Football in Australia - ColonialRugby.com.au

The First Football Game in Australia

Sean Fagan - ColonialRugby.com.au

The first documented playing of the game of football in Australia was in Sydney in the late winter of 1829.

The Sydney Gazette and the Sydney Monitor reported of soldiers at the city's George's Square Barracks amusing themselves most days by playing football.

The last remaining part of the original parade ground of the Barracks is known today as Wynyard Park in York Street (adjacent to Wynyard railway station).

The largest military barracks in the Southern Hemisphere, in 1808 the Barracks were a central scene of the infamous NSW Corps uprising (the "Rum Rebellion") when Governor William Bligh (former captain of the Bounty) was taken prisoner and held there behind lock-and-key.

Bligh - The Rum Rebellion
A satirical representation of Governor Bligh being removed from Government House in 1808. He was then taken by the soldiers to the George's Square Barracks.

The remaining portion of the Barracks grounds is known today as Wynyard Square. The first documented football was played at the Barracks in 1829.

From "Sydney Monitor" 25 July 1829:
"The privates in the barracks are in the habit of amusing themselves with the game of football, the ball being daily descried repeatedly mounting higher or lower, according to the skill and energy of the bold military kickers thereof. It is a healthy amusement, and much played in Leicestershire."

Intriguingly, the Sydney Monitor account refers to football being a game "much played in Leicestershire" - somewhat significant given that the town of Rugby and its famed school are in the neighbouring Warwickshire county.

The playing of football games spread throughout the colonies, following in the years after each settlement became established and its population grew into the thousands.

All football in the first half of the 1800s in the townships and cities of Australia were forms of traditional folk football, following the usual features and traditions of British festivals and holiday celebrations.

The George's Square Barracks were closed in 1848, with the military relocated to the newly constructed Victoria Barracks at Paddington. Over the past few years, the Australian Wallabies team have used the Victoria Barracks oval for training sessions when in Sydney.