The New South Wales Waratahs playing in Melbourne is now an annual event, but it was a long time coming. Their first game on Victorian soil was 118 years ago – a match that produced an unexpected defeat, and gained rugby a fleeting moment of Melbourne’s football attention.
Through the 20th century the New South Wales team made just five rugby-playing visits to Victoria. The first was in 1927, when the Waratahs, soon to find international fame, went to Melbourne to board the ocean liner taking them to London.
Though a Victorian rugby team had come to Sydney in 1889, the code endured a ‘spit and sputter’ existence in Melbourne – in the early 1890s rugby was again extinct.
In 1893 a revival movement led to the establishment of four clubs – Pioneers, Rovers, Crusaders and Pirates – with matches on the ‘Friendly Societies Ground’ (now Olympic Park) and the (long gone) East Melbourne Cricket Ground.
One of those involved seemingly felt obliged to explain to Melburnians why rugby was being played at all, writing in The Argus: “We Victorian rugby enthusiasts felt that, in establishing the game here, we might ultimately have this colony represented in a united venture [an Australian representative team], and in our turn welcome British teams, as well as others from New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand to play their own game.”
It took over a century, but with the presence of the Melbourne Rebels, that aspiration is now being realised.
Back in July 1894 the NSWRU were keen to foster that same ideal, and arranged for a representative team to undertake a three-game visit to Melbourne.
The New South Welshmen were to play the Victorian XV twice, with an intervening mid-week game against a team of ‘Victorian seconds’ – the latter were boosted to 17 players to give locals more hope, but the fifteen of New South Wales still won 20-nil.
One could imagine the Victorian ‘first XV’ were equally novices of the rugby game. However, as New South Welshmen were soon to find out for themselves, these resident Victorians were primarily a mix of Britons and New Zealanders who had moved to Melbourne following work or family.
A fair crowd (though not as large as the newspapers on match morning had anticipated) gathered at the East Melbourne ground to watch the unusual attraction of Victoria and New South Wales meeting not only in rugby, but in any form of football.
The New South Wales team were frustrated by the Victorians’ resolute defending of their line. By fulltime the home team had crossed for the only try of the afternoon, and with neither side landing any goals, took victory 3-0. The telegraphed result appeared in Sydney newspapers, with many seeking confirmation the report wasn’t in error.
NSW weren’t to be caught out twice though – in the return game a week later, in front of a much larger attendance, the Victorians were vanquished 9 points to 5.
The visit didn’t ultimately provide rugby in Melbourne any permanency, but naturally triggered the usual newspaper kerfuffle between exponents of the two football codes, arguing the tos and fros of each.
The Argus thought the debate ultimately futile. “In making a comparison between rugby and Australian football it would be pure waste of time to do so on the assumption that rugby is ever likely to displace the Australian game in Melbourne or that our game has any chance of taking the leading place in Sydney. In this particular sport, at any rate, the two colonies have agreed to differ.”
On one point at least – then as now – proponents of both codes found common ground. “Like rugby the Australian game has one common fault – too much whistle, which in the first named game means scrums, and the latter ball up, more scrimmaging, and more ball up.”
chris
Guest
My mate has moved from Tyneside to Sydney 2 years ago and his 7 year old son now plays some form of Aussie Rules as he says being a Geordie it's Soccer BUT it's considered too soft in Australia but Rugby League/Rugby Union is too tough so being an open minded brit and when in rome he has got him in Aussie Rules as it's got more contact then Football(Soccer) and less with Rugby codes. I told him to get playing some form of Touch/Tag Rugby in the summer just to keep the interest in the Rugby codes.
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
@AC - yes, fans of either code can 'wax lyrical' about what happened in WA & why codes fell in/out of favour with players/clubs/spectators, but ultimately the reality was if WA wanted to play 'football' against the nearest Australian colonies it was socially/economically/educationally/transport linked to (i.e. SA & Vic), there was only ever going to be one winner. Same could be said to some degree in regard to the towns on the northern side of the NSW-Victoria border which were closer in ties and distance to Melbourne than Sydney. Broken Hill in NSW could only be reached from Sydney by sea/train to Melbourne, then Adelaide, and rail to Broken Hill. To the credit of the WARU rugby kept on in WA, but it says a lot that even in the late 1930s the WARU thought there was more to be gained by mounting a tour by sea to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), than heading to the east coast of our nation.
AC
Guest
Sean, Thanks for another interesting story on the history of Aussie Rugby. Coming from WA myself, I was very interested to read about the roots of the game in Perth and the Gold Fields and how the Hale School was the stronghold (and still is) of school boy rugby. The suggestion that Aussie rules took off in WA possibly due to a large influx of migrant Victorians bringing their game into the state would make most parochial sandgropers feel ill ;)
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
I'm a tame puppy compared to the Yoda of Sports History... Tony Collins The Invention of Sporting Tradition: National Myths, Imperial Pasts and the Origins of Australian Rules Football http://www.palgrave.com/PDFs/9780230241251.Pdf
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
@ sheek - ok, sounds an excellent idea.
sheek
Guest
MILF, My take on attacks by Jottings on Aussie rules, is not against the game itself, but the pompous, & inaccurate version of history often presented by supposedly knowledgeable AF folk. Jottings just doesn't attack the misconceptions in AF, he's done precisely the same with both rugby codes. So don't feel he's just picking on you guys. You ought to be appreciative someone has gone to the trouble to trawl & investigate the past, & highlights inaccuracies we've all grown up with accepting it as fact.
