Australian rules football in England

Australian rules football was played by a British representative rugby team which toured Australia in 1888. The team arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on 18 April.[3] They attended a social function with the Southern Tasmanian Football Association, before going to New Zealand for a series of rugby matches.

After they returned to Australia they again trained in Australian rules in Sydney, before leaving for Victoria in mid-June. The tour included 19 matches. They played against several of the stronger football clubs from Melbourne including the Carlton Football Club, South Melbourne Football Club, Essendon Football Club, Fitzroy Football Club and Port Melbourne Football Club. Additionally, they played against some strong regional Victorian clubs including two teams from the city of Ballarat: Ballarat Football Club and Ballarat Imperial Football Club, as well as two teams from the city of Bendigo: Bendigo Football Club and Sandhurst Football Club as well as playing against clubs from other regional towns including the Castlemaine Football Club, Maryborough Football Club, Horsham Football Club and Kyneton Football Club.

The team also played against several of the stronger South Australian teams including South Adelaide Football Club, Port Adelaide Football Club, Adelaide Football Club (no connection to the later Adelaide club), Norwood Football Club. The only club from outside of Victoria or South Australia which played against them was the Maitland Football Club (from the Hunter Region in New South Wales). The British team won six matches, including a win over Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on 10 July 1888, and drew one.

The reigning Victorian premiers, Carlton defeated Great Britain at the MCG 14.17 to 3.8. At this stage goals and points were recorded but only goals counted in the score; for example, when Great Britain played Castlemaine under very heavy conditions they kicked 1 goal 2 points and the locals kicked 1 goal 4 points, but the match was declared a draw. Great Britain also played 35 games of rugby, making a total of 54 games in 21 weeks. A star of the team's Australian rules games was Andrew Stoddart, who captained the team for part of its tour and also captained England in cricket.

The 1888 tour had been organised by the English cricketer Arthur Shrewsbury but his involvement with Australian Rules football did not end there. He planned to have an Australian team sent to the United Kingdom to play a series of demonstration matches and to that end he looked to Scotland where he had identified possible opponents. Shrewsbury's plans are outlined in his correspondence with Alfred Shaw and Turner, the Nottingham Cricket Club Secretary.[4]

Between 1870 and World War I many overseas students studied medicine in Scotland, and some went down to England to play the Australian Rules teams in that country. A scratch match between the Edinburgh Australians against the University of London was planned and then postponed to be held at Balham on 14 April 1888.[5] The match drew considerable praise in UK newspapers such as the Times and the Scotsman.

Shrewsbury suggested that the 'Edinburgh Australians' team at Edinburgh University should travel down to England to meet the Australian team in a series of demonstration matches in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Unfortunately his bold plan did not eventuate as the authorities in Australia aborted the venture and a possible expansion of Australian Rules in the UK was lost.

There were reports from Australia that the game was being played in England between two clubs in 1903[6] and in 1904.[7] By 1906 there were three clubs holding regular competition.[8]

In 1916, a match was held at the Queen's Club in London between Australian Army teams, representing the Combined Training Units and the 3rd Division, in which many senior Australian rules footballers from all over Australia took part. However, the end of World War I put an end to organised Australian rules competition in England.

Cambridge and Oxford Universities contest centre bounce

After the war, in 1921, the annual Oxford University–Cambridge University Varsity match was played for the first time between expatriate Australian students.[9] This game is still played,[10] and is the longest running Australian rules fixture outside Australia.[11][12] The match is an official Varsity competition. Over the years, some distinguished Australians to have played in the match include Mike Fitzpatrick, Chris Maxwell, Joe Santamaria, Sir Rod Eddington and Andrew Michelmore.[13]

Men's Results

In 2018, amid the growth of the sport in England, there was the first ever women's Australian Rules Football Varsity, ending in a tie.

Women's Results

RAAF (Sunderland) vs RAF Mount Batten was played in 1943 in Plymouth.[26] In November of the same year, a game was played in Sussex between No.11 Personnel despatch and Reception centre team based in Brighton vs RAAF Headquarters from London.[27]

Teams representing RAAF, Headquarters vs Sunderland, met in Hyde Park in 1944 in front of a sizeable crowd. Headquarters defeated Sunderland 12.7 (79) to 5.4 (34).[28]

