South Yarra Football Club (1858–1873)
The South Yarra Football Club was a 19th-century football club which was seminal in the formative years of the sport of Australian rules football. History. The formal date of the South Yarra Football Club's establishment is unknown, with contemporary reports placing it somewhere between September 1858 – when a match was played between "thirty gentlemen resident at South Yarra, and an equal number, chiefly members of the Melbourne Cricket Club" – and April 1859, when "the Argus" newspaper spoke of the formation of suburban clubs and mentioned the club by name, making it one of  the first football clubs in Melbourne. The club did not initially play under the Melbourne Football Club rules which became the basis of Australian rules football, and was possibly at this time a Rugby football club; its members, consistent with South Yarra's demographics, were chiefly upper class and white collar workers, with many members who had played school football in the English public schools. The club played its first match against under Melbourne rules – with one compromise that a mark could not be claimed from the kick of an opponent – on 9 and 23 July 1859, losing 3–0. Over  the following years, the club was involved in conferences which further developed the Melbourne rules as they became widely used across the city. Throughout the first decade of football in Melbourne, South Yarra was one of the pre-eminent clubs in the colony in prestige and performance. In 1865 and 1866, the club won the Athletic Sports Committee Challenge Cup, a perpetual trophy which was contested among the principal clubs and won outright by the first club to win three consecutive cup matches without defeat. In 1865, the club fell one win short of claiming the cup after losing the  final match of the year against Melbourne; but in 1866, they won the opening match of the year and were unbeaten thereafter, claiming permanent ownership after five draws and two more wins. Club captain and committee member George O'Mullane, one of the best footballers of the era, died aged 24 following the 1866 season. South Yarra's off-field organisation declined after 1866, and as football began to transition from a club-based pastime to a more regular system of competition, the club lost many of its best players and performances declined with it. The club also became known for  commitment issues, frequently turning up late to interclub matches. Despite this, the club continued to be considered one of the principal senior clubs and was prominent in off-field organisation, including presenting its own Challenge Cup for competition in 1870. By the 1870s, the club's onfield standard was well short of the other senior clubs, and they failed to defeat a senior opponent after 1868. In 1871, "the Australasian's" sportswriter said of the club that "they have as good material players as any other club, but ... it is at once apparent they have never practiced together", as well  as noting that the club lacked leadership and organisation. In 1872, the club divided into two groups of members who trained separately at St Kilda and South Yarra. This heralded the ultimate demise of the club: prior to 1873, the St Kilda based members split to form a distinct club, which survives as the present day St Kilda Football Club; other prominent members deserted the club in favour of the University Football Club. The weakened South Yarra persisted and still arranged matches against the principal clubs; but all fell through as the club disbanded early in the year, its last  competitive game being a 2–0 loss against the junior Williamstown Football Club on 31 May.