It's June 16, 1888, a "gloriously fine" Saturday afternoon at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where 20 men representing Carlton had taken the field. That in itself was not unusual. It was the year of the 12th Victorian Football Association (VFA) season and Carlton were the defending premiers. Australian football crowds had always been strong, so Carlton's presence on the MCG turf would have been reason enough for a big crowd to have gathered, although this was even larger than normal. About 22,000 people packed the stands according to report in The Age, "one of the largest ever seen on the ground," while some other sources claim as many as 25,000 were in attendance. That's because this was no ordinary match. Instead of one of Carlton's regular VFA opponents, this team was international. England had come to play. A long tour needs plenty of opposition As the modern vintage of British and Irish Lions continue their limited program of tour matches against Australia's Super Rugby franchises and invitational teams, it is worth remembering that in years gone by tours were extraordinarily lengthy affairs consisting of many more matches across the country. The reason for this is simple — it took months for tourists to make the long trip south and so, while they were here, they wanted to make it worth their while. That 1888 tour, for example, involved a whopping 54 matches being played across Australia and New Zealand, starting in Dunedin on April 28 and ending more than five months later in Wanganui on October 3. The Australia leg of that tour spanned from June 2 to August 29 but, from June 16 to August 1 as the tour ventured through Victoria and South Australia, they played only two games of rugby union. The other 18 games that took place over that month-and-a-half period were played under Australian Rules, while also playing an additional game of the domestic code on August 14 in Maitland, New South Wales. Eight of those matches in Victoria were against leading VFA clubs, with all four games in South Australia taking place against SAFA teams. But what on earth were a group of rugby footballers from England doing playing a game they had never seen played before, let alone had any experience playing? The answer lies quite simply in money. The tourists were here to play for cash Britain's first rugby union tour of the Antipodes was arranged by Arthur Shrewsbury, Alfred Shaw and James Lillywhite, with the side captained by the tragic figure of Robert Seddon. Sports historians may recognise those names as being associated more with cricket than rugby union — all three played for England and all three were responsible for bringing separate English cricket teams for Ashes contests throughout the 1880s. That proliferation of cricket tours was starting to wear slightly thin on the Australian match-going public. Football, however, was an untapped resource and, during discussions with locals on their cricket tours, the large crowds that attended the local games were of such size that they piqued the promoters' interests. Football tours had been suggested throughout the previous two decades, but the details were proving troublesome. Getting a collection of footballers to give up their jobs for a period of some months was a far different proposition to encouraging the gentlemen cricket players to do so. Shrewsbury, Lillywhite and Shaw needed to make it worth all their whiles, a tough enough prospect given the Rugby Football Union's draconian adherence to the ideals of amateurism. The loose and nebulous application of expenses was normally sufficient to allay the authorities concerns and so they managed to convince the tour to take place, albeit without the authorities' blessing. The Victorian games were crucial to the coffers of the venture, so the playing of the Australian Rules matches was a non-negotiable. That being said, the tourists did not come in completely blind to the Australian game. In his book, The First Lions of Rugby, Sean Fagan writes that "the codes, both in Britain and in Australia, weren't yet so far apart that swapping from one to the other was seen as foolhardy for an individual". Lillywhite noted that, having studied the rules, "there was not a great deal to learn that our players did not already know". A copy of the rules had been sent to the UK the year prior and, according to The Age, "two well known and capable Victorian players, PG McShane and J Lawler, met them in New Zealand, and have since (when ever opportunity, has offered) been instructing them in the rules of the Australasian game." 'It was evident the Englishmen did not understand the game' The first Australian Rules contest of the tour — despite being sixth match on Australian soil and 15th in total that the tourists had played — attracted considerable attention, described in The Age as a "red letter day in the history of Victorian football". The correspondent was scathing in the "inhospitable and discreditable" way the VFA had approached the endeavour, and the "reprehensible" way that the two largest clubs had demanded a share of the gate receipts. The writer was full of praise for the English approach, however. "The visitors have done no 'pointing' to work up the interest in their play, but although new to the Australasian rules, and therefore manifestly at a great disadvantage, have boldly determined to open their Victorian campaign by meeting Carlton, the premier club of the colony." That write-up and the good will had clearly created a significant interest in the sporting public. "The Melbourne Cricket Ground was literally packed in the grand stand, the reserves and all round the playing ground," noted the Sportsman correspondent, writing under the alias "Goal Point". "Every inch of space being occupied by some portion of a