1859 : Black eyes don't look so good in Collins Street
	The first rules of "Melbourne football", were laid down in May, 1859.   Strangely, and despite the fact that were printed in the daily press, the existence of these laws was ignored by writers for many years (the "first" rules usually being quoted as being established in 1866), until 1980, when the M.C.C. Museum curator, Bill Gray discovered a handwritten copy of the original rules that were actually printed in the press of the day.   Many historians credit Tom Wills with being the inventor of the game, but closer scrutiny reveals that Wills certainly didn't have it all his own way when it came to the early rules ...

The first "Rules Committee" met in late May, 1859 after a scratch match in Richmond Paddock, now Yarra Park where the Melbourne Cricket Ground stands.   The match was originally intended for members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, but according to "The Argus", of May 16, 1859  "in consequence of the small numbers of players present during the early portion of the afternoon, the captains departed from their original intention to a certain extent" :

"The first game of the season was played on May 14 between teams captained by Mr. Bryant and Mr. Smith.    It was more of a scratch than a strict match owing to there being no fixed rules of play.   Some of the parties engaged followed the practice of catching and holding the ball, while others strenuously objected, contending that the ball should never be lifted from the ground other than by the foot.   The difference of opinion did not prevent the enjoyment of the sport for the greatest good humour prevailed".

"A preliminary meeting of gentlemen interested in the game was subsequently held at the Parade Hotel with the object of forming a Football Club.   A list of 51 members was submitted and from amongst them the following were selected as Committee to draw up rules, etc, - Messrs. Wills, Hammersley, Bruce, Smith and Wray.   Mr. Sewell was appointed Treasurer and Mr. J. B. Thompson secretary of the Club.   A deputation was also appointed to wait on the Grounds Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Club to obtain permission to play on the reserve at such times as may hereafter be arranged.   The members of the Melbourne Football Club are requested by the Secretary to assemble in Richmond Park at one o'clock this afternoon".     
Bell's Life, May 21, 1859

One of the captains was James Bryant (known as Jerry), the publican of the Parade Hotel in Wellington Parade in East Melbourne where the M.C.G. Hotel now stands and just opposite the area in Richmond Park where the famous intercollegiate 1858 match between the Church of England Grammar School and Scotch College claimed by some to be the first organized game of Australian football took place.

Bryant was an English settler who had played cricket for Surrey in the Old Country, the Victorian XI and was the first professional cricketer to be employed by the Melbourne Cricket Club.    He actually organised a football match a week before the schoolboy game, and an immediate need was obvious.   T. S. Marshall, subsequently secretary of the Victorian Football Association after it was formed in 1877 was one of those who attended and he later recalled that virtually every football code was played :

"The English players tried a version of Rugby, the Scotch played a game that defied description, the Irishmen yelled and punted the ball up in the air, and others played with no rules at all".

Whether "the greatest good humour prevailed" as Bell's Life suggested could be open to question.    William Hammersley, one of the men that draw up the rules and a renowned journalist recalled the events many years later :

"One day after a severe fight in the old Richmond Paddock when blood had been freely drawn and some smart raps exchanged and a leg broken, it occurred to some of us that if we had rules to play under it would be better".   

"Tom Wills suggested the Rugby rules, but no one understood them except himself, and the usual result was "adjourn to the Parade Hotel close by and think the matter over".    This we did, with the following results;  several drinks and the formation of a committee consisting of Tom Wills, myself, J. B. Thompson and "Football" Smith, as he was termed, a Master in the Scotch College, a rattling fine player and a splendid kick, but of a very peppery nature".

"We decided to draw up as simple a code of rules, and as few as possible, so that anyone could quickly understand them. We did so, and the result was that the rules under which the game is universally played in Victoria and most other parts of Australia.   I feel sure that neither the Rugby or Association rules will ever supplant them."
Sydney Mail, August 25, 1883

The rules caused understanderable debate.  Originally, tripping was allowed, but hacking (kicking at a player's shins to force him to release the ball) was banned.   A restriction on tripping was introduced after a few weeks, but many players, including Wills, thought hacking a "noble part of the game."     Hammersley in later years when writing for The Sydney Mail justified some of the rules that removed rougher elements from the game and leant to the local code one of its first great quotations :

"When the game first started in Victoria, it was a very rough game and no mistake. My shins now show honourable scars and often have I had the blood streaming down my legs. No wonder, for hacking was permitted and no objection taken to spiked shoes".

