Geelong aren’t the second oldest club afterall

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By Pippinu, 18 Jun 2009 Pippinu is a Roar Guru

Tagged:: AFL, Geelong Cats

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All Victorian school children are taught the more important aspects of their State’s history, in particular, the history of their very own game, AFL.

We are all taught about that first famous game in 1858, and about the first set of rules written in a pub in Richmond the following year.

We are all taught that Melbourne and Geelong footy clubs are amongst the oldest football clubs in the world: Melbourne being formed in May 1859 and Geelong in July 1859.

But in what may well have ramifications across the globe, it has recently been claimed that Geelong is not the second oldest football club in the land after all.

A local Castlemaine historian, engaged by the Castlemaine Football Club to research its history, has uncovered documentary evidence of the club being formed in June 1859 (reported in The Age, 17 June 2009).

The evidence was uncovered in an article from the local paper of the time, and refers to a meeting held in the Supreme Court Hotel on 15 June 1859 to establish the club, meaning that club has just celebrated its 150th birthday.

There are doubts about what happened next, as no evidence exists that the club did very much until 1871.

Get ready for a multitude of 150th birthdays over the next twelve to 24 months, with many country and city clubs having been formed during this period.

After Geelong, Ballarat will be celebrating its 150th birthday in the first half of next year, and plans are already afoot for celebrations that may even rope in the AFL.

In the 1870s, the Ballarat league was almost on an equal footing with the then VFA, and regular representative games took place between the two competitions.

This discovery means a rewrite of footballing history as we know it. And not just in local terms

The discovery has world wide consequences in terms of human history and understanding the human condition.

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The Crowd Says (202) | Page 1 of Comments

Art Sapphire said | June 18th 2009 @ 11:10am | Report comment

Pip – Serioulsly, The AFL need to make a movie epic based on the roots of the game.

They will get David Williamson to write a screenplay. Peter Weir to direct.

The who’s who of to star. Hunter, Thompson, Gibson, Wenham, Weaving, Gulpilil, etc

It will cost $100 million to make and will gross $1 million at the box office.

But in terms of understanding the human condition, it will be an unqualified triumph.

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Pippinu said | June 18th 2009 @ 11:25am | Report comment

Art
I can’t argue with anything you’ve said – thanks for taking the time to put forward your thoughts!

(surely a $99 million shortfall is worth it if we come to a better understanding of the human condition??)

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Captain Nemo said | June 18th 2009 @ 11:35am | Report comment

Pip says “But in what may well have ramifications across the globe” what????????

Pip says “The discovery has world wide consequences in terms of human history and understanding the human condition.”
This is the funniest thing I have read in ages. Please Pip, keep them coming.

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onside said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:20pm | Report comment

Art Sapphire
I was speed reading your post.Got to ‘The who’s who to star’ and imagined an S between Hunter and Thompsom.
Quite an appropiate freudian slip on my part, as Hunter S Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.Have
a word to Ben there’s a cameo role for him I am sure.

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Pippinu said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:24pm | Report comment

Capt Nemo

I’m here to please.

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macavity said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:29pm | Report comment

at any rate, why are AFL clubs celebrating playing Rugby?

http://www.rl1908.com/blog/afl-hoax.htm

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Art Sapphire said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:33pm | Report comment

onside – If Hunter S. Thompson was alive today he would have been perfect to write an acid-tripped history of Australian Rules staring Bill Hunter and Jack Thompson.

In the pivotal scene both Hunter and Thompson are given a hallucinatory piece of bark to smoke by David Gulpilil.

They watch a game of the local grook game played by the indigenous folk and while still high on acid they come up with the idea of Aussie Rules.

This would have become the AFL official version of the origins of the game and schoolchildren across the land would all be the wiser for it.

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Captain Nemo said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:35pm | Report comment

ah, here we go. can’t wait for MichealC’s response, it will surely involve % crowd numbers from the 1880′s If anyone asks how North Korea brainwashed a nation into absolute unconditional control without question, they should take a look at Australia’s southern state first!!!

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Pippinu said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:41pm | Report comment

Macavity
This so-called “hoax” theory appears to do a good job of ignoring the documented of evidence, of which the originals exist to this day.

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Brett McKay said | June 18th 2009 @ 12:44pm | Report comment

Art, I would have thought given the AFL’s convenient ignorance of indigenous games that may or may not have predated the alleged origin of the game, and with his curious depiction of WWII Australia, that Baz Lurhmann would have been the obvious choice to direct the footy epic!! Especially with the $100M cost and $1M grossing!!

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