When Footy Came To The Peninsula By Lance Hodgins
T
he game played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College in August 1858 was umpired by State cricketer Tom Wills, who went on to draft the “Melbourne Rules” the following year. Several clubs were immediately formed and games were played with increasing frequency in the major parks of Melbourne.
Wills took the game to Geelong and it spread to several large provincial centres. By the boom years of the 1880s, Melbourne’s inner suburban football teams were promoting their local communities in front of crowds which exceeded the rugby and FA Cup finals in England.
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That famous 1858 match in Yarra Park between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College is already entrenched in the history of Australian football. Amongst the enthusiastic boys cheering for Scotch on those three days would have been the Barker brothers – John and Richard. At 12 and 13 years of age, they both wished that they were a couple of years older and so could have been chosen in the
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forty who were playing so valiantly for their school. They admired their new headmaster, a tall athletic Scot called Alexander Morrison, who had sanctioned and encouraged that first match. Another boyhood hero was their young Scottish chemistry and natural history teacher, John McAdam, who umpired the game alongside Tom Wills. His distinctive long red hair and beard became legendary as he followed the play amongst the gum trees. The Barker boys were the two oldest sons of John Barker who owned the Barrabong Station at Cape Schanck as well as extensive properties at Boneo. John Barker snr was a wealthy lawyer who had been admitted to the bar in 1851. He chose, however, to serve as the Clerk for the first Victorian Parliaments, a position he held with distinction until his death 40 years later. It was only natural that the sons of such an influential person would be sent to Scotch College, the oldest boarding school, to mingle with the sons of other professionals, businessmen and