Hobart 1870: Game Day

The State Of Play

On March 25, 1867, the pseudonymous Dropkick wrote to the Launceston’s Cornwall Chronical calling for a meeting to form a football club which would play under an agreed set of rules chosen or adapted from those of an existing public school code.

Dropkick’s request was in reaction to the lack of uniformity of rules between different clubs.

 “Particular attention should be paid to establishing a code of laws for the guidance of players, as everyone plays in the way in which he has been taught, and, of course, there is great confusion, as there are such a number of ways of playing the game.”

The Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston) March 27, 1867

Dropkick’s concern was not without merit. 

When Mr A. Swan’s Eleven played fourteen from the Hutchin’s School in 1866, a goal was overturned due to a rule the eleven were unaware existed.

There is no evidence Dropkick’s call to arms saw any change in the way football was run in Tasmania. 

However, a couple of weeks later the existing Launceston club, which had formed in 1866, agreed to play under a slightly modified version of the rules used by the Melbourne club. That said, there were no reports of any other clubs following suit.

Further south, at least two clubs already existed in Hobart. New Town formed in 1864, while Hobart Town Foot Ball Club commenced in 1866.

On formation, Hobart Town went so far as to draft formal rules under which the club would play, though the newspapers of the time did not describe them.

Over the next two years, football continued in Hobart with games taking place between New Town, Hobart Town, “the military”, and both High and Hutchin’s Schools. These games featured varying numbers of participants and complete lack of description of the play.

In short, we don't know what game they were playing.

This Mess Where In

Have a look at this link.

It’s the rulebook of New Town and Hobart Town Football Clubs, and it’s a bit of a hodgepodge. 

There’s a bit of Melbourne Rules, with the run and bounce. There’s a bit of post-1866 soccer (or maybe Cambridge Rules) with having to score under the tape which went between the posts. There’s the rule about no projecting nails in the boots which is ripped word from Rugby or FA Rules.

But sorry Rugbyites, no throwing is allowed.

We cannot date these rules. Paul Hunt’s best guess is 1877. But their existence suggests the mess football was in during the 1860s to 1880.

Once again I defer to Ian Syson who has already written about the chaos of rules in Tasmania during this time.

Suffice it to say in the period from Drop-kick’s call to arms to New Town and Hobart Town’s hodgepodge rulebook, there seemed to be several attempts to adopt set football rules in Tasmania without much success, with soccer, Rugby and Melbourne Rules all tried, adapted and discarded.

One such attempt to adopt soccer may have occurred in 1870. We first hear about it when a syndicated article from London's Standard newspaper caused the return of the mysterious Drop-Kick to again pick up a pen.

In May 1870, The Tasmanian Times ran with the headline:

“FOOTBALL REFORM”

At the heart of the lengthy piece was an argument calling for the unification of football laws, but more specifically the writer advocated soccer over Rugby, with the full abolition of handling.

“Already signs of a reformation have appeared, the Wanderers and Civil Service Clubs taking the lead in proposing the total abolition of handling under any pretence whatever. Such a rule is necessary for the salvation of legitimate football, and before the commencement of the 1870-71 season it is to be hoped its adoption under the association code will be universal, so as once more to put football on its legs, and to make it a recreation within the tastes of growing up beings whose yearnings for a romping game, however strong, require at least some protection from the undignified hacking and scragging which the legitimate Rugby code permits and many other clubs tolerate.”

The Tasmanian Times, syndicating Standard, May 11 1870.

A few days later, as seen in my last post, The Geelong Advertiser reported that handling had been abolished by the FA. The Standard article may have been part of the preceding public debate over the change of rules.

The Standard article seems not to have been syndicated anywhere else around Australia. Neither, as we’ve seen, was it the first article to appear in Australian newspapers calling for the adoption of the code.

(Here, again, I’ll guide you to Ian Syson’s ‘The Game That Never Happened’, or his preceding article “Waiting for Association football: incipient soccer in Australia, 1850–1880” which covers soccer advocacy in Australia since 1867.)

We can only imagine the editorial reasoning to reprinting the Standard’s piece in the Tasmanian Times and can but speculate whether this was an act of soccer advocacy in and of itself. 

The Standard article quickly attracted the attention of the, or possibly a different Drop-kick. 

“DEAR SIR.—Your remarks as to football in a recent issue, copied from the Standard, has induced me to write to you on the subject. Now that the season has commenced, would it not be advisable to have a meeting of the secretaries of the different local foot-ball clubs, and determine upon a set of rules by which all matches here would he played, and to arrange a list of matches to be played this season.

Yours truly,

Hobart Town,

May 12,1870.

DROP-KICK.”

The Tasmanian Times, May 13 1870

I have not uncovered any evidence such a meeting ever happened, but within a fortnight of Drop-Kick’s latter came the announcement of the High School game against the 18^th Regiment game, under the rules printed in The Tasmanian Times.

We do not know if the printing of the High School’s rules was a reaction to Drop-Kick, part of a larger piece of coordinated soccer advocacy, or merely coincidental?

That said, five paragraphs above Drop-Kick’s letter in The Tasmanian Times was the following observation:

“FOOTBALL.—Now that the season has commenced we understand that the High School football club is open to play any other of the school clubs a match at football on any Saturday afternoon that may be chosen on the lower ground.”

