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Ovens & Murray Football League - A Brief History.
From the Border Post Newspaper, Albury - 7th June, 1876.
"Albury Football Club - On Saturday night upwards of 20 young men from Albury assembled at Day's Commercial Chambers for the purpose of establishing a football club. The chair was occupied by Mr. P Ryan. It was resolved on the proposal of Mr. John Day - 'That a football club be established to be designated the Albury Football Club'. The office bearers & committee were elected & they all agreed to adopt the Victorian rules of football.
15th July, 1876 - Albury defeated Beechwoth at Beechworth - 2 goals to nil.
16th August, 1876 - Town defeated Country - 4 goals to 3 (local players).
The next five years or so saw a number of matches reported - some in great detail. Early footballers used a round ball with two posts at each for goals - points were a later addition.
In June, 1878 Albury lost to Corowa 3 goals to 1. It was not until the early 1880's that behinds were scored. This came about by not using point posts, but by using a rectangular field with corner posts very similar to rugby. If the ball went 'behind' the goal line the behind was then recorded. In July, 1883 Wagga visited Albury and lost ' 1 goal, 1 behind to 3 goals, 22 behinds'. It is not clear when points posts appeared but when playing fields became ovals the corner posts were brought in to give a point for a near miss. The round ball was eventually replaced by the oval ball to achieve a more unpredictable bounce. 1.
The Ovens and Murray Football League was formed in 1893, but was known as the Ovens and Murray Football Association until 1926 when it changed to the present name.
Beechworth and Rutherglen were the big powers to be reckoned with during the early years. Up until the O&M went into recess for World War 1, Rutherglen had an outstanding record and won 13 Premierships.
The Rutherglen teams were well represented by members of the King family with brothers, Jim, Jack, Bernard, Frank and Chris, all playing in the clubs 1907 premiership team. Another brother Dan also played for Rutherglen. In a remarkable achievement, Jack King played 457 matches for Rutherglen in a career spanning 28 years and figured in no less than 11 premiership teams. Rutherglen regularly played and defeated VFL clubs including South Melbourne, Geelong and Carlton in the early days.
The Hiskins family was another prominent part of the Rutherglen tradition with Fred Hiskins going onto play for Essendon, Arthur and Stan Hiskins making their way to South Melbourne and Rupert Hiskins joining Carlton. Beechworth was also prominent and won three premierships along with Albury. During these formative years the O&M also consisted of the following teams: Lake Rovers, Excelsior, Chiltern, Howlong, Corowa, Barnawartha and Border United. During this period gold-mining was extremely active in the district and many of the players were trying to win their fortunes.
After the cessation of hostilities of World War 1, officials had some difficulty re-organising the league and it was not until 1921 that the O&M was back in full swing. Corowa returned to its original name after being known as Border United. St.Patricks was the outstanding team of the 1920s with champion rover Maurie Hunter, who played in four Premiership teams in the decade, later going onto play for Richmond. The club was only in existence for eight years and they won the Premiership on six occasions including four in a row from 1921.
1. - "150 Not Out - 1858 - 2007 - Cricket in Albury / Wodonga". By Jow Wooding.
"Albury Football Club - On Saturday night upwards of 20 young men from Albury assembled at Day's Commercial Chambers for the purpose of establishing a football club. The chair was occupied by Mr. P Ryan. It was resolved on the proposal of Mr. John Day - 'That a football club be established to be designated the Albury Football Club'. The office bearers & committee were elected & they all agreed to adopt the Victorian rules of football.
15th July, 1876 - Albury defeated Beechwoth at Beechworth - 2 goals to nil.
16th August, 1876 - Town defeated Country - 4 goals to 3 (local players).
The next five years or so saw a number of matches reported - some in great detail. Early footballers used a round ball with two posts at each for goals - points were a later addition.
In June, 1878 Albury lost to Corowa 3 goals to 1. It was not until the early 1880's that behinds were scored. This came about by not using point posts, but by using a rectangular field with corner posts very similar to rugby. If the ball went 'behind' the goal line the behind was then recorded. In July, 1883 Wagga visited Albury and lost ' 1 goal, 1 behind to 3 goals, 22 behinds'. It is not clear when points posts appeared but when playing fields became ovals the corner posts were brought in to give a point for a near miss. The round ball was eventually replaced by the oval ball to achieve a more unpredictable bounce. 1.
The Ovens and Murray Football League was formed in 1893, but was known as the Ovens and Murray Football Association until 1926 when it changed to the present name.
Beechworth and Rutherglen were the big powers to be reckoned with during the early years. Up until the O&M went into recess for World War 1, Rutherglen had an outstanding record and won 13 Premierships.
The Rutherglen teams were well represented by members of the King family with brothers, Jim, Jack, Bernard, Frank and Chris, all playing in the clubs 1907 premiership team. Another brother Dan also played for Rutherglen. In a remarkable achievement, Jack King played 457 matches for Rutherglen in a career spanning 28 years and figured in no less than 11 premiership teams. Rutherglen regularly played and defeated VFL clubs including South Melbourne, Geelong and Carlton in the early days.
The Hiskins family was another prominent part of the Rutherglen tradition with Fred Hiskins going onto play for Essendon, Arthur and Stan Hiskins making their way to South Melbourne and Rupert Hiskins joining Carlton. Beechworth was also prominent and won three premierships along with Albury. During these formative years the O&M also consisted of the following teams: Lake Rovers, Excelsior, Chiltern, Howlong, Corowa, Barnawartha and Border United. During this period gold-mining was extremely active in the district and many of the players were trying to win their fortunes.
After the cessation of hostilities of World War 1, officials had some difficulty re-organising the league and it was not until 1921 that the O&M was back in full swing. Corowa returned to its original name after being known as Border United. St.Patricks was the outstanding team of the 1920s with champion rover Maurie Hunter, who played in four Premiership teams in the decade, later going onto play for Richmond. The club was only in existence for eight years and they won the Premiership on six occasions including four in a row from 1921.
1. - "150 Not Out - 1858 - 2007 - Cricket in Albury / Wodonga". By Jow Wooding.
2 Comments
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Comment by Angelina Russo on July 23, 2008 at 6:42pm -
Hi Justin
Thanks so much for uploading the image and for providing the background! Looking forward to more!
Cheers
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That's good stuff on Albury. Albury was mentioned as existing in the 1876 Footballer (no other details) but there is no reference to football there in the 1877 & 1878 issues. I think 'kick off' (later 'behind posts' were mentioned in the first rules of 1859. So I think there were always 'point posts' in a way, even if they were little posts with flags on them. I have come across references to 'behinds' from the late 1870s.
Mark Pennings