page_title: Australian rules football in New South Wales
section_title: Sydney
hierarchical_section_title: Australian rules football in New South Wales / History / The First Leagues / Sydney
caption_attribution_description: A New South Wales player takes a mark over a Western Australian opponent in the goal square at the 1933 Australian Rules Football National Carnival at the Sydney Cricket Ground. New South Wales vs Western Australia. (Taken by Sam Hood's news photo service.)
context_page_description: Australian rules football has been played in New South Wales since the 1870s; however it has a chequered history in the state and has generally been overshadowed in popularity as a winter sport by the rugby football codes. Compared to rugby league, Australian football had a small presence in Sydney until the 1980s. The sport is popular elsewhere in the state, and has been the dominant code in the Riverina and Broken Hill. Its popularity is constantly increasing northward, across what is known as the Barassi Line.
  The code's recent growth in popularity in Sydney has been partly tied to the success of the Sydney Swans which relocated from Melbourne in 1982. Since 1996, when it first made the Grand Final, the club has generated media hype and public interest as well as greater participation for the sport. Due to successive finals appearances the interest has been sustained over many seasons, most notably in 2005 and 2006 with two successive Grand Final appearances and the club's first premiership since its relocation.
context_section_description: The first recorded game of Australian rules football in Sydney was between the Waratah rugby club and the Carlton Football Club in 1877, two days after a rugby game between the two clubs and 14 years after rugby was first played in the state.
  Waratah and some others claimed that the Australian rules resulted in a more exciting game, but the rugby authorities repeatedly rejected suggestions to switch codes or even play intercolonial matches under alternating rules against Victoria. In response, the proponents of the Australian game formed the NSW Football Association in 1880 and in 1881 the first Australian rules game between NSW and Victoria was played in Sydney. The NSWFA was small, with only a few clubs, including Waratah who switched code in 1882, and competition did not begin in earnest until 1889, when clubs competed for the Flanagan Cup. Having trouble gaining access to enclosed grounds, and therefore gate receipts, the association also had trouble with antagonism between its clubs, and it collapsed in 1893.
  The NSW Football League was born on 12 February 1903 at a meeting held in the YMCA Hall in George St. The NSWFL promoted the game in schools and the Victorian Football League (VFL) held premiership matches in Sydney in an effort to establish the code. In 1908, largely through the switch of codes by the talented Dally Messenger, rugby league established itself into the culture of Sydney, and although Australian football remained popular, the NSWFL was again denied access to enclosed grounds and the new professional code further drew players from the NSWFL. By 1911, Australian rules had achieved more support than rugby union, according to The Referee, but only because the main rival was now rugby league.
  The Australian National Football carnival of 1933 was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground.  Several matches drew large crowds, particularly those involving New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and West Australia.
  Following the successful interstate football carnival, in 1933 a proposal by the New South Wales Rugby League to amalgamate Australian football and rugby league was investigated and a report, with a set of proposed rules, known as Universal football, was prepared by the secretary of the NSWRL, Harold R. Miller and sent to the Australian National Football Council. A trial game was held in secret, but the plans were never instituted.
  Three of the original NSWFL clubs are still in existence and currently play in the Sydney AFL — North Shore, East Sydney (now UNSW-ES) and Balmain, but the league never grew to a substantial size or obtained significant support.
  The first professional VFL/AFL players from Sydney and the Sydney AFL did not begin to emerge until the 1980s.  Russell Morris was one of the early players to make the grade, followed by Sanford Wheeler, Greg Stafford, Nick Davis and Lenny Hayes.  In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in AFL players coming from the Sydney region, and in 2007, a total of 11 AFL players identified themselves as coming from this region.
caption: A New South Wales player marks over a West Australian opponent in the goal square at the 1933 Australian Football Carnival held at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The teams are New South Wales and Western Australia. (Photographer: Sam Hood.)
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