History of Australian rules football
The game was played in New South Wales and Queensland but was second in popularity to rugby union as the main winter sport.
On 7 August 1858, a famous match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College began, umpired by T. W. Wills and John Macadam.
[34] They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel East Melbourne on 17 May 1859 by the committee of MFC which included Thomas Wentworth Wills, William Hammersley, J.
[36] The 1859 rules, drawn up three days after the Melbourne club was officially reformed, do not include some elements that soon became important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running.
[40] " The committee of the club met subsequently at the Parade Hotel for the purpose of amending the existing rules, many of which have been found either insufficient or objectionable in practice.
Proposed by Mr. SMITH, seconded by Mr. THOMPSON, and carried, that the following be substituted for the existing Rule 3: — "A goal must be kicked fairly between the posts without touching either of them, or any portion of the person of one of the opposite side.
Pushing with the hands or body is allowed when any player is in rapid motion, or in possession of the ball, except in the case pro-vided for in Rule VI."
Proposed by Mr. THOMPSON, seconded by Mr. Butterworth, and carried:— "In case of deliberate infringement of any of the above rules by either side, the captain of the opposite side may claim that any one of his party may have a free kick from the place where the breach of rule was made; the two captains in all cases, save where umpires are appointed, to be the sole judges of infringements."
[52] The 1859 season had more teams form Brighton Park (School), Coast, Elsternwick, Hamilton, Melbourne, South Yarra, St Kilda, Emerald Hill, Prahran, University, Geelong and 40th Regiment.
[70] Generally clubs wanted rule changes to make the game less rough, as ripped shirts, injuries and fractures were occurring.
The club represented:— Melbourne, St. Kilda, South Yarra, Richmond, Scotch College, University, Williamstown, Collingwood, and Boroondara.
[85] In the papers there is reference to debate about the rules, which along with bad weather meant many games were cancelled[86][87][88][89] Harrison the famous amateur runner wanted to be able to run with the ball.
This was the only match the members of South Yarra played in for the season[110] Harrison appeared back on Melbourne team list in mid July.
In Bell's life a series of article were published from the pages of The Field looked at how to amalgamate the school rules of Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury and Marlborough, and helped to create a united game.
Melbourne Football club rule making meeting of 1865, T. W. Wills made an unsuccessful motion to have a cross bar put between the goal post.
The field umpire had more duties like; settling disputes, doing a toss-up when scrimmages occurred or thrown in, if the ball went out of bounds between kick off post and boundary.
At the time, Essendon was regarded as a semi-junior club rather than a full member and was allowed concessions such as fielding teams of 25 players instead of the standard 20.
For most of the 20th century, the absence of a national club competition – and the inability of players to compete internationally – meant that matches between state representative teams were regarded with great importance.
In the late 1980s strong interstate interest in the VFL led to a more national competition; two more non-Victorian clubs, the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears began playing in 1987.
The AFL, currently with 18 member clubs, is the sport's elite competition and the most powerful body in the world of Australian rules football.
Although the VFL was generally accepted as the strongest league, they frequently played each other on an even footing in challenge matches and occasional nationwide club competitions.
In 1888, a touring British rugby team played 19 games of Australian rules against clubs in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.
The tourists, who had been hastily trained in the local code, played Carlton in front of 25,000 people – a substantial crowd at the time – in their first game.
Since 2000, fledgling competitions have been established in countries such as Ireland (2000), Tonga (2002), Scotland, France and China (2005), Pakistan, Indonesia (2006), Catalonia, Norway and East Timor.
North American fans formed an organization, AFANA, specifically to work for improved media coverage of Australian football.
Inspired by successful Arafura Games competitions, the inaugural Australian Football International Cup was held in Melbourne in 2002, an initiative of the IAFC and the AFL.
Today, Australian football is a major spectator sport in Australia and Nauru, although occasional exhibition games are staged in other countries.
Some local grand final and carnival type events in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, England and the United States have occasionally drawn attendances that number in the thousands.
The AFL also hope to develop the game in other countries to the point where Australian football is played at an international level by top-quality sides from around the world.
In 2002, a record Irish International Rules crowd of 71,532 at Croke Park, Dublin witnessed a draw which also saw Australia win the series.
