1880 North Of The Border
	Our Australian game has always struggled to establish a strong foothold in Sydney, not in the least because it was alternatively known as "Melbourne rules" or the "Victorian code", both names somewhat objectionable to the conservative elements in the New South Wales colony.   But in 1880, the first real push came to introduce the game in Sydney and the move gathered pace with an old exponent of the game ..,

"Some seasons ago, metropolitan rugby and country teams were ignorant of the Victorian code."

Despite the mix of Victorian code and rugby matches between Carlton and Waratah in 1877 and 1878, it wasn't until 1880 that a move towards what we now think of as the Australian game started to appear in Sydney.

Many of the existing rugby players and clubs were unhappy with the rules of the game, the most common complaints being the incessant scrimmages and stoppages in play as well as the number of injuries on the harder grounds in Sydney.

The movement to the "Victorian code" started quite innocently enough when on June 19, the Sydney Mail carried an advertisement placed by Mr. George A. Crisp seeking "persons desirous of forming a club under the Victorian football rules" to meet at Slatton's Hotel in Woollahra.

One of the leading supporters of the Victorian rules was the Sydney Mail's football writer, who plied his trade under the non de plume of (ahem!) "Leatherstocking".

"Leatherstocking" had given very positive support to the need to reform the existing rules of rugby as it was played in Sydney, and had favourably reviewed the games under Victorian rules played in 1877 between Carlton and Waratah, and he took up the cause again after noting Crisp's advertisement.   Woollahra at the time was a somewhat windswept settlement high above the harbour and "Leatherstocking" had some reservations as the wisdom of the location :

"the distance of the place of the meeting from Sydney will prevent many metropolitan players who approve of the object of the meeting from attending.    The University, Waratah and Burwood clubs are keen for change but we query Woollahra as the site.   However, I shall ignore the personal inconvenience and face the inclement heights of that well-ventilated suburb, but I don't think that many other football supporters will prove as intrepid, or should I perhaps say, foolhardy".

Although never referred to by name in the Sydney Mail, "Leatherstocking" was actually William Hammersley, one of the four men credited with setting down the original rules of the Victorian code when he was a prominent sports journalist with Bell's Life in Victoria and later the Victorian edition of The Australasian.   Hammersley, like other founders of the game, was a prominent cricketer, having played for Cambridge University, Surrey and the M.C.C. before migrating to Melbourne, where he captained the first Victorian XI to ever visit Sydney for an intercolonial match in 1857

George Crisp was unknown to most of Sydney's sporting fraternity and he later admitted that he had no idea of how many admirers there were of the Victorian code in Sydney, and that his plan for the meeting was simply to form a local club at Woollahra under the Victorian rules in the hope "that the game attracts converts, other clubs and games."

Regardless of the geographical reservations expressed by "Leatherstocking" and Crisp's modest ambitions, the meeting was a great success with over 50 attendees applauding the simplicity of the published rules of the game and agreeing to adjourn the meeting to a more central location, Hook's Freemason's Hotel in York Street the following week.

The second meeting was standing room only with over 100 people in attendance and after some discussion, a motion was moved that "in the opinion of this meeting, a radical change in the game of football as played at present in this colony is necessary".

The motion was unanimously adopted, a committee was established to suggest the adoption of rules, and votes of thanks to both the Chairman and to Crisp were passed.    Like many football meetings over the years, there was some late controversy when after about an hour and half :

After some heated debate as to the etiquette of withdrawing the original, a second motion was then passed suggesting that the group form themselves into an organization to be known as the New South Wales Football Association and that they adopt the Victorian Football Association rules.   

A further meeting at Hook's Hotel the following Wednesday chaired by Mr. H. C. Rogers moved that Mr. Phillip Sheridan, a trustee of the Association Cricket Ground, be appointed President of the new movement.    Vice-presidents Henry Hook (the publican), Watkin Wynne, then editor of the Daily Telegraph, James Toohey (who with his brother John had already established the beginnings of the Tooheys brewing empire), and Rogers were elected vice-presidents. Charles Beal was appointed as honorary secretary, and W. C. Hinwood as treasurer.    Annual membership was set at 5/-

The Southern Rugby Football Union which controlled the early Rugby game in Sydney was shocked out of its lethargy and at a meeting the following week, a committee was appointed to "examine the laws and by-laws and report any amendments or alterations which it is deemed advisable to make".

"Leatherstocking" noted that the later meetings of the Victorian code supporters had outnumbered those of the S.R.F.U. by more than three to one and he criticised the Union's late move to amend the rugby rules, noting a similar move in 1877 when the Union had rejected the both a rule review and the V.F.A.'s proposal for intercolonial games by 16 votes to nine.

On July 17, the fledgling N.S.W.F.A. organised an exhibition match between Waratah and Burwood "assisted by some old Victorian players".    The Sydney Mail suggested that the match "successfully attracted all attention from several good rugby games at Moore Park" and the game included "many passages of open play with no off-sides or scrimmages, but that due to a lack of practice, few 'little marks' were attempted.

The S.R.F.U. came under further pressure early in August, when a meeting was held of supporters of the English Association game that we now know as soccer.   This meeting also demanded the reformation of the existing rugby rules "although not necessarily agreeing with the Victorian code".    Like the S.R.F.U. meeting, several speakers pumped the emotions of the attendees with a somewhat jingoistic appeal for links "with England, the home of us all".

One speaker, Mr. George Weiss, however, took the previous speakers to task, saying he was :

This rather delighted "Leatherstocking" and with tongue firmly placed in cheek he noted that Weiss's speech was "considered rank heresy - quite shocking to the English Association advocates, and nearly drove the Rugbyites to the nearest refreshment bar".

Around the same time, the Lord Mayor of Sydney granted a portion of the grounds at Moore Park for the use of the N.S.W.F.A and the first club was formed at Balmain.

At a meeting on August 6 at Webber's Post Office Hotel in York Street, the Sydney Club was formed and voted to wear a dark blue jersey and knickerbockers with red hose and cap, the meeting concluding that the new club had hopes of sending a representative team to Melbourne. Just four days later at the Cambridge Club Hotel in Oxford Street, the initial meeting of the East Sydney Club was held.    George Weiss was elected as honorary secretary and over 40 members joined the club.

History was made on Saturday, August 14 when games representing all three codes, rugby, English Association and Victorian rules, were played at Moore Park.

The lack of flat, open spaces in the metropolitan area of Sydney proved a handicap for clubs trying to establish themselves, but the Victorian code spread to country districts and a strong club was formed at Maitland in the middle of the coal fields.

Early in 1882, the Petersham club was formed, and in May of the same year, Waratah finally switched allegiances and switched exclusively to the Victorian code.

But whist the working class viewed the new code as an Australian game for Australians, the middle and upper classes still regarded rugby, and to a lesser extent, soccer as a remaining lifeline to the English public school system.    Unable to establish a base in the many private schools or even in areas of public education where masters were often the products of the English system, the Victorian code languished after the promising start.

The N.S.W.F.A was banned from playing on enclosed grounds, and without the income support from gate receipts to support playing expenses and to promote the game, the Association finally collapsed in 1893.