Australian Rules Football Match

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 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 was first known as Melbourne rules football then as the game spread throughout the country it became known as Victorian rules football and then Australian rules football. By Federation in 1901, the game was the main winter sport in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, with the Victorian Football League, South Australian National Football League and the West Australian Football League operating as separate competitions. The game was played in New South Wales and Queensland but was second in popularity to rugby union as the main winter sport. In the 1990s, the VFL became the Australian Football League, a national body and the premier league in Australia and later became the de facto world governing body for the sport.
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