On 7 August 2008 it will be exactly 150 years since the first recorded game of Australian Football. It was played near the site of today's MCG between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar with 40 gents per side, a spherical ball, no point posts and it took three Saturdays to complete.
The match followed the Rugby School custom of the 'best of three goals' – whichever side kicked two goals first would win.
After a goal to each team on 7 August, the game was postponed at dusk until Saturday 21 August 1858. On this second day, another three-hour hard struggle was fought with both teams unsuccessful at grabbing that elusive winning goal. The game was again adjourned for another fortnight.
The last day of the schoolboys' match was contested on Saturday 4 September by a struggling mass of lads and was ultimately drawn when the sun went down. Australian Football was born…
Today – July 2008
This year the AFL is celebrating 150 Years of Australian Football and Round 16 is Queensland’s turn to be honoured for its contribution to footy and its tremendous history.
The Brisbane Lions v West Coast clash at the Gabba on Saturday night 19 July will become centre stage for Queensland's recognition with a series of pre-match activities.
Gabba patrons are invited to enter the stadium early at 6:30pm to see a special scoreboard DVD presentation of Aussie Rules history with a strong 'maroon-grown' flavour.
This will be followed by the unveiling of a giant 25m x 40m Lions Guernsey on the field by 150 competition winners from Triple M and Network Ten plus 100 invited members from local junior and senior AFL clubs. Finally, a local AFL legend will be interviewed on the field.
This pre-game presentation will be perfected during a full dress rehearsal on the preceding Thursday evening at the Gabba from 5 – 6:30pm which is open to all media to attend. Chief organiser and major events specialist Kerrie Hayes will be available for interviews on the day.
The Lions are also using the occasion to celebrate its strong partnership with South-East Queensland’s Junior and Senior State AFL Clubs. The Lions have organised ticketing promotions and discount packages to encourage match attendances by these clubs and is hosting 200 of their representatives at a Queensland Room Gabba function before the first siren.
The Brisbane Lions now invite South-East Queensland to be a part of history by celebrating Queensland's and the Lions' history together at this milestone event under lights on Saturday 19 July against West Coast at the Gabba.
Epilogue – August 2008
The 150 Year celebrations won't end for Queenslanders at the final siren of the Lions v West Coast fixture. The AFL is also encouraging ALL Australians to kick a footy just 19 days later on Thursday 7 August for its massive Kick Around Australia event on footy’s actual 150th birthday.
Kick Around Australia Day provides an opportunity for all Australians to join in the celebrations and wear their football colours or bring a footy to work or school or park or backyard and have a kick.
A number of AFL players will visit schools to take part in the Kick Around Australia activities with official 150 Years ambassador Kevin Sheedy and other AFL identities providing their support.
To find out more, please visit www.150years.com.au
QUEENSLAND FOOTBALL HISTORY TIMELINE
1866 - On 22 May 1866 Queensland's first club was formed at the Metropolitan Hotel in Brisbane by a group of cricketers who, as winter approached, sought a sporting alternative to keep fit. They chose what the locals referred to as 'Victorian Rules' and gave birth to the Brisbane Australian Football Club. In 1868-69 there were four clubs – Brisbane, the Volunteer Artillery, Brisbane Grammar School and the Civil Service - and in 1870 an Ipswich team joined, necessitating an overnight journey on a steamer for matches.
1879 - The Queensland Football Association (QFA) was formed to administer a game flourishing in the Brisbane/Ipswich area.
1883 - Queensland sent delegates to the Inter-Colonial Football Conference where the Australian Football Council was formed. At the time Queensland boasted more than 300 teams.
1884 - Queensland played its first interstate match, losing to New South Wales 3-16 to 7-10 (behinds were recorded in the scores at the time but did not actually count until 1897).
1885 - Australian football was the first-choice code of the grammar schools in Queensland, with Ipswich Grammar beating Toowoomba Grammar at North Ipswich in 1885 before catching an overnight train to play Brisbane Grammar the following day.
1888 - Queensland attracted more than 5000 people to the Brisbane Exhibition Ground for a match against VFL club Melbourne, prompting 'Wikipedia' to record that 'by the 1880's Australian football was the most prominent football code in the state'.