"Black eyes don't look so good in Collins Street"

Many historians accredit Wills as the major contributor to the rules given he received his tertiary schooling in England where he played a form of what was to become Rugby, but it seems that he certainly didn't get all his own way at the meeting.

He was something of a compulsive writer to Bell's Life and over the next few months, a couple of letters from Wills appeared deploring the ban on hacking.

The rules developed slowly over the next few years, but at a meeting in 1865 of the Melbourne Football Club (who effectively controlled the game), it became more obvious that Wills had been secretly nurturing a change over the ensuing years.   The meeting at Higg’s Royal Hotel on May 11 was delayed half an hour due to "few members being present on a dark and stormy night". A suggestion of adjourning the meeting was made, but Wills, perhaps determined to get his own way, objected to any postponement, declaring that "members would have been there if they had been interested enough".

A modification to restrict the width of the playing area to 100 yards was defeated, and another was rule to allow the side "losing a game" the right of kick-off to resume play.   Football matches at the time were decided in favour of the first team to kick two goals, a "game" equating to a goal being kicked.

But it was a proposed change to Rule 3 was one that Wills had secretly coveted for some time.   Wills moved an amendment to include a horizontal cross bar across the goal posts, 8 feet from the ground and "nothing to be considered a goal unless the ball was kicked between the posts and over the cross bar without touching the timber".   This was, more or less, the rule at the Rugby School where Wills had attended.

There are many men that our unique national code owes a debt to.   Most have been lauded for their contribution, but one that has been overlooked, and quite understandably so, is Mr. G. J. Shoosmith, who chaired the meeting.

The vote on the controversial proposal was deadlocked, before Mr. Shoosmith cast his vote in favour of the existing rule, suggesting "scrimmages near goal was the most exciting part of the game".

Shoosmith was a visiting Englishman who spent about five years in the Colonies, including a period as player and secretary of the Richmond Cricket Club.   After he returned to England, he unsuccessfully attempted to organise an Australian tour of an English cricket XI in 1870.   A close friend of Hammersley's he remained an occasional correspondent to Australian newspapers.

Just whether his decision to preserve the uniqueness of our scoring system by rejecting Wills suggestion was based on his short observations of the game or was merely following protocol in not accepting a change based on a tied vote is something only he could tell us!

What is not appreciated by many Australian Rules followers is that rules of our game can claim to be the oldest for any form of football in the world.  Football was played in many public schools in England, but there was no agreement on the rules, each major school playing their own code.   The major disagreements were whether the ball could be picked up by hand and whether players could run with the ball; after many arguments, proponents of the styles went their separate ways and eventually two distinct codes, what we now now as rugby and soccer (originally British Association football) came into being.

Despite the belief of many fans that Gaelic football influenced the Australian game, that form of football was not played on an organised basis until the 1880s, by which time the "Melbourne Rules" had been distributed widely throughout Great Britain.

RULES OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB
May, 1859
Committee : T W Wills Esq.   T Butterworth Esq.   W Hammersley Esq.   Smith Esq
Alex Bruce Esq.    Hon Treasurer : J Sewell Esq.    Hon Secretary : J B Thompson Esq

i   The distance between the Goals and the Goal Posts shall be decided upon by the Captains of the sides playing.

ii   The Captains on each side shall toss for choice of Goal; the side losing the toss has the Kick off from the centre point between the Goals.

iii   A Goal must be kicked fairly between the posts, without touching either of them, or a portion of the person of any player on either side.

iv   The game shall be played within a space of not more than 200 yards wide, the same to be measured equally on each side of a line drawn through the centres of the two Goals; and two posts to be call the "Kick off" posts shall be erected at a distance of 20 yards on each side of the Goal posts at both ends, and in a straight line with them.

v   In case the Ball is kicked behind Goal, any one 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 as nearly as possible in a line with the opposite Goal.

vi   Any player catching the Ball directly from the foot may call "mark." He then has a free kick; no player from the opposite side being allowed to come inside the spot marked.

vii   Tripping and pushing are both allowed (but no hacking) when any player is in rapid motion or in possession of the Ball, except in the case provided for in Rule vi.

viii    The Ball may be taken in hand only when caught from the foot, or on the hop. In no case shall it be lifted from the ground.

ix   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.

   The Ball, while in play. may under no circumstances be thrown.

(From the hand-written document still in the possession of the Melbourne Cricket Club, also quoted in Bell's Life at the time)