The birth of the Australian Game
I welcome, in the first place, The Winner. It will fill a gap in Victoria that has been long felt. Considering the enormous interest taken in all manly sports, it is worthy of a special paper, and one conducted in the highest class.
Until the winter of 1858 football of any kind was practically unknown in Australasia. In 1856 Mr Thos. Wentworth Wills arrived in Australia from the great Rugby school in England, where on leaving, he was captain of both the cricket and football teams. He was at Rugby eight years, about the same time as Judge Hughes, who immortalised the school in Tom Brown's School Days.
Mr Wills was born in New South Wales, and was a son of the late H. S. Wills, of Lexington Station, Victoria, who was subsequently murdered in Queensland by the blacks when taking up a new station on the Nogoa river. Mr T. W. Wills only escaped the fate of his father, and nineteen others, by having been sent down to hurry up the drays coming from Rockhampton, a day or so previously.
On his return to Melbourne from England he expressed surprise that no football was played, and suggested that a game should be started, but recommended that we Australians should work out a game of our own, as he considered Rugby was not suitable for adults who had to earn their living, and might meet with accidents which would, perhaps, lose them their positions.
The Melbourne football club
I at once offered to help him in every way, and the Melbourne Club was started, playing with a round ball, which was the only kind to be obtained at the time. At first we started a kind of go-as-you-please game outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and soon other clubs were formed, such as South Yarra, Richmond, and one or two others. It was found necessary, at the beginning, to make up matches; Australians v. The World; Volunteers v. Civilians; North v. South; and with the 14th and 40th Foot Regiments, which had just arrived from the New Zealand war.
Although the soldiers, for want of skill, could never defeat either the Carlton or Melbourne teams, they went into the game with such vim and energy that we were always delighted to play against them. We allowed them to do as they liked, as they claimed to be playing the Irish Rules, which it appears gave them full liberty to kick anyone that came within reach.
Early days
In the second club formed, the South Yarra, were such men as T. H. Fellowes (afterwards Supreme Court judge), W. Hammill, J. C. Tyler, George O'Mullane, and Robert Murray Smith. I looked upon Mr Smith as an ideal footballer, from his vigor and good temper. In my opinion, there is no game better fitted for bringing out all manly qualities than football, and teaching players, too, to curb their tempers.
Up to 1866 the rules had never been printed, as we were continually making verbal alterations, but in that year it was considered time to have definite written rules, and a meeting was held of delegates from the four leading clubs on May 3, 1866. At this meeting the following delegates were present:—
Melbourne: H. C. A. Harrison and R. W. Wardill
South Yarra: George O'Mullane and H. Murray
Carlton: B. James and T. P. Power
Royal Park: J. E. Clarke and Chadwick
I was appointed chairman, and submitted a set of rules and definitions which I had drafted for the consideration of the delegates, and such rules, etc., were discussed and unanimously accepted without alteration. Wishing to have a purely Australian game, I did not refer to any rules applying to any game of football then in vogue, The British Association game [soccer] was only started in the Old Country about six months prior to the Australian game; and therefore little or nothing was known of such a game in this country. Canada had invented lacrosse; the United States baseball, and it was up to Australia to have at least one sporting game of her own.
First rules
The rules and definitions fixed upon in 1866 were as follows:—
1. The distance between the goals shall not be more than 200 yards, and the width of playing space (to be measured equally on each side of a line drawn through the centre of the goals) not more than 150 yards. The goal posts shall be 7 yards apart and of unlimited height.
2. The captains on each side shall toss for choice of goals. The side losing the toss or a goal has the kick-off from the centre point between the goals.
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. In case of the ball being forced (except with the hands or arms) between the goal posts in a scrimmage a goal shall be awarded.
4. Two posts, to be called the 'kick-off posts’, shall be erected at a distance of 20 yards on each side of the goal posts, and in a straight line with them.
5. In case the ball is kicked behind goal anyone of the side behind whose goal it is kicked may bring it 20 yards in front of any portion of the space between the kick-off posts, and shall kick it towards the opposite goal.
6. Any player catching the ball directly from the foot or leg may call 'mark.' He then has a free kick from any spot in a line with his mark and the centre of his opponents' goal posts, no player being allowed to come inside the spot marked or within 5 yards in any other direction.
7. Tripping and hacking are strictly prohibited. Pushing with the hands or body is allowed when any player is in rapid motion. Holding is only allowed while the player has the ball in hand, except in the case provided in Rule 6.
8. The ball may be taken in hand at any time, but not carried further than is necessary for a kick, and no player shall run with the ball unless he strikes it against the ground in every 5 or 6 yards.
9. When a ball goes out of bounds (the same being indicated by a row of posts) it shall be brought back to the point where it crossed the boundary line, and thrown in at right angles with that line.
10. The ball while in play may under no circumstances be thrown.
11. In case of deliberate infringement of any of the above rules the captain of the opposition side may claim that any one of his party may have a free kick from the place where the breach of rule was made.
12. Before the commencement of a match each side shall appoint an umpire, and they shall be the sole judges of goals and breach of rules.
Definitions
1. A drop kick, or drop is made by letting the ball drop from your hands on to the ground and kicking it the very instant it rises.
2. A place kick, or place, is kicking the ball after it has been placed on the ground.
3. A punt consists in letting the ball fall from your hands and kicking it before it touches the ground.
4. A scrimmage commences when the ball is on the ground, and all who have closed round on their respective sides begin kicking it.
Most scientific game
To show what English cricketers and others think of our game, that great London paper, The Daily Mail, says, in a recent issue, referring to the suggestion that a team of Australian Rugby players should be sent to tour Great Britain:— “If Australians wish to do some real good for English sport they should rather send two teams of men who play the Australian game, which, in the opinion of many English and American players, as well as of the great majority of Australians, is the fastest, prettiest, most scientific, and least brutal of all varieties of football. . . It would be no exaggeration to say that after such a visit there would be more teams playing the Australian game in a very short time than those playing the Rugby code at present.
The game helps cricket
From the beginning the game went ahead. In the very, early days 20,000 would assemble at a match, and in the first match allowed to be played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1876, Carlton v. Melbourne, upwards of £400 was taken at the gates, although there were no grandstands, mounds, or other improvements on the ground. The M.C.C. on that date contained about 200 members with a paid staff of one bowler and a groundsman. The advent of football on the ground caused members to join in hundreds until at the present time the club has between 5,000 and 6,000 members, a staff which costs between £2,000 and £3,000 a year, about £100,000 of improvements on the ground; and is now the greatest institution of the kind in the world.
The example of the Melbourne C.C. in opening the ground to football was immediately followed by all the other cricket clubs in the State, with results that can be seen upon visiting the South Melbourne and other grounds. The custom is now practically universal throughout the States. The game throughout all the states is going ahead, and the four southern states, Victoria, S.A., W.A., and Tasmania have practically gone solid for the game.
The Sydney carnival
The carnival to be held in Sydney next month, in which all the States of Australia will be represented by their best teams playing for the premiership, it is hoped will show the residents of New South Wales what the game really is when played at its best, and considering that the game was started by N.S. Welshmen, and is purely Australian, it is to be hoped that the Mother State will show an appreciation of the sport.
The game is likely to be soon played in the United States and Canada and the old country. Already a game has been played by the Australians at Oxford and Cambridge, and it is intended, I hear, to make the match an annual affair. It is also played at Tokio, in Japan.
Footnotes
Title: Australian game its birth in the Commonwealth
Author: H. C. A. Harrison
Publisher: Winner (Melbourne, Vic: 1914-1917
Date: Wednesday 12 August, 1914, p.8 (Article)
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