McPharlin, Matthew Richardson and Kayne Pettifer.

[edit] Specky in Popular Culture

The specky has been widely celebrated in popular Australian culture. The phrase "The Big Men Fly" to describe the game of Australian Rules is about the specky and has spawned a play. Alex Jesaulenko's specky spawned the catch phrase "Jesaulenko You Beauty!". Songs like "Up There Cazaly" also celebrate the popular spectator phenomenon.

There are also a series of football-related children's novels by ex-player Garry Lyon and children's author, Felice Arena named after their protagonist, "Specky Magee". This character is named after the slang term.

In Australian slang, stepladder describes the player over which another player marks to take a specky. In the past, fullbacks have been renowned for regularly acting as stepladders. The stepladders of famous marks are very rarely remembered or recorded in the history books. The only notable exception to this was Graeme "Jerker" Jenkins who was the stepladder for Alex Jesaulenko's mark — Melbourne band TISM even wrote the song "the Back upon Which Jezza Jumped" about him. Strong fullbacks Gary Pert, Michael Martyn, Chris Langford and Matthew Scarlett have been stepladders for speckies on multiple occasions.