In July 1858, Tom Wills, an Australian-born cricketer educated at Rugby School in England, wrote a letter to Bell’s Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle, calling for a “foot-ball club” with a “code of laws” to keep cricketers fit during winter.[80] This is considered by historians to be a defining moment in the creation of Australian rules football. Through publicity and personal contacts Wills was able to co-ordinate football matches in Melbourne that experimented with various rules,[81] the first of which was played on July 31, 1858. One week later, Wills umpired a schoolboys match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College. Following these matches, organised football in Melbourne rapidly increased in popularity.
Wood engraving of an Australian rules football match at the Richmond Paddock, Melbourne, 1866
Wills and others involved in these early matches formed the Melbourne Football Club(the oldest surviving Australian football club) on May 14, 1859. Club members Wills,William Hammersley, J. B. Thompson andThomas H. Smith met with the intention of forming a set of rules that would be widely adopted by other clubs. The committee debated rules used in English public school games; Wills pushed for various rugby football rules he learnt during his schooling. The first rules share similarities with these games, and were shaped to suit to Australian conditions. H. C. A. Harrison, a seminal figure in Australian football, recalled that his cousin Wills wanted “a game of our own”.[82]
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