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.

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.

Historians infer that the Geelong Football Club had, sometime prior to 1862, introduced a rule to touch or bounce the ball on the ground every few yards. The club had been playing under rules which historian Graeme Atkinson considered likely to have been drawn up prior to the Melbourne Football Club's first rules in 17 May 1859. Unlike Melbourne's, Geelong's first rules appear to have never been published and though believed to have been written down are believed to have been lost completely. A reprint of what were believed to have been the Geelong's eleven 1859 rules appeared in the Geelong Advertiser in 1923 courtesy of Fred Blackham from an old folded card, which appeared to differ only slightly from Melbourne Football Club's rules and do not mention a requirement to bounce the ball. These reprinted rules were not dated and likely to be from a later period. The Melbourne Football Club from its formation until its first matches against Geelong in 1860 is not known to have either played with or enforced such a rule. Mangan (1992) states that the bounce was introduced due to an ongoing dispute between Geelong and Melbourne which came to a head during a match in 1862. Melbourne members familiar with the Rugby school rules were regularly flouting 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. An early version of the Geelong-Melbourne rule had stipulated that "no player shall run with the ball unless he strikes it against the ground every five of six yards".

Another early mention of such a rule comes from the Christchurch Football Club in New Zealand, which drafted its own rules in 1863 (prior to adopting rugby). This club was known to have initially played with a rule to bounce the ball every 4 yards. This was a time when the football codes were still being established and regularly exchanged rules and ideas around the world. According to some, it may have come from an Australian club as at least one was known at the time to have had a bouncing rule. The club believes without stating a source that it was more likely to have been influenced by the rules of the Blackheath F.C. in England. Blackheath's 1862 rules include rule 12 "When a player running with the ball grounds it, it cannot be touched by anyone until he lifts his hand from it". Touching the ball on the ground while running may have found its way into common practice for some early football clubs. However the club believes that its rules differed from Blackheath's in that it specifically required the ball to be bounced and 22 players per side, though were otherwise similar.

Nevertheless Geelong and other Victorian clubs continued to agitate for the rules and by 1866 there were moves to standardise it. The rules committee chaired by H. C. A. Harrison in 8 May 1866 sought to pacify them. Melbourne was determined to increase this distance and proposed rule 6. "Ball must be bounced every 10 or 20 yards if carried". Harrison requested Geelong ratify change before publishing the new rules which became known as the Victorian football rules in May 1866. The new rule was promoted as a way to slow down the player in possession of the ball and to create more opportunities for a turn over, thus helping to increase the number of disposals and encourage more dynamic team play. Harrison himself was one of the fastest runners in the game, known for his ability to evade opponents while running the length of the field ball-in-hand. Arthur Conan Doyle considered it "very sporting of [Harrison] to introduce the bouncing rule, which robbed him of his advantage."

The rule was well received by players and spectators alike, and considered attractive to watch.^{[citation needed]}