In 1967, Australian expatriates including Michael Cyril Hall and Ted Ford[29] attempted to organise Australian Football in London. Ted engaged high profile expatriate Australians including Rolf Harris, Alan Freeman, Barry Humphries, Neil Hawke, Keith Miller and former Australian prime minister Sir Robert Menzies to support the venture and raise publicity for it. Ford organised a charity match was played in Regent's Park in London, between local club Kensington Demons and established out of town club Oxford University. Athol Guy (who had played VFL reserves wit St Kilda) also made a special appearance as a player. The match also featured England's first all-womens match between Aussie Girls and Wild Colonial Girls as a curtain raiser.[30] The match attracted a crowd of 1,000 spectators.[31] A follow up match between Earl's Court Magpies and Australian Dentists attracted 700 spectators.[31] By May 7 established local teams were ready to form a local league these teams included: Australian Dentists, Australian Navy, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Kensington Demons, Earls Court Magpies and London House.[32] In July, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) personnel played against a combined side drawn from the Earls Court Magpies; Kensington Demons and Australian Dentists in front of a crowd of 1,200 at Regent's Park.[33] RAN personnel would go on to play against local school sides and local rugby clubs.

After some time finding its roots, the Australian National Football League (UK) was formed which by 1970 had six teams, Victorians; Rest of Australia; Portsmouth Naval Base; Plymouth Naval Base; London Gaelic Football Club and Hampstead Rugby Club with matches played in the summer.[34] The later inclusion of two English rugby sides was helping them keep fit in the off-season.[35] Later clubs to play in the league included the Kensington Demons, Earls Court Magpies, Oxford University Blues, Australian Dentists and Australian Navy (based in Portsmouth).[36] This league had disappeared by 1973.

In 1972, the first exhibition match of the AFL was played at The Oval in London. Between 1987 and 2006, the game had become an almost annual event, but the only game since then being in 2012. With a large number of ex-patriate Australians, interest in the game grew and small crowds of up to 10,000 were in attendance for the event in some years. Interest and crowds grew further with the change of the VFL to the Australian Football League. Highlights during this time included large crowds for the Australian Football League's West Coast Eagles v. Collingwood in 1997 with an attendance of 14,000 and the match between Richmond and Essendon in 2002 which drew 13,000.

British Bulldogs player kicks despite a tackle from Nauruan opponent during the 2008 International Cup

International Rules hybrid match being played at the University of Birmingham 2014

In 1989 the British Australian rules football League (BARFL) was formed. Serious competition began and the competition became more popular, with the local BARFL Grand Finals becoming a large event attracting attendances in the thousands, including a record crowd of 1,500 in 1999.

In 2002 a national team represented Great Britain at the Australian Football International Cup for the first time, finishing the tournament in 6th place. 2005 saw the British Bulldogs again compete in the International Cup, again finishing 6th overall.

Following the 2005 International Cup, promising 22-year-old British Bulldog Luke Matias began playing with the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League.

Also in 2005, the first Western Derby to be played outside of Australia, the West Coast Eagles v. Fremantle game was played as a pre-season test at The Oval in London, drawing a record crowd of 18,884.

In 2005 the first junior development program, Aussie Rules Schools, commenced. The program, co-ordinated by the new development body Aussie Rules UK, part of Aussie Rules International was kicked off. This project has seen up to 10 English schools adopt Aussie Rules as part of the school curriculum to combat obesity. Juniors teams have competed at the London Youth Games.

2006 was a big year for Aussie Rules in England, with the admission of new clubs in Manchester, Middlesbrough and Thanet.

On 17 September 2006 history was made in Denmark when the England Dragonslayers took on the Denmark Vikings in Europe's first fully-fledged international junior Aussie Rules match. England claimed the King Canute Cup, with England 6.10(46) defeating Denmark 0.6(6).[37]

In July 2007, the AFL announced that the annual London exhibition match was likely to be abandoned for the year, after only the Western Bulldogs had expressed interest.

In a first in 2007, the GB Bulldogs including several past and future England players, soundly defeated Ireland in Dublin 11.15(81) to 2.9(21).

In 2008, a resolution to the divide between the two competing leagues saw a single national body, AFL Britain form, which formally affiliated to the AFL. The BARFL was dissolved and became AFL London, while regional leagues including the Scottish Australian Rules Football League and the Welsh Australian Rules Football League affiliated with the new national body.

In 2012, AFL England was formed as the national governing body for Australian rules football in England, separate to AFL Scotland and AFL Wales.

Australian rules football is regularly shown on BT Sport.

1,500 (1999). BARFL Grand Final. West London Wildcats vs Wandsworth Demons. London[39]

18,884 (2005). West Coast v. Fremantle (The Oval, London)

• Clapham Cubs