"Origins of Australian rules football The origins of Australian rules football date back to the late 1850s in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria. There is documentary evidence of ""foot-ball"" being played in Australia as early as the 1820s. These games were poorly documented but appear to have been informal, one-off affairs. In 1858, cricketers, sports' enthusiasts and school students began to regularly play variants of English public school football in the parklands of Melbourne. The following year, when the Melbourne Football Club was formed, four members codified the first laws of Australian rules football. Professional historians began to take"
"football clubs still around in the current Australian Football League were founded by 1858. The Melbourne Cricket Ground Australia's largest sporting arena opened in 1853. The Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861. A rugby union team was established at the University of Sydney in 1864. Regular sport did not begin to be played in South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia until the late 1860s and early 1870s. In the case of Western Australia, Rugby Union was initially the more popular sport, however it was later replaced by Australian Rules football. The first Australian cricket team to go on tour"
"(1864), North Melbourne (aka Hotham) (1869), Port Adelaide (1870), Essendon, and St Kilda (1873), South Melbourne (now Sydney Swans) (1874), Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs) (1877). Other historic clubs such as the Castlemaine (1859), Melbourne University (1859) also continue to exist in lesser leagues. In 1877, the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) was formed followed by the Victorian Football Association (VFA) 3 days later. The VFA was formed by: Albert-park, Ballarat, Barwon, Beechworth, Carlton, Castlemaine, East Melbourne, Essendon, Geelong, Hotham (later North Melbourne), Inglewood, Melbourne, Rochester and St Kilda. Six of these clubs were from the Victorian country. At the"
"which included a game of football being staged. The earliest recorded Australian rules football club in South Australia was the original Adelaide Football Club, formed in 1860. The Adelaide club hosted intra-club matches to provide a platform for football games to be played. Later in 1860 two new teams were formed bearing the names North Adelaide Football Club and South Adelaide Football Club, unrelated to the modern namesakes. In 1862 the newly formed Modbury and Teatree Gully Football Club was invited to play a match against the Adelaide team. A return match was held later in the year. The early"
"wrote the first rules for Australian football. By 1866, several other clubs had also adopted an updated version of Melbourne's rules. In 1877, the amateur Victorian Football Association was established. The Victorian Football League was established in 1896 when several clubs broke away from the Victorian Football Association which was the first Australian rules competition in Victoria, second in the country after the South Australian Football Association. The first games were played in 1897 between the foundation clubs – , , , , , , and . History of the Australian Football League The Australian Football League is the top"
"that experimented with various rules, the first of which was played on July 31, 1858. One week later, Wills umpired a schoolboys match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College. Following these matches, organised football in Melbourne rapidly increased in popularity. Wills and others involved in these early matches formed the Melbourne Football Club (the oldest surviving Australian football club) on May 14, 1859. Club members Wills, William Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas H. Smith met with the intention of forming a set of rules that would be widely adopted by other clubs. The committee debated rules used in"
"known as Yarra Park next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 31 July 1858. The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, on 17 May, by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith. The Melbourne club's game was not immediately adopted by neighbouring clubs. Before each match the rules had to be agreed by the two teams involved. By 1866, several other clubs had agreed to play by an updated version of Melbourne's rules. 1859 — Photolithography —"
"a result of contact occurred 71% of the time compared to other causes of injury. Early forms of football were played in Sydney by 1829. Regular football competitions were organised in New South Wales by 1850 (an early form of Rugby), with organised competition being played in Queensland (Rugby) and Victoria (Victorian Rules football) soon after. Victorian rules football was codified in 1858. Australian rules football clubs still around in the current Australian Football League were founded by 1858. Australian rules was first played in Australia in 1859. A rugby union team was established at the University of Sydney in"
