Australian Football

London footy, '60s style!

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Athol Guy

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The following story is based on an article which appeared in 'The Footy World Magazine', Wednesday 5 July 1967, pages 12-13.

Prior to the formation of the British Australian Rules Football League in 1989 there had been a number of attempts to establish an organised football competition in England. From the 1950s onwards, the number of Australians gravitating towards the UK, and particularly London, for employment or leisure-related reasons increased substantially.

A large number of these individuals were Australian football aficionados from the southern states, some of whom brought footballs with them in their luggage. On many a summer weekend, in certain of the greener parts of London, such as Hyde Park and Regents Park, these footballs could be seen being put to use, either in impromptu kick-to-kick sessions or even, on occasion, in informal matches of varying degrees of seriousness and levels of organisation. Some, however, hankered for more.

In 1967, London-based Victorian footy enthusiast Ted Ford decided that the time was ripe for a systematic Australian Rules invasion of Britain's capital. Aware that there were a large number of his fellow countryman living in London for whom footy was tantamount to a religion, Ford decided to call a meeting aimed at organising the biggest Australian football match to be held in the UK since the First World War, when Australian troops based in London had staged a high profile exhibition game at Queen's Park in front of roughly 6,000 spectators.

The scale of the enterprise which Ford was setting himself soon became clear as only four people turned up to that inaugural meeting. However, Ford was undaunted, and his next move proved to be a master stroke. What the venture clearly needed was publicity, and who better to provide this than the sizeable network of UK-based Australian celebrities, several of whom were known to be interested in football?

There is nothing an Australian abroad likes better than to be reminded of home, and most of the celebrities approached jumped at the chance to get involved. Such involvement harnessed the attention of the British media and in next to no time mission 'Footy for London' was well and truly cued for lift-off.

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Barry Humphries

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Among the first of the celebrities to jump on board was all round entertainer Rolf Harris, who was photographed contesting a mark with Ted Ford by a reporter from the London Evening News. A story publicising Ford's venture was published with the picture.

Harris also gave the enterprise regular plugs on his radio programme, as did well known DJ Alan 'Fluff' Freeman. Ford's planning meetings were now being attended by up to 70 people, some from as far afield as Oxford University. After much discussion it was agreed that the first match should be between the London-based 'Kensington Demons', and the out-of-towners from Oxford.

In order to avoid potential conflict with soccer and rugby, and hopefully attract a larger viewing audience, it was decided that the match should take place in the summer. Ford approached the curator of Regents Park and arrangements were made to convert the area used by four adjacent soccer pitches into a full-sized football oval.

Meanwhile, the publicity machine moved into overdrive. Harris and Freeman continued to use their radio programmes to update listeners on developments, while other celebrities like Barry Humphries (now better known as Dame Edna Everage's and Sir Les Patterson's alter ego), Neil Hawke and Keith Miller were recruited to the cause.

Ford's final coup came when Athol Guy, a member of the popular singing group the Seekers, who were in London at the time, agreed to take part in the match. Guy was a former reserves player with Victorian Football League team St Kilda, and his involvement was seen as providing the final stamp of credibility to the venture.

Finally, all the hype was over, and the big day arrived. Despite bleak weather conditions, a crowd estimated to be in the region of 1,000 people attended the match, which was of a reasonably high standard. Several newspapers sent reporters to the game, and A.A.Thompson of the Times wrote: "This game is surely for men of iron. The game's time schedule requires iron stamina and would make an English footballer demand extra pay for overtime."

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With the venture obviously catching the attention of the public, follow up games were quickly arranged. A match between Earl's Court Magpies and Australian Dentists attracted 700 spectators and resulted in a win to the former by 36 points after a high standard contest. Australians from further and further a field were expressing interest, including a team of naval personnel based at Plymouth.

Sadly, however, once the enterprise lost its novelty value, momentum slackened. Ford's enthusiasm and energy were not widely shared, and when the media spotlight moved away so did many of the previously willing volunteers. Perhaps most crucially of all, the nature of most Australians' involvement with the UK was fleeting, and there was little incentive for them to seek to foster the game's development on a long term basis.

For football in England to thrive, it needed the large scale involvement of the local population, and that was something which would have to wait until John Jelley's arrival on the scene more than 20 years later.