sheek
Guest
Sean, You gotta do a longer article on this. Just those two paras are chockful of interesting, historical info.
jeznez
Guest
milf, he is pretty horrible isn't he. "then as now – proponents of both codes found common ground". What a horrible dig at the good people of Aussie rules to even suggest they might find some common ground with us rugby neanderthals.
me, I like football
Guest
" then as now " are your words before the 1894 quote which bemoans "too much whistle" . But I apologise if I took it out of context. But you can't blame me for being cynical when from what I've read of yours you tend to have a dig at Aussie rules when mentioning it
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
Lol! You'd think that sooner or later I'd learn that AFL fans will read into any mention I make of AFL a sinister intention. I didn't invent the 1894 quote. The point of the last paragraph is to illustrate the common ground shared by fans of all codes - then and now - of bemoaning the whistle being blown. Whether the instances that caused referees/umpires to blow their whistle in 1894 still exist in today's rugby & AFL I made no comment upon, and obviously nor could words written in 1894.
Justin
Guest
Nothing in the media that I have seen KOGs but I would be disappointed, weather permitting, if they dont reach 23k+
me, I like football
Guest
Good ol' Sean couldn't help but have a slight dig at the end of an otherwise quite informative piece. The number of ball ups in Aussie-rules is not a complaint I hear of at all now by us fans, as I believe it's been falling since at least the 05-06 Swans era..
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
Good idea for an article sheek! To my eye, if you look at each football code, and take account of the date they began (i.e split from rugby), you can see alive in them still elements/principles of rugby & its playing laws from that era, and even some which are no longer in RU at all. For example, the concept that the game requires a re-start (with all players back again on their feet) when the ball-carrier is brought to ground or "held" (so that he can't advance forward or pass the ball) is the RU game of the late 1800s - that concept is in gridiron (started with RFU laws 1875) and RL (started with RFU laws 1895), but isn't in RU any longer thanks to law changes that introduced rucks aka breakdown (1907) and mauls (1948 - by deleting the "held" law).
sheek
Guest
KPM, You're kinda right in parts. In the early days (late 1890s/early 1900s), the best & most obvious way, perhaps the only way, to make money in order to pay players, was from gate takings. Sports sponsorship was still in its infancy. So rugby league was aware it had to attract fans through the turnstiles, or otherwise it was stuffed. Australian football went one step further, & had club membership as well as gate takings as part of its revenue stream, right from the early days. Clever chaps! So rugby league has definitely tinkered with its rules, always looking to improve the quality of its spectacle, in order to attract & keep fans. Sometimes, I think they have tinkered too much, but that's just a personal view. Because rugby was amateur for so long, it didn't have to worry about the satisfaction of spectators. It was about "playing the game for the game's sake", & all that stuff. Rugby could always be a dull game, & I suspect it often was, easily bogged down. But in the amateur era, it regularly threw up players who went against the grain, so to speak, & were willing to chance their arm. They didn't have to worry about contracts back then. This individual flair made up for the lots of dull bits. Today unfortunately, too many players & teams play in a similar fashion. The innovation & inventiveness is at a low ebb, & the faults are highlighted by all this drabness of uniformity. Ironically, the refs are probably letting the game flow more today than their counterparts in the amateur era. But mass media exposure means there is no place to hide. Rugby seems to find itself in this odd bind whereby no matter how quickly they try to change, they still remain behind the proverbial 8-ball.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
I suppose this is an obvious point but it really only occurred to me recently: rugby is thought of as by nature not entertaining because it has long been amateur, and league entertaining because it has long been professional, as if that meant it had to be to draw fans. Cleverly the myth has emerged that this is why league has the rules it does, to entertain because if must please the fans, when in fact that is not why it has those rules. So it doesn't follow at any way that it is more entertaining because of those rules, or because it has long been professional.
King of the Gorgonites
Roar Guru
any talk of the crowd expectations for Friday night?
Justin
Guest
Good on you Will, you'll enjoy the stadium and the noise the Rebels supporters create. Always a cracking atmosphere. If I wasnt otherwise detained I'd catch up with you for a few froffies...
Australian Rules
Guest
The 2nd and 3rd last paragraphs are interesting..! The idea of a "battle of the codes" was contemplated a century ago...but our forebears had the good sense to ignore such nonsense! Pity we cannot exhibit the same sense! good read
Jeff Dowsing
Guest
It's worth noting that AAMI Park is built on the site of the old Melbourne Motordrome where some of these rep games were played in the Depression era. The presence of rugby in the precinct itself goes back more than a century - so it's kinda nice that the Rebels' home ground is where it is. http://www.aamipark.com.au/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-171/41_read-16/
Tom
Guest
In a situation such as a Australia I think it's going to be very hard for one sport to make significant inroads on other simply because there is so much prejudice and so many comparisons to be made. I am a soccer fan that lives in a afl state but am from NSW. So many people say to me how can you watch rugby league, it's the most one dimensional conservative sport I've ever seen, they have a field 100 x 70 m and the entire game is played in a 25 m wide channel. They say rugby union is too complicated and soccer is soft. I say that afl is just like a marathon with a ball thrown in the middle and all you do is fumble the ball. The conversation goes round and round and we all go back to our own sports. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.