The Wallaroo Football Club and two of its co-founders, the brothers Richard and Monty Arnold, were pivotal to why today NSW and Queensland are dominated by the Rugby codes.

This is the story of some of their most famous battles, told in their own words, and by friends and foes.

“If the Melbourne and Carlton clubs were playing a match in Melbourne, and the Kelly gang were firing within a quarter of a mile of them, I don’t believe there would be a soul looking at the football.“
— ‘Monty’ Arnold, 30 June 1880 (public meeting to form a Melbourne rules body for NSW)

MONTY ARNOLD AND HIS RUGBEIANS UP MOORE PARK WAY

The Arrow (Sydney): Richard Arnold was educated at Rugby, the famous English public school, hence his devotion to the old English football game, as against the Australian game, its only rival of the seventies in this country. The brothers had the one hobby in life—to push ahead Rugby football.

‘Leatherstocking’, football correspondent for The Sydney Mail (a Victorian rules supporter): Monty Arnold, I believe, he infuses such an amount of humour into his satire that the sting is sometimes taken out of it. He dispenses fun by the yard, and I can’t help forgiving him if he allows his imagination to run riot occasionally, when he happens to be at a loss for facts.

‘Censor’, another football correspondent for The Sydney Mail: The disorder and want of decorum in debate were mainly brought about by the hon. secretary, Mr. Monty Arnold, who is one of the best fellows out and a most staunch supporter of the Rugby game. Mr. Arnold lacks tact. He says bitter things, and casts innuendos against those with whom he differs. This begets reprisals. Though it must be said Mr. Arnold is equal to the occasion, yet it would be better for the proper conduct of the business of meetings if he restrained his impetuosity.

The Sydney Mail: Richard Arnold the secretary of a club notoriously antagonistic to any alteration of the Rugby Union rules.

‘Leatherstocking’: His brother is somewhat too ‘slangy’ in his abuse, considering the dignified position he occupied, and it is pretty evident to me that he is not destined to shine as an orator (converse to his written form).

The Sydney Sportsman: Monty is THE W. S. Gilbert of the Union, and his repartee would cure any known malady—from the blues to the dogs’ disease.

The Bird O’ Freedom (Sydney): Can anybody tell us where Monty Arnold gets those cigars of his?

George F. Bowen (Carlton FC co-founder & later writer for The Melbourne Punch): Monty Arnold and his Rugbeians up Moore Park way.

1877 – SYDNEY UNIVERSITY FC (Mr Carruthers) ATTEMPTS
TO SWITCH THE NSWRU TO MELBOURNE RULES

Monty Arnold: I have always been strongly in favour of adhering strictly to the rules in force in Great Britain, deeming that alterations made by different sections of players only lead to confusion, and confusion promotes wrangling in the field.

The Sydney Mail: A letter from Mr.Joseph H. Carruthers (player & secretary of the University Club) upon the subject of an alteration in the rules so as to abolish scrimmages and running with the ball.

The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney): Mr. Carruthers submitted the following resolution-“That the whole of the rules of the game as adopted by this Union be repealed, with a view to the adoption of such other rules as will provide against the frequency of scrimmages, and otherwise allow of more display of football proper. The gauntlet was taken up by Messrs; R. Arnold, M. Arnold, and Savage, who deprecated any change in the rules that would destroy the nationality and spirit of the Rugby Union game.

Monty Arnold: Having the character of the amendment now proposed before them, I trust that when the matter is considered, the Union will not sign its own death-warrant by voting in favour of Mr. Carruthers’s proposal, for assuredly if it be carried the Union must cease to exist.

Reverend Edwin Bean, Bathurst FC: A toast to ‘The Wallaroos’—to the club for the efforts they have made to play the game of football in strict accordance with the Rugby rules, and your deprecation of attempts to alter those rules for the hybrid Victorian code, as such a course would, in our opinion, alter the national character of the game.

Monty Arnold: If there be a strong section of the players here in favour of Victorian Association rules, let them form clubs under those rules, and secede from the Union; but I would urge upon those interested not to make themselves a laughing-stock by endeavouring to introduce that game under the Rugby Union banner.

