A running bounce, or simply bounce, is a skill in the sport of Australian rules football (necessitated by the Laws of the Game) and some variants where a player, bounces (or touches) the ball on the ground in order to run more than the maximum distance with the ball (currently 15 metres/16 yards/50 feet in most competitions). The earliest record of the running bounce is its use by the Geelong Football Club in 1862, as a means of slowing down the player in possession of the ball and to create more opportunities for a turn over. It became an official part of the Laws of the Game in 1866. The bounce is regarded as a distinctive feature, and one of the most difficult skills to master, of the sport. Observers sometimes compare it to dribbling in basketball which appeared in the 1890s or bouncing in Gaelic football which appeared in the 1900s.). The feature of the game led to the sport early on being referred to as "bouncing football" in some places in the early 20th Century (such as Western Australia, the United States and Canada) to distinguish it from other variations of football. Origins and evolution The origins of the running bounce are unknown. Anecdotally it had been practiced by footballers during the Victorian gold rush who had been playing under a variety of rules as early as the 1850s. Mangan (1992) states that the bounce was introduced due to an ongoing dispute between Geelong Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club which came to a head during a match in 1862. Melbourne members familiar with the rugby rules were regularly flaunting their own rules of not running with the ball (particularly H. C. A. Harrison but also Tom Wills) carrying it great distances while not being penalised by the umpires. The rules at the time were written in such a way as it could be interpreted by the umpire that the players were allowed sufficient time (to continue to run) for as long as they needed to prepare an effective kick, that is, virtually indefinitely. Geelong, asserting that the game was not meant to be played like rugby, began to enforce its rule of bouncing for matches between the two clubs. One of the earliest mentions of football game with this rule comes from the Christchurch Football Club in New Zealand, which drafted its own rules in 1863