1861 The Caledonian Cup - Footy's First Trophy
	Melbourne's first football trophy was made available for the 1862 season by the Caledonian Society of Australian following the success of their first Caledonian and Highland Games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground late in 1861.  The games had promised a football match that didn't quite happen as expected, but the link between the Society and football remained ...

"… these games are surely amongst the most singular of all festive celebrations. Southrons, to whom the sound of a bagpipe is like the squeal of a little pig, may be permitted on these occasions to indulge their wonderment at these fearsome mysteries … the intelligent foreigner … is aware that the true Caledonian bristles all over with hair and daggers and precious stone - that he wears as his usual mountain attire a stately black bonnet with waving plumes, takes snuff at the interval of every five minutes and uses strange oaths after the manner of the generic Briton"

The Argus, December 27, 1861

The Caledonian Society was formed in 1858 with Angus McMillan (one of the first explorers of Gippsland) as president and John Shillinglaw as secretary.

The group was based on the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland with an objective of prompting knowledge of farming practices, but eventually the practical side of the organization fell away and it became a friendly society celebrating various Scottish events, initially the battle of Bannockburn where Robert the Bruce defeated the English. The Society organised festivals in Melbourne in 1859 and 1860 and also games at the gold mining centres at Ballarat, Sandhurst and Castlemaine.   The tradition continues today, with many cities and towns still featuring Highland Games on New Year's Day.

The Argus (above) queried the nationalistic theme of the games and preceded their comments with mention of the traditional dour and conservative approach of the Scots to their business affairs. Despite the reservations, The Argus, along with all the other Melbourne newspapers, gave extensive coverage to the activities, both on and off the field,

The Melbourne Cricket Club was granted special permission to host the first Caledonian Games at the Metropolitan Ground between December 26 and 28 of 1861.

The games were the first event held at the Metropolitan Ground after the erection of a grandstand financed by Messrs. Spiers and Pond, two gentlemen who ran one of Melbourne's leading cafés.    Spiers and Pond, the proprietors of the Café de Paris in Bourke Street, were two of the colony's earliest entrepreneurs, and after just failing to attract the famous playwright and actor, Charles Dickens, with an offer of £7,000 to visit Australia, they devoted their efforts towards organising the first visit by an English cricket side to Melbourne.

The grandstand was specifically built for the great cricket match against H. H. Stephenson's XI and the Caledonian Games offered the public and press a sneak preview of its facilities.

"… very imposing when populated with a multitude of 3,000 plus …the seats are portioned off into separate compartments for each visitor by a substantial division of planking - whether one of these seats would afford adequate room for a mature lady attired in a crinoline of the first-class we cannot positively state, but it would certainly supply very nearly enough space for two average gentlemen if rolled into one".

The Argus, December 28 1861

The games were under the patronage of Sir Henry Barkly and presented the Melbourne public, already agog with excitment over the great cricket match with the largest sporting carnival yet seen in the colony.

A crowd estimated at 10,000, probably the largest single gathering seen in Melbourne, attended the first day, devoted to various athletic events, archery, and quoits, an immensely popular pastime of the era and a "football match for a handsome silver cup".

The second day was devoted to traditional Scottish sports and entertainments, icluding tossing of the caber, sword dances, and the "hitch and kick", famous for not attracting a single entrant in the Gymnastic Games of 1850.

The final day on Saturday assumed a more aggressive nature and was perhaps a forerunner of the military tattoo popular today.   The entertainments featured mock cavalry charges, various sword events, and perhaps the off-field refreshments also included an early version of today's barbeque with an event called the "Couér de Lion Feat with Sword, prize a cavalry sword", defined as :

"cutting a sheep in half at a single blow while on horseback at a gallop"

Lest animal lovers revolt at the thought, we must add that the sheep had been more or less humanely despatched the day before!   Six of the contestants achieved the feat whilst the carcass lay stationary, so to decide a winner, sheep were hung from the branch of a tree. This proved rather more difficult, and the prize was eventually presented to a Mr. Wills for the best attempt.

The Games also promoted activities of a more scholarly nature.

"A Silver Cup will be given for the best Essay on "Australian Exploration", and Silver Medals will be awarded for each of the best Poetical Compositions in English, broad Scots and Gaelic."

The "grand football match" promised as part of the opening day's celebrations did not take place, perhaps because the wicket area was roped off to protect the hallowed turf for the upcoming cricket match and a number of bandstands and dance platforms were erected on the arena.

The Caledonian Siver Cup can lay claim to being the first football trophy ever awarded given that rugby was not formalised until 1863 and it wasn't until 1871 theat the English Football Association (soccer) was formed, but the local press didn't see any great significance in the event.

The final day attracted a crowd estimated at 6,000 people and The Argus suggested :

"an improvised match at football was another great source of gratification to the visitors, and there was fine display of wrestling".

Like the fate of the innocent lambs led to slaughter, history does not record whether the wrestling was part of the football, or exactly what rules were adopted for the game.

The two teams chosen to compete for the trophy were Melbourne and University.

Melbourne were the leading club and had a monopoly on most leading players, but the according to a report in The Age in 1933 on the development of the sports grounds at the University, there were just 36 students enrolled in 1860.

As a result, other clubs gave the University free reign to use "old boys" or students or masters from the private schools   Thomas H. Smith, a master at the Church of England Grammar and one of the four men that drew up the rules for the code in 1859 was to have played for the University, but was unanimously elected captain of Melbourne instead.

The only goal of the day was scored for the University by James Smith, who had played in the famous Scotch College and Church of England Grammar match in 1858 that is commonly and incorrectly regarded as the the first game of Australian football.

After a refreshment break, commonly copious quantities of beer and champagne, the captains called the game off and the Caledonian Society gave the University temporary possession of the Cup on condition that the game be replayed at the start of the following season.

The Games did little harm to the ground. The first intercolonial cricket match started on New Year's Day just two days later before a crowd variously estimated as between 25,000 and 40,000 spectators.   

Spiers and Pond were also the caterers to the Melbourne Cricket Club and entitled to the bulk of the gate takings as sponsors of the tour.   With a total attendance of around 20,000 people at the Games as well as the cricket, the week must have gone a long way towards covering their costs of the tour.

Sadly, the Cup became a bone of contention amongst the leading Melbourne clubs and caused more trouble than the Society could have ever anticipated.