Tonite,Channel 10..GWS 1835 Tom Wills..where it all began...

[speedpeck23]

Only a psychiatrist could write the true biography of Thomas Wentworth Wills....the tragic figure who lit the flame that started the game. Born in NSW south west of Sydney 1835. His family of convict origin moved from their home in George Street Sydney to settle in Parramatta west of Sydney.

Who would believe that it would take almost another 180 years before an Australian Football club would be formed to represent his place of birth? Tonite on Sports Tonight Dr Greg de Moore explains the spectacular, tragic and ironic story of Tom Wills.........

 

[invinciBlues]

When is this on? Its not showing up on my TV's TV guide..

 

[10987654321]

Should be interesting, but Wills was born in Gundagai before going to The Rugby School where he played the game that would become AFL. Moore did a bio of him so hopefully it won't be a complete whitewash.

 

[Giants FC]

When is this on? Its not showing up on my TV's TV guide..

It's a story on Sports Tonight.

 

[timthefish]

Wills [went] to The Rugby School where he played the game that would become AFL.

along with all the other games with arbitrary and changing rules that he and every other contributor to aussie rules played throughout the 19th century.

 

[10987654321]

along with all the other games with arbitrary and changing rules that he and every other contributor to aussie rules played throughout the 19th century.

True, I just hope they aren't going the Marn Grook path, especially if they are saying he is from Western Sydney which he obviously wasn't.

 

[Krakeour Magic]

Channel 10 are the main promoters of AFL in NSW hence why every second piece of AFL footage over the past 10 or so years has been about the Sydney bloody Swans.

It is a 100% pure Sydneycentric program to the point where I no longer bother watching it.

Don't worry, by the time they have finished they will have Kevin Sheedys birth place in Parramatta and the first game ever played between Penrith and Punchbowl in the home of AFL football, Marrickville.

 

[Beaussie]

When is this on? Its not showing up on my TV's TV guide..

For those who missed Ten News:

http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?vxSiteId=cb519624-44a2-4bf7-808b-3514d34e96e4&vxChannel=SPORTS%20NEWS&vxClipId=2683_news-wills-110310&vxBitrate=300&vxTemplate=integrated.swf&vxClickToPlay=false

 

[kronic]

I remember reading that fact, not too long ago. Bet that would make some in the League ranks are unsettled, while others smile.

Its very interesting that League, Union and Rules all originated from Rugby school in reaction to Soccer.

 

[Tassie19Cairns20]

I remember reading that fact, not too long ago. Bet that would make some in the League ranks are unsettled, while others smile.

Its very interesting that League, Union and Rules all originated from Rugby school in reaction to Soccer.

That's not really true that they were all created in reaction to soccer. The first rules of Rugby Union were written in 1845, a full 3 years before the first rules of soccer(Cambridge) were written in 1848. League was founded by a fight over money with the RFU, and Aussie Rules was definitely not created as a "reaction" to soccer.

 

[speedpeck23]

Thanks Beaussie for showing the ten news item...

 

[timthefish]

That's not really true that they were all created in reaction to soccer. The first rules of Rugby Union were written in 1845, a full 3 years before the first rules of soccer(Cambridge) were written in 1848. League was founded by a fight over money with the RFU, and Aussie Rules was definitely not created as a "reaction" to soccer.

moreover, the first aussie rules were written down before the first football association rules (soccer) which up until the fifth draft still contained references to taking a mark.

football (in the most generic sense) was played for hundreds of years with all kinds of rules made up on the day or even as the game was played (and often decided by fisticuffs). out of this hodge-podge grew union, gaelic, soccer aussie rules with greater and lesser extents of communication. while some major attributes of some codes appeared before those of others none is the ancestor of any other and the notion that one form is the original is ridiculous. soccer fans are more deluded about this than any other group and rugby don't help with their fatuous william webb-ellis mythology.

personally, i suspect that many of the archaic games would have been played in a manner in which just about anything was permitted (kicking, holding, tackling and without an offside rule). which of the modern codes does that sound most like?

 

[kronic]

That's not really true that they were all created in reaction to soccer. The first rules of Rugby Union were written in 1845, a full 3 years before the first rules of soccer(Cambridge) were written in 1848. League was founded by a fight over money with the RFU, and Aussie Rules was definitely not created as a "reaction" to soccer.

Perfect word. It's a response to a situation. Wills attended Rugby School when Ellis & Co. had just established the first set of rules for Rugby. It also doesn't matter when the rules were formalized though, the game is the still game.

And to be correct here, League was born not out of purely money, it was a matter of professionalism vs amateurism. So called Northern working class vs middle class.

 

[Redb#]

I remember reading that fact, not too long ago. Bet that would make some in the League ranks are unsettled, while others smile.

Its very interesting that League, Union and Rules all originated from Rugby school in reaction to Soccer.

There is no 100% correct account of how Aussie Rules was created.

But what we do know is that Tom Wills along with 3 others wrote down the 10 rules of Australian football in a pub in Richmond in 1859.

There are clear influences from the variety of 'football' being played in England at the time of which Tom Wills was exposed (including rugby school). But even in the flux of the 1850s in England the football was which was largely school based varied between schools and is starkly different to modern soccer and rugby.

In Aussie Rules case, the 10 rules of 1859 are the starting point of our game and how it evolved from there. Several of those rules are not common in soccer or rugby.

It's shame we have to over sell the Australian game to Sydneysiders by implying its a Sydney influence when if they could get over their anti Vic hatred it would not be needed, its an Australian game and it doesnt matter if it was invented on Kangaroo Island.