Richard Arnold: The Wallaroos are accused of going out of their way to frustrate the reform in the rules attempted by Mr. Carruthers. The Wallaroo Club is certainly not open to this charge, and even I, as an individual, did nothing more than any one taking an interest in seeing football upheld as a national game, and not converted into a schoolgirl romp, as it seems to be in Victoria, would have done.

Monty Arnold: Let us see what benefit we are to derive from the proposed change. It is not proposed to adopt the Association [soccer] rules, so that, instead of having a game in which players from the old country can always join with zest when they come amongst us, we shall probably be asked to draw up some bastard code, as they have done in Melbourne, and spoil both games; and what for? – to satisfy a few malcontents who have not had as much drop-kicking as they could wish.

Richard Arnold: The defeat of Mr. Carruthers’s motion was brought about by a majority of intelligent and thinking men appointed by the various clubs to represent them and to consider questions brought before the Union.

‘Leatherstocking’: The fate of the motion brought forward by Mr. Carruthers is well known; but the way in which the Wallaroos managed to ‘work the oracle’ is looked upon by the defeated reformers as a sharp piece of practice, to say the least of it.

Monty Arnold: I am not going to quarrel with the man who complains about “the brute force” of Rugby. If there is, it is a good thing to have about the place. I believe in Rugby on moral grounds.

1877 – CARLTON FC vs WARATAHS FC CROSS-CODE MATCHES

Richard Arnold: The Waratah Club have been the prime movers in endeavouring to introduce the Melbourne game here. Victorian football has never obtained a footing here, and I hope never will.

The Referee (Sydney): At many different periods strong efforts have been made to push Australian Rules into the heart of popularity in Sydney.

Richard Arnold: Of late years we have had several proposals from Victoria to arrange an intercolonial match, but the question of rules has always formed an insuperable difficulty.

The Sydney Mail: Some players, I am aware, can’t swallow the idea of adopting the Victorian game, simply because it is supposed to hail from the sister colony.

Richard Arnold: In 1877 the Waratah Club arranged two matches with the Carlton Club of Melbourne — one match to be played under our rules, and one under the Victorian code. Both matches were played in Sydney, and, as might have been anticipated, each club won under its own rules.

The Referee: These matches brought some results, as in time the Waratahs went over to the Victorian Rules. But the game never sizzled in the imagination of the wider public.

Richard Arnold: Instead of the Victorian match creating a favourable impression here, it had the opposite effect. It was condemned by nearly all, except old Victorian players, as brutal, unmanly, and un-English.

1879 – PROSPECTS FOR RUGBY IN NEW ZEALAND

‘Free Kick’ football correspondent for The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney): New Zealand players adopt the “Rugby game,” and we are surprised that an international match has not been played before by the New Zealanders and ourselves.

Richard Arnold: Should a team of Rugby players visit us, either from New Zealand or from England, we shall hail them as brothers in arms, and do all we can to make their visit pleasant — except that we shall do our utmost to send them back beaten, in the hopes that they may return to the charge annually, until the visit shall be looked forward to with the same anxiety as the intercolonial cricket matches now are.

Geelong Advertiser (Victoria): The Rugby rules are in force throughout New Zealand, but clubs are being formed in Wellington, Dunedin, and Invercargill to play under the Victorian rules.

Richard Arnold: I shall always be glad to hear of the progress of the game in New Zealand, and that the Victorian bastard child has been beaten out of the field.

1880 – PROPOSAL TO FORM THE NSW FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (Melbourne rules)

The Sydney Mail: It is pretty well understood, however, that there are scores of footballers in the metropolitan and suburban clubs, the Wallaroos excepted, who play the Rugby game under protest as it were, and who would gladly welcome a radical change in the present method of playing football.

George F. Bowen: At the big meeting held in Harry Hook’s Freemasons’ Hotel in York Street. Every effort was made to get the Cornstalks [NSW] to set aside their intolerant bigotry, and allow those of their players who chose to play the Australian Game.

‘By Orange and Blue‘, football correspondent for Evening News (Sydney): Monty Arnold managed to convey the impression that he was opposed tooth and nail to anything but a very slight alteration of the Rugby rules.

Monty Arnold: I must speak in opposition to the resolution. I contend that, although the Rugby game might indeed be susceptible of improvement, it remains superior to the game as it is currently played under the Victorian rules.

