As early as 1841, there is documented evidence of "foot-ball" being played in metropolitan and country Victoria as
well as mention of early matches in
Adelaide and southern Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). While the exact rules being played in these matches are unknown they may have shared similarities and influences.
Image Could Not Be Found
In 1858 English public school football games began to be played in
Melbourne and surrounding districts. The earliest known such match was played on 15 June 1858 between
St Kilda Grammar School (now defunct) and
Melbourne Grammar School on the
St Kilda foreshore.
A letter by Tom Wills was published in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle on 10 July 1858, called for a "foot-ball club," or some other "athletic game," with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. This letter is regarded by many historians as being a catalyst for the development of a new code of football in 1859 today known as Australian football.
On 31 July, a knock-a-bout match at Yarra Park was played between a "
St Kilda scratch team" and "
Melbourne scratch team". Trees were used for goal posts and there were no boundaries and the match lasted from 1pm until dark. There were no rules and fights frequently broke out.
Melbourne being a relatively
young city the majority of the early players were migrants and the media of the time noted that participants of each nationality played the game their own distinctive way: the English played in a fashion that resembled rugby football, the Scottish played recklessly, and the Irish preferred to kick the ball.
Another significant milestone in the sport's development was a match between
Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, which began on 7 August 1858 at
Richmond Park, was umpired by Wills and Macadam, and also involved Scotch headmaster Thomas H. Smith. A second day of play took place on 21 August and a third, and final, day on 4 September. While the full rules that were used is unknown, some details of the match survived. It was played with a round ball, the distance between the goals was approximately half a mile (approximately four times longer than the modern
Melbourne Cricket Ground playing surface), there were 40 players per side and one goal each side was scored with the game being declared a draw. The two schools have competed annually ever since for the Cordner-Eggleston Cup.
Image Could Not Be Found
Gradually the game – known at first as "
Melbourne Rules" became "Victorian Rules" and then "Australian Rules" or "Australasian Rules" following its spread from Victoria into other Australasian colonies, beginning with South Australia (1860), Tasmania (1864), Queensland (1866), and New Zealand (1871). In 1877, the sport's first governing bodies, the South Australian Football Association and the Victorian Football Association were formed on 30 April and 17 May respectively. The game began to be played in New South Wales in 1877, in Western Australia in 1881 and the Australian Capital Territory in 1911. By 1916, the game was first played in the Northern Territory, establishing a permanent presence in all Australian states and mainland territories.
The precursors of the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the West Australian Football League (WAFL) were strong, separate competitions by the 1890s. However late in the century the code began to decline in New South Wales and Queensland largely due to interstate rivalries and the lack of strong local governing bodies. In the case of
Sydney, denial of access to grounds and the loss of professional players to other football codes directly inhibited to the game's growth.
The first intercolonial match had been played between Victoria and South Australia on 2 August 1879.
The late 1890s saw the formation of the Victorian Football League (VFL), which commenced play in 1897 as an eight-team competition composed of the stronger clubs from the VFA competition. By 1925, the VFL consisted of 12 teams, and had become the most prominent league in the game.
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
.