"upon by footballers in winter, and, as early as 1859, football was allowed on the MCG. However, cricket authorities frequently prohibited football on their grounds until the 1870s, when they saw an opportunity to capitalise on the sport's growing popularity. Football gradually adapted to an oval-shaped field, and most grounds in Victoria expanded to accommodate the dual purpose—a situation that continues to this day. Football became organised in South Australia in 1860 with the formation of the Adelaide Football Club, the oldest football club in Australia outside Victoria. It devised its own rules, and, along with other Adelaide-based clubs, played"
"FC (written 1858, published 1859) which codified a game played for 20 years until being discontinued in favour of the Football Association code, and those of Melbourne FC (1859) which are the origins of Australian rules football. By the time the Football Association met in late 1863, many different sets of rules had been published, varying widely on such questions as the extent to which the ball could be handled, the treatment of offside, the amount of physical contact allowed with opponents, and the height at which a goal could be scored. The first draft of the Football Association's laws,"
"against other local football enthusiasts over the winter and spring of that year. The Melbourne Football Club was officially founded the following year on 17 May, and three days later, four members codified the first laws of Australian rules football. The Geelong Football Club was formed shortly afterwards, and over the next decade, many more Australian rules football clubs were formed in Victoria. Melbourne and Geelong were founding members of the Australian Football League (AFL), making them the world's oldest football clubs that are now professional. Lima Cricket and Football Club claims to be the oldest football-practicing club in Peru"
"South Australian Legislative Council whether it be allowed that ""foot-ball"" be played on Sundays, with arguments against preferring the quiet worship of God.In 1859 the Gawler Institute ran a rural fete which included a game of football being staged. The earliest recorded Australian rules football club in South Australia was Adelaide Football Club (unrelated to the modern day Adelaide Crows), formed in 1860. The early years of football were poorly organised and dogged by argument over which set of rules to adopt. In fact, after a match between Port Adelaide and Kensington in 1873, it was remarked that neither side"
"Australian rules, soccer and rugby football with the rules played being decided prior to the start of the match. Football became increasingly organised and ingrained in the colony of Victoria in 1858, particularly in the capital Melbourne and surrounds. The first written records regarding a football club in St Kilda date from April 1858. However, it was an informal version of the game. Two months later, on 15 June 1858, the earliest known record of Victorian football match was recorded. The game was played with modified rules between St Kilda Grammar School (now defunct) and Melbourne Grammar School on the"
"that Adelaide dropped out of the SAFA and folded at the end of the 1893 season. Adelaide Football Club (SAFA) The Adelaide Football Club, often referred to as the Old Adelaide club, was an Australian rules football club based in Adelaide. Founded on the 26 April 1860 it was the first football club formed in South Australia. The club played interclub football in South Australia until 1872 when it had disputes with other local clubs over the rules. The club resumed local interclub matches in 1875. In 1876 the Adelaide clubs rules were adopted by all the South Australian clubs."
"""The new code was as much a reaction against the school games as influenced by them"", writes Mark Pennings. The rules were distributed throughout the colony; Thompson in particular did much to promote the new code in his capacity as a journalist. Australian football's date of codification predates that of any other major football code, including soccer (codified in 1863) and rugby union (codified in 1871). Following Melbourne's lead, Geelong and Melbourne University also formed football clubs in 1859. While many early Victorian teams participated in one-off matches, most had not yet formed clubs for regular competition. A South Yarra"
"Adelaide Football Club (SAFA) The Adelaide Football Club, often referred to as the Old Adelaide club, was an Australian rules football club based in Adelaide. Founded on the 26 April 1860 it was the first football club formed in South Australia. The club played interclub football in South Australia until 1872 when it had disputes with other local clubs over the rules. The club resumed local interclub matches in 1875. In 1876 the Adelaide clubs rules were adopted by all the South Australian clubs. In 1877 the club helped form the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) and participated in the"