W.L. Weiss: Rugby is a sport which is one of the last relics of the manly pastimes of England. I ask the meeting to have a little reverence for the antiquity of the Rugby game, and think it advisable to pause before we adopt the Victorian game of football.

The Sydney Mail: Mr. Monty Arnold, an arch-Conservative, who had previously delivered himself of a long oration on the merits of the Rugby game as opposed to the merits of the Victorian, chuckled immensely.

George F. Bowen: As another reason why we should adhere to the Victorian Association rules, we would then be enabled to hold intercolonial contests. We cannot patch up the Rugby rules; but while we have some that do work well, we should hold to them.

Monty Arnold: While admitting the desirability of intercolonial contests being held, I think it unadvisable to adopt the Victorian rules, which in the event of our ever sending a team to England, would completely spoil our chances, as the game is not played there. I urge on players the necessity of quietly studying the question of a radical change in the game before adopting the Victorian Association rules.

‘By Orange and Blue‘: Those who have seen the large crowds that assemble at the matches in the sister colony have astonished at the lukewarmness shown in the sport here.

‘Melbourne Mems.‘ in Sydney Punch: We occupy our leisure moments with football matches and races. You should have seen the myriads of well-dressed spectators who wended their way to the Melbourne ground to see the young men of Carlton and the young men of Melbourne meet in battle array, ostensibly to kick a big ball, but in reality to damage one another for life. It is very exhilarating.

‘By Orange and Blue‘: In answer to the remarks about the popularity of the proposed game with the public, Mr. Arnold soared into the realms of fancy, and electrified his hearers.

Monty Arnold: If the Melbourne and Carlton clubs were playing a match in Melbourne, and the Kelly gang were firing within a quarter of a mile of them, I don't believe there would be a soul looking at the football.

'By Orange and Blue': I quite agree with him there; in fact, I don’t think there would be any footballers to look at.

The Australian Town and Country Journal: Ned Kelly was brought to Melbourne yesterday. Crowds assembled in the streets and in the vicinity of the gaol, but he was taken out at North Melbourne station, where the crowd was not so large, and taken in a covered conveyance to the gaol, where a large crowd awaited his arrival.*

'By Orange and Blue': Monty Arnold, having never witnessed the Victorian Association game, felt himself fully qualified to express an opinion. Upon reading the rule which states that the ball shall not be carried further than is necessary for a kick, without striking it against the ground ("bouncing" it) every seven yards, Mr. Arnold sapiently asked, "Who’s to say it’s seven yards or not?" and, on being informed, "The umpire," responded, "Where are you to get your umpires?" (who can do that).

George F. Bowen: Every point was given way to them, they at last found one thing in the game that effectually squelched all further negotiations. "The Offensiveness of Describing a Player who occupied a certain position on the field as a Goal Sneak!" They said it was a low, common appellation that they couldn't possibly recognise.

'By Orange and Blue': A revulsion set in, and "there was madness." In vain did the "long un" [Monty Arnold] thinking this a splendid opportunity to dive in and make confusion worse confounded, and, by so doing, render abortive the attempt to introduce a game which his soul abhorred, strive to induce those around him to have the meeting squashed.

George F. Bowen: As there was no way out of the difficulty. Mr. Monty Arnold and the other obstructionists marched off in triumph, and declared every Rugby player who attempted to take part in the Victorian game banned for the rest of his football career.

'By Orange and Blue': Following this, the resolution (to form the NSWFA) was carried and a committee appointed. On Saturday, the first legitimate game in New South Wales — with all the appliances—umpire and all, Monty! — will be played on Moore Park. As for the public, let them keep away from the gates if they can.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph: Mr. Arnold’s remark at the Southern Rugby Union meeting last Monday night, to the effect that the scratch match under New South Wales Football Association rules was “witnessed by only seven spectators and The Fatman,” was pretty accurate.

'Leatherstocking’: The Rugby and English Association footballers may form an alliance for the suppression of the New South Wales Football Association; but the latter will no doubt pursue the 'even tenor of its way,' in the full confidence of securing increased support year by year. I wonder how many confirmed Rugbyites will bite their finger-nails when the intercolonial matches are started?

1881 – MELBOURNE/VICTORIAN RULES TO RENAME AS AUSTRALASIAN RULES

The Australasian (Melbourne): The establishing of a general code of rules for use throughout the colonies, on the basis of the Victorian game, to be called the Australasian rules of football.

