The Cambridge Rules were several formulations of the rules of football made at the University of Cambridge during the nineteenth century.
J. C. Thring
Henry Charles Malden
This 1854 portrait includes H. M. Luckock (top left) and E. L. Horne (top right), two of the creators of the 1856 Cambridge Rules
The "Cambridge Rules 1848" monument on Parker's Piece
Origins of Australian rules football
The origins of Australian rules football date back to the late 1850s in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria.
Statue next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the approximate site of the 1858 "foot-ball" match between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. Tom Wills is depicted umpiring behind two young players contesting the ball. The plaque reads that Wills "did more than any other person – as a footballer and umpire, co-writer of the rules and promoter of the game – to develop Australian football during its first decade."
Portrait of Wills in the colours of the Melbourne Cricket Club
The Victorian cricket team, 1859. In May of that year, Tom Wills (seated, far left), William Hammersley (standing, third from left), J. B. Thompson (seated, second from left) and Thomas H. Smith (not pictured) met at the Parade Hotel, run by Jerry Bryant (standing, second from right), where they wrote the first laws of Australian football.
A drawing from William Blandowski's 1850s scientific expedition shows Aboriginal people engaged in domestic and recreational activities, including a kicking game with a ball made from Typha roots.