"Australian Football Association, the first organisation of its type in Australia. It competed its first few seasons wearing a rose pink outfit with white knickerbockers. In 1878 the club hosted its first game against the recently established Norwood Football Club with the visitors winning 1-0. A rivalry between these clubs would soon develop into one of the fiercest in Australian sport. On 25 May 1885 Port Adelaide played two of its first ever games at the MCG against the South Melbourne, drawing with eventual VFA premiers in front of 10,000 spectators. In 1886 Jack McGargill was appointed Port Adelaide's head"
"there were a multitude of football games in Britain, Ireland and Australia whose rules influenced the early football games played in Melbourne. Teams would have to agree before each match which rules would be followed, and different aspects of association football, Gaelic football, rugby football, Sheffield rules, Cambridge rules Winchester College football and Harrow football were apparent in the early games. The earliest leagues were the South Australian National Football League at the time called the South Australian Football Association and the Victorian Football Association formed in 1877. The first intercolonial matches were played shortly after in 1879. The game"
"of the first known Australian football poem, published in ""Punch"". Wills, the only player named, is reified as ""the Melbourne chief"", leading his men to victory against a side from South Yarra. Following a scratch match at the start of the 1859 football season, the Melbourne Football Club officially came into being on 14 May. Three days later, Wills and three other members—Hammersley, journalist J. B. Thompson and teacher Thomas H. Smith—met near the MCG at the Parade Hotel, owned by Bryant, to devise and codify the club's rules. The men went over the rules of four English schools; Hammersley"
"History of Australian rules football Australian rules football was invented in Melbourne, Australia, in 1858. The first match identified as a direct precursor to the codification of Australian football was organised and umpired by Tom Wills and contested on 31 July between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, adjacent to the Melbourne Cricket Ground at the Richmond Paddock. The oldest surviving set of rules of Australian rules football were drawn up on 17 May 1859, three days after the formation of the Melbourne Football Club. The origins of Australian football before 1858 are still the subject of much debate, as"
"of the incorporation of the club on 17 May 1859. At this meeting, the first Laws of Australian Football were decided upon and written. Smith was also a distinguished player for the club. Educated at Trinity College (Dublin University) (1846–50), Smith was a headmaster at several Melbourne secondary schools including the Model School and inspector for schools for Bendigo. Smith was involved in early experimental matches of Australian Football against Melbourne Grammar School between July–August 1858 and is said to have facilitated the matches as one of three teachers who took part. He was captain of the Melbourne Football club"
"understood the rules clearly. However, as the years progressed, there became a growing push for uniformity and structure in South Australian football. In 1877, 12 of South Australia's football clubs met to develop a uniform set of rules and establish a governing body. The South Australian Football Association was formed at a meeting at the Prince Alfred Hotel in King William Street, Adelaide on 30 April 1877, the first governing body of its type for football in Australia, and adopted rules similar to those used in Victoria. The inaugural 1877 season was contested by 8 clubs: South Park, Willunga, Port"
"football in Australia, and adopted rules similar to those used in Victoria. The inaugural 1877 season was contested by those 12 clubs: South Park, Willunga, Port Adelaide, Adelaide, North Adelaide, Prince Alfred College, Gawler, Kapunda, Bankers, Woodville, South Adelaide and Victorian. Norwood joined the Association in 1878, but South Park, Willunga, North Adelaide, Prince Alfred College, Gawler, Kapunda, Bankers, Woodville, and Victorian all left the Association within the first 10 years. By 1886, the Association had been reduced from 12 to four clubs. The Association experienced a resurgence in the late 1880s. From the 1886 season to the 1887 attendances"
"third, and final, day on 4 September. The two schools have competed annually ever since. However, the rules used by the two teams in 1858 had little in common with the eventual form of Australian football since that code had not yet been written. The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne, on 17 May, by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith (some sources include H. C. A. Harrison). The 1859 rules did not include some elements"