George F. Bowen: The very name of "Victorian" having been altered to prevent giving offence to such high (but mighty) personages as Monty Arnold and Co.

The Australian Star (Sydney): Monty Arnold declared last night that the Melbourne game bore the same proportion to football that our own frisquette does to cricket.**

1882 – QUEENSLAND'S FIRST RUGBY TOUR TO SYDNEY (NSW)

The Sydney Morning Herald: The team to represent Queensland in the approaching Rugby contests against the players of this colony arrived last evening from Brisbane. The team were cordially welcomed and driven up to the Metropolitan Hotel. An adjournment was then made to the long room, and champagne having been uncorked.

Richard Arnold: In the Northern colony footballers are divided in their opinions as to the relative merits of the Rugby and Victorian games.

‘Leatherstocking’: The team received a hearty welcome from the Southern Rugby Union, and I only hope the pleasant conviviality which took place at the Metropolitan subsequently will not turn the Queenslanders' heads and make them converts to the Rugby game.

Monty Arnold: 'Leatherstocking's' hatred of anything Wallaroo is well known. Season after season he lured the Waratahs club, of which he was a member, to certain defeat, by prognosticating their easy victory; in spite of his powerful pen that club died of internal derangement. The death of his darling only intensified his hatred of the Wallaroos he had hoped to crush. It is true that he had already deserted his club, when he was most needed, in order to obtain the transitory glory of a vice-presidency in an ephemeral Victorian rules association.

Richard Arnold: The approaching intercolonial match will be the first played in this colony under Rugby rules, and I hope it will be the precursor of many others, and that these meetings will take place annually. I hope the visit of the Queenslanders will be the means of strengthening the ranks of the Rugby footballers in the Northern colony and that they will if possible form a branch of the Southern Rugby Union on their return to Brisbane, the consequent increase of Rugby adherents, and the complete downfall of the Victorian game.

‘Leatherstocking’: Seriously, if there were any danger of the Queensland football players throwing over the Victorian game and taking to Rugby, there would be some cause for alarm. The less the Rugby game is encouraged the better.

‘One of the Team’ (member of the QLD tour party): Friday proved to be the gala day of our trip. Monty Arnold, whose tall form and pleasant face could be easily discerned, amidst the many on the wharf, had arranged everything for our convenience.

The Sydney Morning Herald: In the evening the Queensland team were entertained by the Southern Rugby Union at a dinner at the Metropolitan Hotel. Monty Arnold, in a humorous but digressive and illogical speech, returned thanks.

‘One of the Team’: Monty Arnold, than Whom a greater defender of Rugby could nowhere be found, followed in a very humorous speech, showing forth the manner in which certain of the Sydney Press decried the Rugby game and approved of the Victorian.

‘Leatherstocking’: I attended the banquet; and, although raked fore and aft in the course of the evening, it is a matter of thankfulness to me that I am able to get about again. Monty was as facetiously imaginative as ever.

Monty Arnold: So long as he (Leatherstocking) confines himself to fulsome adulation of the Victorian game, and impotent ravings against our popular Rugby game, no one can complain. The words certainly caused some amusement by quoting and commenting on 'Leatherstocking's' writings; and the comments were the more amusing because they were true.

1887 – PROPOSED CHANGE TO LAWS OF RUGBY

The Referee: The most important item discussed by the Union meeting on Monday evening was Mr. McManamey's motion, which virtually means that after a forcedown the team forcing down must kick off from the goal-line instead of from the twenty-five yards flag.

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney): Upwards of 100 members of the various clubs turned up at Milthorpe's Hotel, York-street, last evening at the adjourned meeting of the Southern Rugby Union. Monty Arnold moved as an amendment—'This union adheres to its previous determination to play under the rules of the English Union.' Mr. Wade seconded Mr. Arnold's amendment.

The Referee: The strongest opposition to the new rule arose from those who wished the Southern Rugby Union to preserve its allegiance to the mother union intact. This is not the true spirit of argument at all. The question of allegiance to the mother union might well have been omitted.

James McManamey (Sydney University FC & referee): I would point out that there is no reason why the colonies should be bound down as England was by the traditions of the Rugby School and its great game.