1890 - South Melbourne visited Queensland to play Brisbane, Ipswich and Queensland
1903 - On 29 July 1903 the Queensland Football League (QFL) was formed.
1904 - On 18 June 1904 at Queen's Park in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens the first premiership game was played. This gave a revival to a sport which had stagnated somewhat through the 1890's after independent school headmasters in 1887 adopted 'rugby football' as their preferred code by a one-vote majority. The decision was reportedly influenced by the then recent creation of a Queensland-based governing body for rugby, and strong resistance to the use of the word "Victorian" in the name of the sport. The first premiership was shared by Norths, Souths and Wests.
1905 - Games were first played at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (Gabba). City became the first team to win the QFL premiership outright.
1914 - A promotional carnival was played in Brisbane involving VFL club Collingwood and teams from Perth, Adelaide and Hobart.
1927 - The DeLittle Medal for the "Best & Fairest & Manliest Player" in the competition was first awarded to Neil Brown of Windsor. The medal continued until 1942 when the competition ceased due to World War II. A meeting of the Australian National Football Council decided that each of the state leagues were to include the words 'Australian National' in their names so the QFL was renamed the Queensland Australian National Football League (QANFL).
1946 - Doug Pittard of Western Districts won the first J.A.Grogan Medal, which replaced the DeLittle Medal after the war.
1948 - Erwin Dornau became the first Queenslander to play in the VFL. A Kedron junior, he was a centre half back who caught the eye of South Melbourne scouts when runner-up in the 1947 Tassie Medal at the national carnival in Hobart. He played 54 VFL games at South from 1948-52.
1950 - Brisbane Exhibition Ground hosted the national carnival.
1952 - Brisbane Exhibition Ground hosted a Monday night VFL match between Essendon and Geelong. Part of the round 8 fixture in which all games were played in regional and interstate venues for promotional reasons, it was the first official VFL match to be played under floodlights after being rescheduled from the previous Saturday due to torrential rain. Essendon won 23.17.155 to 12.14.86.
1954 - The Townsville Football League was formed. This was a forerunner to regional Leagues in Cairns (1955), Mt.Isa (1957), Ipswich & West Moreton (1961), Gold Coast (1962), the Sunshine Coast (1969), Mackay (1970), Darling Downs (1971) and Rockhampton (1974).
1959 - Australian football returned to the Gabba after a long absence.
1961 - The Gabba hosted the national carnival.
1964 - The QANFL changed its name to the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL).
1974 - Queensland won the Division 2 title at the National Football League Championships in Canberra in 1974.
1975 - Queensland beat Tasmania for the first time at the Gabba.
1977 - Queensland beat the VFA for the first time at the Gabba.
1981 - Essendon defeated Hawthorn in a VFL premiership match at the Gabba.
1985 - Queensland completed a hat-trick of wins in the quadrangular interstate series against Tasmania, ACT and NSW – a huge fillip for the code in Queensland and a forerunner to the birth of the Brisbane AFL club.
1986 - On 6 October 1986 a privately-owned syndicate, headed by Christopher Skase and Paul Cronin and including the QAFL, was awarded a licence to field a Brisbane team in the expanding VFL competition.
1987 - The Brisbane Bears, based at Carrara on the Gold Coast, played in the VFL competition for the first time.
1993 - The Brisbane Bears relocated from the Gold Coast to the Gabba in Brisbane.
1991 - Queensland, under coach Norm Dare, defeated Victoria 'B' at the Gabba and the Brisbane Bears, coached by Mark Williams, won the AFL Reserves Premiership.
1996 - On 4 July 1996 the Brisbane Bears merged with Fitzroy to form the Brisbane Lions, effective from 1 November 1996.
2003 - The Brisbane Lions completed an historic premiership hat-trick after the Queensland Team of the Century, headed by captain Michael Voss and vice-captain Jason Dunstall, was named on 16 June 2003. A list of 100 final nominations included 14 players from pre-World War Two, four from the 1940s (post-World War Two), 10 from the 1950s, 17 from the 1960s, 19 from the 1970s, 19 from the 1980s, 16 from the 1990s and one from the 2000s.
