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1877 The First Footy Trips |
The move to play inter-colonial games was initiated by Thomas Power, then secretary of Carlton and later secretary of the V.F.A. for many years. Power's initiative may have had a financial motive - Carlton had just moved to a ground within the boundaries of Melbourne University, and later in the season introduced admission charges for the first time.
Despite interest from many quarters, the Sydney-based Southern Rugby Football Union refused the V.F.A.'s approach for an inter-colonial game :
"if
we played under our rules and the Melbourne representatives met us
without knowing anything at all about them, there would be nothing but
squabbles from start to end"
Mr.
M. Faithfull, chairman of the SRFU meeting on May 7
However, a few of its member clubs, notably University and Waratah, were unhappy with the rules of rugby as they then stood and were pressing for changes to make the game more entertaining and less hazardous.
The push for changes to the rules and the inter-colonial game was defeated by 16 votes to 9, three of the negative votes coming from a leading and conservative Sydney club called the Wallaroos, who stood steadfastly against both the Victorian code and English Association football (now known as soccer). It later emerged that other metropolitan clubs carried proxies for country football teams and had voted against the change without consulting their rural counterparts (in fact, one of the country clubs for whom a vote was cast in the negative did not even exist)!
At considerable expense, the Waratah club went ahead and invited Carlton to play games in Sydney in July. The Carlton club sent 21 players on the steamer "Barrabool", including most of their contemporary stars, including captain Jack Gardiner, George Coulthard, Geo. Robertson, and the Bracken brothers.
The football writer from the Sydney Mail, who plied his craft under the pseudonym of (ahem) "Leatherstocking" noted that the team included around 12 players that could have been selected in a truly representative Victorian side, but that Waratah would have been fortunate to supply more than five or six of a Sydney ream.
"Leatherstocking" was actually William Hammersley, one of four members of the original committee that laid down the first rules for the Melbourne club in 1859. Hammersley later moved to Sydney, where he wrote on both football and cricket under different pen-names. Some of his recollections of the early Melbourne game published in the 1880s are some of the most revealing insights into the first years of our national game.
"Leatherstocking" was a voice in the wilderness in promoting the Victorian rules in Sydney, and he urged spectators used to free entertainment at the open Moore Park where Waratah normally played to "patronize the club with their support when admission charges are made at the Albert Ground".
Some 3,000 spectators turned out for the Saturday game under Rugby rules - a large crowd by Sydney standards, although football matches in lesser-populated Melbourne were already attracting some crowds of 10,000.
The rules of rugby were less evolved than that of the Victorian game, and the Sydney Mail's report on the game noted Waratah scoring several "touchdowns". But a "touchdown' was not part of the scoring system - it simply earned the right for the attacking side to attempt what we now know as a "conversion", which registered a "goal" for the team.
Waratah failed to convert their early touchdowns into scores, but after half-time, Robertson kicked a field goal, and some 10 minutes later the locals finally managed a conversion after a touchdown to win the game by the only two goals.
On the following Monday, some 1,500 spectators, including the His Excellency, the Governor-General of New South Wales, turned out to see the game under the Victorian rules. The Sydney Mail immediately took a liking to the game, describing it as "much more edifying than Saturday's scramble" and noting the comparative simplicity of the rules.
For this game, Waratah's captain and mentor in the unfamiliar code was a former leading Carlton player, Jack Newing Leatherstocking was familiar enough with the Victorian code to suggest that despite Newing's efforts, Carlton took some advantage of their opponent's ignorance of the code, noting their tendency to "hold on the ball after being tackled and to push their opponents to the ground unnecessarily".
Carlton went on to win the game by six goals to nil, reports of the game suggesting that Waratah attempted little foot passing or marking due to unfamiliarity with the game.
Despite the acceptance of the Victorian game, the Waratahs lost money on the series. The following year, Carlton, then boasting over 400 members, invited the Sydney team on the return visit.
Later in the year, both Melbourne and St. Kilda visited Adelaide for games.
The South Australian Football Association which was formed in 1873 adopted the Victorian rules in May, 1877. An attempt to organise a match between the two Associations was planned, did not come off for reasons that have been lost in time.
Melbourne played the local Victorians club on Saturday, August 11. The Victorians were one of the strongest clubs in Adeliade, largely because of a presence of a number of ex-Victorians who were familiar with the rules that were new to Adelaide.
Melbourne, captained by James Byrne, won the match by the only goal, but reports indicate that the "Adelaide ball" was used for the entire game. At the time the S.A.F.A. adopted the Victorian rules, they also agreed on an oval ball, but the match reports of the day differentiate between "Melbourne" and "Adelaide" balls, so the initial decision may have been overturned, quite possibly because of the difficulty of obtaining footballs which were imported from England at the time.
On the following Monday, Melbourne played the Victorians, now supplemented by players from Woodville, South Adelaide and Port Adelaide, at the Exhibition Ground.
For this game, the Adelaide ball was used for the first half (Melbourne leading by two goals at half-time), and the Melbourne ball for the rest of the game. The visitors took advantage of their experience with their own ball to add another four goals in the second half.
"the rather simple
history of this game is that order gained a complete victory over
disorder"
South
Australian Register, August 14, 1877
The following Saturday, St. Kilda, captained by Colonel. T. W. Riddell and in their blue and white colours, played Adelaide in dark blue, different balls again being used for each half.
Many of the St. Kilda players had suffered from seasickness on the voyage over and they trailed one goal to two at half-time, but again the visiting team controlled the Melbourne ball much better than the locals to add four goals in the second half for a 5-2 win.