Monty Arnold: My strongest objection to the proposal was this: The clubs in the union were affiliated with the Rugby Union of England, and were therefore bound to adhere to the English rules. It was not, therefore, competent for colonial clubs to alter the rules for themselves, although they might make any suggestion considered desirable.

The Referee: Mr. Arnold's opposition simply amounted to this—that out of respect to his aged ancestor he positively refused to depart from the old-fashioned notions. If the folks at headquarters do not move in the matter, we must not allow red tapeism to block the path to a more perfect and equitable solution of this problem.

The Sydney Morning Herald: Mr. McManamey's motion was defeated by 31 votes to 18. The rule, therefore, stood as at present.

1889 – VICTORIA'S FIRST RUGBY TOUR TO SYDNEY (NSW)

The Australian Star: The Victorian Rugby footballers were banqueted on Saturday night by the New South Wales Rugby Union at Baumann's Café, Pitt-street. Richard Arnold occupied the chair.

Richard Arnold: I am of the opinion that Victoria, when the players in that colony come to their senses, will play Rugby.

F.L. Scarborough (captain of Victoria & ex Yorkshire): The Rugby game is getting along famously in Victoria, although I regret to say that there is not even one Victorian in the team.

Monty Arnold: I congratulate the Victorians on their pluck in starting a Rugby Union in the southern colony. I prophesy that the Rugby game will take as strong a hold on Victoria as it has done in New South Wales and Queensland.

John A.K. Shaw (captain of NSW): Before very long, if the Rugby game continued to advance in the sister colony as it had been doing of late, the Victorians will soon possess such a team as would acquit itself against any other in the world. The Rugby game is one which all men of spirit would always play; and, despite what was said against it by those who were afraid to indulge in it, it still continued to flourish triumphantly here, and would before long find partisans all over Australia.

‘New South Welshman’ (in a letter to The Australian Star): A lot of gush was indulged in respecting the famous way the Rugby game was getting along in the Victorian colony. Mr. M. Arnold, as usual, had something to say against the Australasian game.

‘Observer’ football correspondent for The Argus (Melbourne): A number of Rugby footballers resident in Melbourne, have just visited Sydney, and at the close of the trip a Mr. Arnold, connected with the Rugby game, would seem to have "run amuck" on the subject of the more intellectual Rugby pastime, and the Australian game of football. The truth is probably that the Rugby enthusiasts are somewhat disgusted with the apathy shown by Victorians towards their game.

The Daily Telegraph: Monty Arnold gave a lengthy comparison of the two styles of the game, much to the disadvantage of the Australian game.

‘Observer’: At the banquet in question—or rather after the banquet, for the difference is important—Messrs. Arnold and Hale, who, being both Rugby men, naturally know all about Australian football, spoke further upon the merits of the two games. In a long—but, it may be hoped, not dreary—comparison, the Australian game naturally got the worst of it, and the listeners were somewhat shocked with the spectacle of a comparatively intelligent community such as that of Melbourne going mad over Australian football; paying for it, indeed, when they might have Rugby for nothing. But it is so easy to make points when the audience is entirely sympathetic.

‘New South Welshman’: Before Mr. M. Arnold again dilates on the Australasian game in the presence of reporters, unless he wishes to continue to make himself ridiculous, I would advise him to make himself acquainted with the laws of the game, and to see a good game played under those laws.

‘Observer’: Yet had it not been for Mr. Arnold's outburst people here would scarcely have been aware of the fact that a few retired English and New Zealand footballers, had somewhat impertinently borrowed the name of Victoria as a title for their team, and taken it upon themselves to represent the colony in the football field. The team, by-the-by, seems to have been named Victorian on something of the lucus a non lucendo principle, because there is no Victorian in it and it has never been, so far as anyone knows, victorious.

The Australian Star: Arnold instanced what he called injustices that were inflicted upon young men in Melbourne should they show a disposition to play the Rugby game.

Monty Arnold: In Melbourne, if a young man takes to Rugby football, he is told by his employers that he need not come back to work again. Notice reaches the ears of the young man's employers as to what his employee is doing, and he is forthwith dismissed from his service. This is an example of the injustices that are inflicted upon young men in Melbourne should they show a disposition to play the Rugby game.

