Football Leagues
Inaccurate stereotypes of football clubs
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Australian Rugby Union Officially, the distinctive feature of rugby union was invented in 1823 when a schoolboy named William Webb Ellis showed a "fine disregard" for the rules of the day by picking up the ball and running with it. The story has since been discredited. Thomas Hughes, a student who attended the school from 1834-1842, recalled that handling of the ball was strictly forbidden in his time. Because rugby was not formally codified until 1862, it is not known when it became a ball handling game. Ironically, a name which is more keeping with the rugby myth is Thomas Wills, one of the co-founders of Australian Rules Football. Wills was educated at the Rugby school but he showed a fine disregard for its football rules when in 1858, he established a new code in Australia. It is possible that some of the rules for Football (Australian) had been borrowed from Rugby. One rule common to both games was that any player catching the ball directly from the foot may call "mark". He then had a free kick. If one concludes that Will's game did not constitute bringing rugby to Australia, it is not clear when rugby arrived. Confusing the issue is the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) which continues the Rugby tradition of being creative with history. On its website it states: "There are reports of early games of rugby between the army and the crews of visiting ships being played at Barrack Square in the city in the 1820s." The accounts seems dubious considering they predate William Webb Ellis' supposed picking up the ball in 1823 and the official codification in 1862. Whatever games the soldiers were playing, it wasn't rugby. The first rugby club formed in Australia was the Sydney University Club in 1864. In 1874 a Sydney metropolitan competition was established with the new league being administered from Twickenham, England. But the new league suffered a blow in 1877 when the powerful 'Waratah' Rugby Club invited Carlton (an Aussie rules club) to play two matches, one each under union and Australian rules. For many Sydney football fans, union was slow and unattractive and the Waratah club hoped to make the point in a direct comparison with the Australian game. On Saturday 23rd June, 3,000 spectators watched Waratah beat Carlton at the Albert Cricket Ground in Redfern- played under union rules. On the return leg, Carlton defeated Waratah under Australian rules. A week later over 100 footballers formed the New South Wales Football Association (NSWFA) to play the Australian game. For the next three decades, the two codes battled for the hearts and minds of Sydney siders. The structure and image of rugby union in Australia today, can be traced to its early conflicts with Australian football. With its origins, image and administration anchored in England, supporters of rugby union saw the code as " more than just a game; it was a symbol and reminder of their Englishness." They subsequently used their political contacts to have football (Australian) banned from Sydney's enclosed grounds. Without gate money to spend on promotional purposes or to pay players, the NSWFA collapsed in 1893. In 1903, Aussie rules formed the New South Wales Football League (NSWFL) and recommenced hostilities with rugby union. The private schools remained loyal to the English code while the public schools were receptive to the Australian game. The battle of the codes kept rugby union weaker than it was in other countries around the world. This explains why when rugby league was established in 1908, it found Australia to be fertile ground. Union didn't have the mainstream acceptance that would have ensured that all market niches were filled. Furthermore, with union's attention clearly on Aussie rules, it didn't see the threat of rugby league coming up from behind. It is also possible that rugby union had less antagonism to league because it was also an English game. Supporters of both codes may have been united by their desire to show pride in their English roots, retain links with the mother country and to see the demise of Australian rules. If so, perhaps the common hatred of Australian rules explains why rugby league and rugby union have co-existed in Australia far more harmoniously that they have in other countries around the world. Although union may have been more welcoming of league than of Australian rules, it proved to be its undoing for league soon became Sydney's rebel code. It gained a strong following in the working-class communities and poached unions star players. Union's rein as Sydney's dominant code was over. Over the next 90 years, league went from strength to strength in Sydney as well as Brisbane. Meanwhile, union remained an amateur sport, only played by white collar workers who had no need for the money on offer in rugby league. With highly educated players, union forged strong connections in the business world and cultivated a very upper-class image. Ironically, rugby league's popularity in Sydney and Brisbane also ensured union's survival. In South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, Australian football had proved that it appealed to all classes. It was followed passionately by the working-class as well as the white-collar class. On the other hand, in Sydney and Brisbane, rugby league was only really followed by the working- class. Because it was rugby league rather than Aussie rules that became dominant in Brisbane and Sydney, there remained a white-collar niche that could be filled by rugby union. In the 1980s, rugby league started going more mainstream by targeting more white-collar supporters. With its market being encroached upon, rugby union responded with moves towards professionalism. In 1987, the first rugby world cup was held in Sydney. By the early 90s, the code was experiencing such a surge in popularity that it started breaking free of its white-collar following. With a common market being pursued, tensions between the two rugby codes increased and each started plotting the demise of the other. League offered salary cap incentives to any club buying union players. As the money on offer was far in excess as that which could be made by union players in their white-collar job, union players were far more tempted by league money than their predecessors had been. Rugby union responded by officially becoming professional - hastily organising the Super 12 provincial league involving three Australian teams, five New Zealand teams and four South African teams. Due to union's lack of popularity, there was very little club loyalty that would shackle rugby's move to professionalism. Whereas European, South African and New Zealand unions had to keep provincial or club teams happy, the ARU could direct all its resources to the success of the Wallabies. On the field, the direction of these resources to the national team took Australia to victory in the 1999 World Cup and runners up in the 2003 World Cup. These were quite impressive achievements considering that four of Australia's six states have no professional rugby team and that union runs a distant second to rugby league in the two Australian states that play union. Off the field, the Wallaby brand has become the premier avenue for Australians to show pride in their history and country. Arguably, it is now rugby fans who sing the Australian national anthem with more passion than any other football fan. Rugby fans are also the most true to Australian traditions such as singing Waltzing Matilda. This pride in Australian history and culture is all very ironic considering that 120 years ago, union supporters were so fearful of Australia's indigenous code on the grounds it threatened their patriotism to England.
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Invention of Australian sports Cricket
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