the ball" was developed. This took away the provision for a player to drop the ball upon being tackled, and required him to dispose of the ball by kick or handpass; it was intended that the kick or handpass would clear the ball away from scrimmages around the tackled player. This change was a major change to the Laws of the Game, eliminating the sixty-year-old provision to drop the ball when tackled, but was a change which is fundamental to the modern interpretation of the rule. The Australian National Football Council first introduced no-drop holding the ball nationally prior to the 1930 season, although some small competitions had played under the rule earlier (the Victorian Junior Football Association, for example, introduced the rule in 1927). It was unpopular in the early months, and was blamed for an increase in congested play and an increase in injuries caused by players attempting wild kicks when previously they would have dropped the ball. Consequently, the change was hastily repealed after only two months. No-drop holding the ball was next introduced by the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1938. The VFA, which did not come under the National Council's influence, introduced the rule as part of a suite of novel rule changes, which also included the legalisation of throwing the ball as a type of handpass. The VFA's combination of the no-drop rule and throwing the ball had the immediate effect of reducing congestion, as it gave players the easy option to throw the ball into open space when tackled, instead of dropping the ball at their feet and causing a scrimmage to form around it. The National Council quickly followed the VFA's lead, re-instating the no-drop rule from the 1939 season, but it did not pair it with the throwing the ball rule. The no-drop rule again proved to be unpopular. Without the ability to execute a drop or a VFA-style throw, players were forced to rely on the more cumbersome disposal methods of a kick or a handpass; because umpires had conventionally called holding the ball penalties almost immediately when a player was tackled, it was very difficult (and sometimes impossible, depending upon the quickness of the presiding umpire) to execute either of these skills before conceding a free kick, and those who did manage to dispose of the ball often committed turnovers in doing so. Consequently, players favoured malingering over winning