The Tasmanian Times, May 13, 1870

On the same day Drop-Kick was arguing for set rules, High School was calling for games.

At the end of May, the High School's rules were published in the Tasmanian Times. Drop-Kick might have been pleased.

And a day after the publication of the rules, High School and the 18^th Regiment played soccer.

Match Summaries

High School and the 18^th Regiment played two games over May and June 1870.

The first game ended as a 1-0 win to High School, which was reported in The Tasmanian Times the following Monday:

“FOOT BALL. - The match, which was announced in our issue of Friday last, between twenty of the High School Club, and twenty of H.M. 18th Regiment (Royal Irish) was played on Saturday last in the Domain. The game commenced at half- past two o'clock, and after an hour's hard play resulted in a goal in favour of the High School, kicked by E, Hughes. The play on both sides was very good, and on the High School side those especially deserving notice were Messrs Perry, Nairn, O. Thomas, J. Stansfield, and C. Ford. The soldiers played a good game, but were in decidedly a disadvantageous position from not knowing the rules of the game well. A return match is to be played on Thursday next at two o'clock p.m., and on Saturday the High School meet the New Town Club, fifteen a side.”

The Tasmanian Times, May 30 1870

Unfortunately for us, newspaper’s in Tasmania in this era regularly reported football games by listing the participants, praising individuals, giving kick-off times but few other details: good news for modern-day genealogists but of limited use for our purposes.

It is most likely the game was played by the rules as published given only a day had elapsed, but a further hint this was the case was given in the report on the rematch which took place a couple of weeks later.

“FOOT BALL.—A match at Foot Ball was played yesterday afternoon on the Domain ground between the High School and some of the 18th Regiment, which resulted in a drawn match, a dispute having arisen as to a goal claimed by the 18th Regiment, but not allowed, owing to the ball having been thrown, and not kicked. The High School will meet the New Town Club on Saturday next.”

The Tasmanian Times, June 10 1870.

The throw clearly went against the published rules regarding handling and throwing, though it is not made clear whether the incident referred to the way the ball passed through the posts or was in relation to the lead-up play.

What is clear from both match reports is the 18^th Regiment’s unfamiliarity with the rules of association football, which we will return to in the next post.

But first, there was more football to play.

The 1870 Season

The two games between High School and the 18^th Regiment were but two games played in Hobart’s 1870 football season.

The season seems to have unfolded thus:

May 28: High School 1 (E. Hughes) v 18^th Regiment 0

June 4: High School v New Town (score unknown)

June 9: High School 2 (E. Wright, T. Crisp) v Mr Pike’s School 0

 June 9: High School 0 v 18^th Regiment 0

June 18: New Town v Military (18^th Regiment?) (score unknown)

June 25: New Town 0 v Military 0 (18^th Regiment?)

July 30: High School v New Town (score unknown)

There may have been other games, which The Mercury sniffed as unimportant. 

Were all these games soccer?

Were Drop-Kick’s hopes realised and all clubs played by the same unifying rules.

Again, the newspaper reports lacked the required description of play to answer this question.

But Paul Hunt has found one clue.

On July 14, The Mercury reported:

“Two football matches have been played during the month between the Now Town Club and the Military, but the game seems to be regarded with less favour than cricket, and there is wanting spirit, enthusiasm, and emulation to make it become general amongst Hobart Town athletes. The games that have been played this season have been well contested, and unattended, as, is too frequently the case when equal parties meet in a football contest, with serious accidents.”

The Mercury July 14, 1870

Could the phrase “to make it more general amongst Hobart Town athletes” imply a specific set of football rules?

Could the fact the games were “unattended” imply a waning interest of a specific version of the football – the association rules published on the 27^th of May.

The season kicked off with High School calling for challengers. Did they request all games be played under their rules?

Until further evidence appears, either on Trove or elsewhere, we do not know, but neither can we rule it out. 

It also does not help the Hobart newspapers make limited mentions of football at all in 1869, and nothing about specific games. This could imply it is football in general which was on the nose compared to cricket and had been for some time.

If soccer was taken up in 1870, we know it was quickly dropped.

In 1871 Tasmanian newspapers finally described games enough to have some idea as to what was going on. The words “spills” and “scrimmage” appear for the first time in local match reports. No discontent with the state of play seems evident.

All this gives the impression Hobart’s football community experimented with association football for the 1870 season and it didn’t catch on.  Twelve months later, they tried something different.

It should be quickly noted Launceston Football Club was still going strong in 1870. We do not know if they continued playing modified Melbourne Rules. 

Soccer was played in Hobart in 1870 by High School and the 18th Regiment, and possibly by every team that season. What may be his the first soccer game in Australia may also be the first season of soccer in Australia.

Regardless of what sort of football was generally played in 1870, the season was curtailed by the weather. And soccer slept for the moment at least.

Who?

Drop-Kick may have called for unified rules, but who may have encouraged decided a football game would be played under the FA Rules in Hobart in 1870?

In the next post, we’ll look at the participants to see if we can find clues as to why High School and the 18^th Regiment played soccer.

Part 1: Introduction - Australia's Earliest Known Soccer Game?
Part 2: The Rules of the Game
Part 3: When Did The FA Rules Reach Australia?
Part 4: Game Day
Part 5: The Military Men and the "Upmire"
Part 6: Final Thought and Conclusions