‘New South Welshman’: Arnold complained that young men in Melbourne lost their billets if they evinced any desire to play Rugby. Such a statement is characteristic of the Southern Rugby Union's hon. treasurer when speaking of the Australasian game. This gentleman, whose knowledge of the Australasian game is not as great as that of a 10-year-old youngster who occasionally frequents Moore Park, has so great an antipathy for this grand game that his statements only need to be quoted, as they are so far stretched that they bear a contradiction on the face of them.

‘Follower’ football correspondent for The Leader (Melbourne): Mr. Arnold paid a tribute to the intelligence of the employers of Melbourne when he related that "if a young man took to the Rugby game he was told by his employers that he need not come back to work again." The employers in Melbourne evidently don't care for their employees to run the risk of being returned by instalments, but they need have no fear of young Australia taking to the Rugby game; indeed at this very banquet Mr. Scarborough deplored the fact that there was not a single Victorian in the team representing this colony.

‘Observer’: The gentleman seems to have a florid imagination. One might reply that the employer thinks his young man of more use to him whole than in pieces, and perhaps some such impractical retort were best, for Mr. Arnold must be an extremely sanguine man if he expected even a sympathetic Sydney audience to swallow so shallow an assertion.

‘Markwell’ football correspondent for The Australasian (Melbourne): The postprandial remarks of Mr. M. Arnold at the banquet. The idea of any young Victorian having a preference for the Rugby game is so ridiculous that one would be pardoned for imagining he was reading a paragraph in the columns of a comic paper. It is, nevertheless, I have no doubt, true that a Victorian employer would shunt an employee in whom lunacy of the description mentioned, or of any other description, developed itself.

‘Observer’: While displaying such a wide knowledge of what does not happen in Melbourne, this Rugby romancer went on to say that the Victorian game, by which he probably meant the Australian game—a comparatively slight mistake for Mr. Arnold—was going from bad to worse.

‘Follower’: I may remind this gentleman that the game played in this colony is called, not the Victorian, but the Australasian game, as decided upon by representatives of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, but probably it owes its unpopularity with the Rugby players of New South Wales, no less than its "go" and extraordinary popularity, to the fact of its Victorian birth.

Monty Arnold: Without doubt, the Victorian game is going from bad to worse; it is going to the bad. The professional element and paid men are crushing out the amateurs. The professional element consists of players of the most unscrupulous character, and the game is an outlet for a class of players we do not want to have in Rugby football, who would be very unwelcome amongst Rugby footballers.

‘New South Welshman’: In his remarks he plainly proves his utter ignorance of the laws of the Australasian game. The only professionals I know of are the professional field umpires.

‘Markwell’: I defy Mr. M. Arnold to prove that a single Victorian footballer receives payment for his services in the field. Moreover, it is extremely satisfactory to learn that the class of men who engage in the Australasian game are not wanted in Rugby football, because, if they were wanted, the chances are about a thousand to one against their devoting themselves to such an abortion of a game.

George F. Bowen: Of a verity Monty Arnold's eloquence is to the full as potent as ever in its effects, only in the old days we could counter him with greater effect than can be done in the present day. For, although he certainly gave full play to a vivid imagination at times, whilst holding forth at that Rugby Union dinner the other evening, he none the less spoke some home truths about the thin veneer of Veiled Professionalism that exists, from the Cabinet downwards, in Victorian football nowadays, whilst his remarks about the objectionable individuals by whose presence the game has become contaminated in this colony are made all the bitterer from the fact of their being absolutely true.

‘Observer’: It is hardly worth while taking Mr. Arnold seriously on a matter of which he is entirely ignorant, but just one comparison may be made. When Tasmania sent her team of Australian footballers over to Melbourne in the early part of the season to play Victoria, over 20,000 people went to see the match. The "intercolonial" Rugby match in Sydney seems to have drawn one thousand people. Either Rugby is not extravagantly popular in Sydney, or the patrons of the game over there saw through the joke of the visiting team calling themselves Victorians. We have no professionals and few accidents.

‘Follower’: It may be very galling to Mr. Arnold to know that, while the Victorian public delight in our own national game and patronise it more enthusiastically than any other sport is patronised, they will not cross the street to witness the "bullocking" which characterises the Rugby game, but he cannot alter the fact, and the public will continue to support the game they like best. We can stand Graeco-Roman wrestling at a pinch, but we draw the line at Rugby football.