man, woman or child, all eager to see how the Britishers would shape in their opening contest." It turned out, they would not shape up particularly well. "The Englishmen … never got the dash of their opponents, and the dribbling game which they tried several times, was not effective," wrote The Age in its report. "Of their whole game it may be said that they worked harder, but achieved less than their opponents; but it will be admitted by all who saw the much that they are a splendid lot of men, and only require coaching and training in the Victorian game to make a very fine team. "They made a very creditable show for a first appearance in a game new to them, and against a team of such calibre as the Carlton." The Bendigo Advertiser was less kind. "From the start it was evident the Englishmen did not understand the game, and the result was that the Carlton simply did what they liked with them," wrote their Melbourne correspondent. Carlton won 14 goals 17 behinds to England's 3 goals 8 behinds (in this era, only goals counted as scoring shots, even though behinds were noted). Victory over Port Adelaide ignites interest Of course, the fact that Carlton won the match should not be a surprise. But there was, incredibly, some success in this foreign game for the tourists. The Lions beat Bendigo by five goals to one in their second match, just four days after their visit to the MCG, before drawing 1-1 with Castlemaine. There were no other victories during their first stint in Victoria, but there was more success after they hopped across the border to South Australia in July. The interest was high in South Australia. The South Australian Register noted that between 5,000 and 6,000 people attended the first match against South Adelaide but the uncredited correspondent was not all that impressed with the tourists. "Taking into account their wants of knowledge of the rules it would have been a surprise if the Englishman had won," noted the writer. "They often made breached of the rules … but the umpire only penalised them for the most flagrant breaches. The reporter criticised the team for failing to keep their places on the field and criticised their marking and ability to drop punt, but did see promise — "in the ruck they were strong and generally managed to get rid of a too-clinging opponent". "If they only knew the rules better they would make a warm team," the reporter wrote. If only they knew. Just two games later, the Lions earned their first win in South Australia against non-other than Port Adelaide, eight goals to seven at Adelaide Oval. Port Adelaide was a strong team in 1888. At the time of the match they were second in the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) ladder and would end up finishing just half a win behind eventual premiers, Norwood. The South Australian Register noted that, "although the game was regarded as a foregone conclusion nearly 2,000 people were present" on a "rather showery" afternoon. "The Ports had a strong team," the article read, with a "J McKenzie being the only notable absentee" and yet, against the odds, "the Englishman" won. "When the bell rang the board showed that the Englishmen had won their first important match under the colonial rules," the South Australian Register proclaimed. "If ever a team deserved to win the Englishmen did … in the last twenty-five minutes their play was as brilliant as anything Adelaideans have ever seen at the finish of a game." Victorian return breeds more success The Lions lost their next two games in Adelaide against Adelaide and Norwood, the latter coming in front of "one of the largest attendances witnessed on the oval this season, there being about 8,000 spectators in the pavilion and around the chains," despite the "very threatening" weather, according to the South Australia Weekly Chronical. "Interest was maintained in the game during the whole afternoon, the Englishmen playing in a most determined fashion," the reporter noted. "Those spectators who had only witnessed the match on the previous Saturday [against South Adelaide] were greatly struck with the wonderful improvement in the Englishmen's play, and the opinion was freely expressed that they will make matters very warm for the clubs in Victoria on their return to that colony." And so it was proven, the "Englishmen" winning four of their six matches upon their return to east, against Horsham, Sandhurst, Ballarat and Kyneton, even if the short report in the Argus was rather snooty, "The Sandhurst men played the best game, but failed in kicking for goals," it read, adding "One of the goals scored by the Englishmen was kicked by a Sandhurst substitute." The legacy? The closest the Lions of 2025 will come to Victorian Rules football on this tour is by re-visiting Adelaide Oval, the MCG and playing once more at the AFL-owned Docklands stadium. The success of those first, retrospective Lions did not result in the proliferation of the Australasian game around the world. It's success for rugby's codes is evident though. Fagan, in the introduction to his book, writes that the "remarkable and lasting influence of the 1888 team on the development and popularity of rugby football in Australia and New Zealand cannot be understated". He argues that the game changed dramatically for both spectators and players, changing the entire way the code was played in New South Wales and Queensland. There were other, perhaps unintended effects too. The financial potential revealed by the 1888 tour inadvertently resulted in a fateful meeting in 1895, where rugby clubs from Yorkshire and Lancashire formed the Northern Rugby Football Union, the sport that would evolve into rugby league. Of the 22 players initially selected on that first tour, 14 played for clubs that, by 1898, had switched to rugby league.