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The British and Irish Lions are here, it’s State of Origin time, the Socceroos face Japan, our cricketers are in England – should AFL fans be envious?
In the lead up to the visit of the first British Lions team in 1888, joint promoter of the tour, English Test cricketer James Lillywhite, twice put proposals to the Victorian Football Association.
Lillywhite was seeking sanction for a series of matches under Australian rules against Melbourne’s leading football clubs, and a three-game series against a combined Victorian team.
On both occasions the VFA rejected the Lillywhite plan. The tour still went ahead, and after arranging matches with individual clubs, the Lions played 19-games of Aussie rules, including against Essendon, South Melbourne, Fitzroy, Norwood, Port Adelaide and Carlton.
The latter contest drew over 26,000 to the MCG, a very sizeable gathering even by the Victorian capital’s already long-established reputation for big attendances, and more than any English FA Cup final could draw until West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa met in 1892.
One can only speculate the numbers that would have gone to see an All Victoria Twenty meet the British Lions. The VFA voted against the tour and the combined Victoria match as its club delegates were concerned it would mean less Saturdays available for club football.
Melbourne’s The Argus stated: “The natural consequence of the colony being shut out entirely from international football cannot but have an injurious effect. May not the decision of the VFA react upon themselves in a manner they have not foreseen?”
History tells us the decision of 125 years ago hasn’t hampered the development of the code and the VFL/AFL. But may The Argus ultimately be proven correct?
The best tool for expanding codes doesn’t appear to be merely planting a franchise in new territory, but via the Australian-wide interest brought by representative matches and, in the case of the round-ball code, visits by club teams that are international brand powerhouses.
The two rugby codes and soccer would have little or no presence in Australia if not for the visits from overseas teams over the past century or more.
The 1888 Lions, with a new and crowd-pleasing way of playing rugby that had arisen in Britain, gave the code an enormous boost in popularity in NSW and Queensland, just when it appeared certain Australian rules would sweep away the British codes from the colonies.
Further Lions tours in 1899, 1904 and 1908 (as well as All Blacks visits in ‘03 and ’07) reinforced the view that rugby could give the international appeal that Australian rules could not.
The SCG crowds in 1907 were so large (52,000 in one instance) that it triggered the founding of rugby league as the players wanted to get a divide of the vast profits the NSWRU were enjoying.
But even in the face of the rise of a rival rugby code, there was no immediate fear the 15-man game would fold. “The universal nature of rugby union football is one of its most potent features. Let us keep up the connection with the Old Country (Britain),” wrote Sydney’s The Arrow newspaper in 1909.
“We do not want our football legislators to do anything likely to cut us off from such matches. These are the great events in our Rugger. Let us retain them jealously.”
In the post-war 1920s, when rugby in Australia really was in trouble, reduced to a handful of first grade teams in Sydney and the schools, it was visits from the Springboks and All Blacks that continued to draw large crowds, shoring up the finances of the NSWRU and interest in the code.
At that point enough money was found to send the Waratahs on a tour of the UK – a campaign so successful and so well-received that it inspired a revival of the code from extinction in Queensland.
Within a handful of years rugby was established in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (the latter city being where the Lions played the final game of their 1930 visit to New Zealand and Australia).
The tours to and from overseas kept some players from switching codes, and sustained Australian rugby financially through to the era of the World Cup and then professionalism, with the establishment of Super Rugby competition and Tri-Nations.
The 2001 British Lions tour and hosting of the 2003 World Cup put Australian rugby into its most buoyant state of health since before the split with rugby league.
As revealed in The First Lions of Rugby, the theory espoused in 1888 during the Lions tour was that rugby was seen at its best above mere club contests, as representative games played by the top players combined together, backed by state or national sentiment.
Whereas Australian rules, so inextricably tied into club and fan support, passions and rivalry, was never the same game when played and watched anywhere else.
The wider public’s taste in the 21st century is, for better or worse, far more inclined to give its attention to the passing parade of the novel and the unique – which rugby and soccer can and do provide.
Rugby league has killed-off its once vibrant season of 7s, cup competitions and internationals, and though Origin appears of monolithic and unshakable proportions, it is vulnerable to disinterest and the rise of club self-interest over player availability should NSW ever manage to win three seasons in a row.
The English Super League is looking decidedly pale.
The AFL and NRL are in the ascendant today, but as with all in evolution, they may not be able to readily adapt to the increasing internationalisation of sport.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.