The game of football - the only game true to it's name as it is the only game where the ONLY way you can score a goal is with the foot (unlike soccer, rugby or gridiron) - is the most exciting team sport on earth. After all, it is easier to score in this game than in any other (except probably basketball) and it also includes a limited variety of contact subject to the rules. It is also a sport that is better viewed live at the venue instead of on television.

The game was first played in what passed for it's present form in 1858 in Melbourne as a means of finding an appropriate winter activity to keep the cricket players fit when they weren't playing. On a paddock with trees all over it and the goals a large distance apart, two private schools - Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College - tried out the game over three days. The game took place in the parklands now occupied by the MCG and the Punt Road Oval. It finished in a draw with both teams scoring the same number of goals. Since that first game, the schools have met annually and are probably the most appropriate guides to the development of the game. Nowadays, with both schools having a strong football program in its curriculum, it is not unusual to see elite AFL coaches in attendance. I intended to attend the game in 2008 - the 150th anniversary of the game - but it was moved to a position as an AFL curtain raiser, wrecking those plans.

There is much conjecture as to the origins of the game that was developed and played in 1858. Three different forms of football are seen to have played a role. The first is Gaelic Football, played predominantly in Ireland and it bears the closest resemblance to our game. It is for this reason that a hybrid version manages to work when teams from Ireland and Australia play test matches against each. The second is rugby, which has more to do with the contact than the ball play in its part in the development of the game.

The third is a variety of football played by the Australian Aborigines called "Marn Grook". It was being played well before 1858, and in terms of the layout of the field of play it could be argued that it was played exactly that same way as that inaugural game in 1858 was - except that there were no real rules as such in the Aboriginal game. It may explain why the Aborigines have such a well-developed instinct for the game, as seen on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory, and as I observed personally in Broome in June 2006.

Even though the other varieties of "football" are older, the Australian game was the first in the world to actually be codified. That is, it was the first to have rules properly established in writing and be followed. This process was started in 1859 with ten simple rules, and the original written laws have been preserved and are in the possession of the Melbourne Cricket Club.

Prior to the formation on controlling bodies in Victoria and South Australia in 1877, organisation of matches and competitions was hap hazard and virtually non existent. This even tended to happen after that and managing to establish local competitions that lasted was difficult to do.