in front, i.e. the player who has the front position in the marking contest. If he cannot determine which player is in front, then a ball-up will result. The mark has been included in the compromise rules used in the International Rules Football series between teams from Australia and Ireland since 1984. Minimum distance requirement The current minimum distance the ball must travel for a mark to be awarded is 15 metres in any direction; a cleanly caught ball which travels a shorter distance is called 'play on'. This has been the case since 2002; for more than a century before that, the minimum distance was ten metres or ten yards. There are very few ground markings on an Australian rules football field which could be used to measure this distance precisely, leaving the decision on distance up to the best judgement of the umpire; a kick which is too short will typically be met with shouts of 'play on' or 'not fifteen' by the umpire. In the early decades of Australian rules football, the minimum distance was substantially shorter, resulting in a type of play called a "little mark", in which a team could earn a mark by kicking the ball a short distance into the hands of a team-mate standing almost immediately adjacent. Little marks were polarising: they were considered by supporters as one of the game's best features and an effective way for teams to clear scrimmages; and considered by detractors as too difficult to accurately adjudicate and sometimes exploited by crafty players who would disguise a hand-off as a little mark. The minimum distance for a mark changed many times over the early years: until 1877, no minimum; in 1877, six yards; in 1886, five yards; in 1887, two yards – but in practice by the start of the 1890s it was reported that most umpires would pay little marks over only a few inches. Little marking was effectively abolished with the introduction of the ten yard minimum distance in 1897. Standing the mark Only one player may stand the mark; this restriction was introduced in 1924. Since 2021, a player standing the mark must remain stationary upon taking up the mark until the kicker has disposed of the ball or played on; prior to this, the man on the mark was free to leave the mark or move laterally, provided he did not move over