In his spirited foreword, well-known football writer Martin Flanagan notes that ‘More Than a Game is in the best traditions of Australian football writing. It is unauthorised, a necessary virtue given the blurring of the Australian media with the corporate interests behind football.’ Flanagan also knows that writing about football in Australia has become a dignified and scholarly pursuit. Still, football as representing the verities of life is a powerful and relatively new symbol. As the editors and contributors amply demonstrate, Australian Rules history has been measured out in tribal rivalries and violence. These two themes, along with many contemporary evaluations, are explored in detail.

Close community association with a local team, and the fanatical territorial support that ensued, is long gone. Changes in class structure and socio-economic circumstances, not to mention the draft, have put paid to tribalism. Football is now a marketing tool for advertisers and a highly profitable product. Without any hint of anachronism, the editors have been careful to show that football was never merely a sport.