Tom Wills

Thomas Wentworth "Tom" Wills (19 August 1835 – 3 May 1880) was an Australian all-round sportsman who helped invent Australian rules football and helped write the Laws of Australian Football.

Wills was born in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, near either Gundagai or Queanbeyan.  

From the age of 14, he went to Rugby School, in England. There, he played both rugby football and cricket very well. By his final year in England, he was captain of the Rugby XI and was listed in Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle as being one of the most promising young cricketers in England.

In 1859, Wills was involved with others in creating a set of football rules that would be a cross between rugby, soccer and Gaelic football. He made the game for cricketers to keep in shape during the off-season (winter). He had help from people such as his cousin Henry Colden Harrison, W.J. Hammersly and J.B. Thompson. The game is now called Australian Rules Football. 
Wills grew up with Indigenous Australians.  He spoke the language of the Djab Wurrung people, who lived near him, and played with their children. It has been suggested that Australian rules football is based in part on Marn Grook, an Indigenous game with some rules that are similar to those of to Australian rules football. Because the Djab Wurrung played Marn Grook, Wills would have been influenced by the game in creating the rules for Australian rules football.

Willis, an alcoholic, committed suicide by stabbing himself in the heart after he had escaped from a psychiatric hospital.

References

Category:1835 births
Category:1880 deaths
Category:Australian cricketers
Category:Australian rules footballers
Category:Sportspeople from New South Wales
Category:Sportspeople who committed suicide
Category:Suicides by blade weapons
Category:Suicides in Australia