"share no causal link with Australian football. In 1858, in a move that would help to shape Australian football in its formative years, public schools in Melbourne, Victoria began organising football games inspired by precedents at English public schools. The earliest such match, held in St Kilda on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. On 10 July 1858, the Melbourne-based ""Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle"" published a letter by Tom Wills, captain of the Victoria cricket team, calling for the formation of a ""foot-ball club"" with a ""code of laws"" to keep cricketers fit"
"Club was officially formed in 1863 having played games against teams from local towns through the 1850s. first-class status was achieved as early as the 1850s. In March 1850, the Melbourne Cricket Club issued a challenge to the Launceston Cricket Club for a match that was eventually played in the 1850–51 season. On 11 & 12 February 1851, Tasmania v Victoria at Launceston Racecourse was the inaugural first-class match played in Australia. Tasmania won by 3 wickets. Tasmania and Victoria played each other three times up to 1855 and then the New South Wales team made its debut in 1855–56"
"the colony. Horse racing was also happening in Melbourne at Batman's Hill in 1838, with the first race meeting in Victoria taking place in 1840. Cricket was also underway with the Melbourne Cricket Club founded in 1838. Sport was being used during the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s as a form of social integration across classes. Regular sport competitions were organised in New South Wales by 1850 (an early form of Rugby), with organised competition being played in Queensland (Rugby) and Victoria (Victorian rules football) soon after. Victorian rules football (later known as Australian rules football) was codified in 1859. Australian"
"History of Australian rules football in Victoria (1859–1900) Australian rules football was first organised in Victoria in 1859 when its rules were codified by the Melbourne Football Club. On 17 May 1859, the first rules for a local code of football were written during a meeting of four members of the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC): Tom Wills, William Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith. The meeting was held at the Parade Hotel on the site of the present MCG Hotel. Wills, a renowned cricketer, was secretary of the MCC at the time. He had attended Rugby School and was"
"College began, umpired by Wills and John Macadam. A second day of play took place on 21 August and a third and final day on 4 September. The two schools have competed annually ever since. However the rules used by the two teams in 1858 were not official since Wills had not yet begun to write them. H.C.A. Harrison Wills's cousin was instrumental in developing the game but not in the very early years. The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel East"
"that soon became important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running, and Melbourne's game was not immediately adopted by neighbouring clubs. Before each match the rules had to be agreed by the two teams involved. By 1866, however, several other clubs had agreed to play by an updated version of Melbourne's rules. On 17 May 1877, the Victorian Football Association (VFA), Victoria's first governing body for Australian football, was formed. The foundation Senior clubs of the VFA were Albert-park, Carlton, Hotham, Melbourne, St Kilda. The Junior section of the VFA originally included such clubs"
"familiar with the argument between the proponents of allowing players to handle the ball (i.e., Rugby football) and those who wanted players to use their feet only, the style later adopted by The Football Association. Below are the rules for Australian Rules Football, alleged to have been used by the Geelong Football Club in 1859. They were originally written down by hand. Graeme Atkinson, writing in ""Everything You Wanted Know About Australian Rules Football ..."" considers it likely that these Geelong rules were drawn up prior to the first rules of the Melbourne Football Club which were drafted on 17"
"venue for football. Two night matches were played on the ground during the year under the newly invented electric light. In the early years, the MCG was the home ground of Melbourne Football Club, Australia's oldest club, established in 1858 by the founder of the game itself, Thomas Wills. Melbourne won five premierships during the 1870s using the MCG as its home ground. The first of nearly 3000 Victorian Football League/Australian Football League games to be played at the MCG was on 15 May 1897, with beating 64 to 19. Several Australian Football League (AFL) clubs later joined Melbourne in"
"competition from 1877–81 and 1885–93. The club was the most successful in inter club matches in 1870 and 1871 and won the 1886 SAFA premiership. The club dissolved at the end of the 1893 SAFA season. It has no connection to the present Adelaide Football Club playing in the Australian Football League. The Adelaide Football Club was formed on Thursday 26 April 1860 at the Globe Inn Hotel, Rundle Street with John Brodie Spence chairing the meeting. It was the first in South Australia. The club had its own game rules later referred to as the ""Old Adelaide club rules""."