‘Observer’: The Rugby players are not likely to help their game by making childish and improbable charges. They perversely admit any reason but the right one, viz., the marked inferiority of their game—in the estimation of at least three of the Australian colonies—as compared with Australian football. Now, if Mr. Arnold would come to Victoria and convince people here of the error of their ways it would be something practical in aid of the cause he has at heart.

1894 – NSW'S FIRST RUGBY TOUR TO MELBOURNE (VICTORIA)

The Bird O' Freedom: I'm afraid our Rugby boys will be strangers stranded in a strange land.

The Herald (Melbourne): An enthusiastic little gathering took place at the Spencer Street railway station this morning to welcome the Sydney team of Rugby footballers. As the train steamed into the station, both teams rent the air with cheers that can only come from the throats of healthy young men. The welcome was a warm one.

Richard Arnold: I hope our visit will have the effect of more firmly planting Rugby football in Victoria. It is noticeable that the nearer perfection the game gets, there are less accidents and less roughness. I hope it will not be the last visit of a Sydney team to Melbourne.

The Age (Melbourne): Hitherto the Rugby game, although very popular in New Zealand, New South Wales and Queensland, cannot be said to have "caught on" in this colony. The perfervid native enthusiast would not lend his presence and patronage to this old-world game, for fear that he might thereby encourage its growth.

Richard Arnold: We met a stationmaster on the way down from Sydney. He told us he was surprised that we were not scarred all over.

1903-04 – THE VICTORIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE SHOWS SYDNEY

'The Cynic', Rugby correspondent for The Referee (Sydney): One is astonished on reading some of the articles appearing in the daily Press on the subject of 'Australian,' or, as Mr. Montagu Arnold calls, and most persons in years gone by called, it, 'Melbourne' football. The writers almost with one accord assume that the effort now being made to establish the game here is the first ever made; some of them assume that the public has only to see the game played to become paralysed by its overpowering brilliance as compared with Rugby. The NSW Football Association was established in 1880, and existed for 16 years.

W. Kent Hughes, President of Essendon FC (VFL club): We ask simply for a fair field and no favour, which, I am sure, the sport-loving public of Sydney are willing to grant us. We have killed Rugby dead as Queen Anne in West Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria, and we will win here. We started from Rugby, and have got to where we are, just as our forefathers developed racehorses. Rugby spends half its time with the ball out of bounds, or out of sight in the scrum.

'Maorilander' (in a letter to The Daily Telegraph): We have killed Rugby dead. What a fine ring of Melbourne superiority about that statement! Fancy a namby-pamby game like the Australian, with its irritating monotony — run, kick, mark — killing the manliest, most skillful, and most played game of football in the world.

Monty Arnold: I am a staunch believer in the Rugby game. There is no fear of it being superseded by the Australian game. They came here with the same flourish of trumpets in 1881. A great many Victorian pressmen came with them, and they boomed the game for all it was worth. We have lived side by side with British Association for 25 years without the least trouble, but these people are now coming here with the object of ousting us — well, they won't.

Editorial note on sources: The dialogue and commentary presented here are taken from period newspaper reports. In a small number of cases the original text has been shortened or lightly edited to improve readability and pacing. Every effort has been made to preserve the meaning, tone, and language of the original writers.

'up Moore Park way' by Sean Fagan - Concept layout and style devised and composed by Sean Fagan, using Google Gemini. © 2026 Sean Fagan. All Rights Reserved.

* The bushranger Ned Kelly was arrested by Victoria Police at Glenrowan on the morning of Monday 28 June 1880. The public meeting seeking to form the NSW Football Association where Monty Arnold referred to The Kelly Gang was held in Sydney on the evening of Wednesday 30 June 1880. Kelly was transferred to Melbourne Gaol on the afternoon of Tuesday 29 June 1880. He was hanged at the gaol on the morning of Thursday 11 November 1880. The estimated crowd outside was 5,000 people.

** The game 'frisquette' was a modified form of English cricket for co-ed mixed teams of ladies and gentlemen invented and first played in Sydney at Moore Park in 1878. Its creator was Fred Ironside, a well-known Sydney cricket enthusiast and author of early local cricket guides. The fad was over in the early 1880s.

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