NSW Hall of Fame “The Contenders”
Australian Football celebrates its 140th anniversary in New South Wales this year after the founding of the NSW Football Association in Sydney in 1880.
To commemorate, 140 coaches, players, umpires, administrators and media personalities from both the Elite (VFL/AFL) and Community level will be inducted into the inaugural New South Wales Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Neil Cordy and Rod Gillett profile the nominees:
The NSW Australian Football Association was formed in 1880 to play “under Victorian football rules” (Sydney Mail, 13 July 1880).
Two of the leading figures in the establishment of the game in Sydney have been nominated for the inaugural Australian Football New South Wales Hall of Fame. They are the inaugural president Phillip Sheridan and George Crisp, who convened the meeting to form the new football body, and later, became a star player for NSW.
Phillip Sheridan, was one of the first trustees for the Sydney Cricket Ground (then known as Association ground) was elected as president of the new Football Association. He was to hold that office until 1890.
He was highly prominent in sporting circles in Sydney at that time, particularly in cricket. He had been instrumental in the formation of the Sydney Cricket Club and was a delegate to the NSW Cricket Association.
Sheridan had been appointed as a trustee of the SCG by the government in 1875. In 1895 he became its manager, a position he held until his death in 1910. The new Smokers Stand at the SCG was named in honour of Sheridan after his death. It was replaced by the Clive Churchill Stand in 1986.
In nominating Sheridan as President, Charles W. Beal (who was elected as Secretary) said in support of Sheridan’s nomination that “…. he was one of the most prominent supporters of cricket and other outdoor sports in this colony. He was a supporter of football as played in Victoria and was likely to prove energetic in promoting the interests of the association” (Sydney Mail, 10 July 1880).
Sheridan played a pivotal role in providing the NSW Football Association to access the SCG during the winter season when the ground was not being used for cricket. There was strong competition for use of the ground with the Southern Rugby Union (SRU), later the NSW Rugby Union.
The first inter-colonial match of any football code was played between NSW and the Victorian Football Association (VFA) was played at the SCG on 6 August 1881. An inter-colonial rugby match between NSW and Queensland was not played there until 1882.
The NSW Football Association regular played matches between its clubs Sydney and East Sydney (both formed in 1880) on the SCG in 1881, and throughout the 1880s, including all the interstate matches against the VFA, Queensland, Melbourne clubs and other interstate clubs, and even New Zealand in 1890.
George Crisp who grew up in Melbourne moved to Sydney at the age of 20. In June 1880 he placed an advertisement in the Sydney Mail seeking players to form a football club to play under “Victorian Rules”. The meeting was held at Statton’s Hotel, Woollahra on 23 June 1880.
However, the turn-out was low and the next meeting was moved to the Freemason’s Hotel in the city on 30 June at which New South Wales Football Association was formed. It was reported that “the attendance at the meeting was the largest gathering of football players ever assembled in NSW” (Sydney Mail 3 July 1880). It is estimated that over one hundred persons attended.
The election of office bearers was held over to the following Wednesday when at another well attended meeting, Sheridan was elected president and Crisp to the committee.
Crisp played 19 times for NSW in representative fixtures including the historic first inter-colonial matches against the VFA at the MCG on 1 July 1881 and the return game on the SCG, both won by the Victorians. He was named best player in the latter game. Sheridan was NSW captain in 1884.
He was also a founding member of the Sydney Football club (formed on 6 August 1880) and was elected to the committee and club captain, a position he held in 1880-82, 1884, and 1888-89.
On 7 August 1880, a scratch match was held on Moore Park, between team selected by former Carlton player, Bill Newing, and a team led by George Crisp.
Then, on 10 August, the East Sydney Football Club was formed.
On 14 August another game of football under Victorian Rules was played on Moore Park. The final game for the season was played on 21 August. Thus, football in Sydney got underway.
REFERENCE: Ian Granland’s unpublished work, The History of Australian Football in Sydney 1877-1895 (2014)
Images supplied be the NSW Australian Football History Society
Neil Cordy played 235 VFL/AFL games with Footscray and the Sydney Swans. After his AFL career Neil coached and played for East Sydney. He worked for Network Ten for 15 years as a reporter/presenter and on their AFL coverage. He was the AFL Editor for the Daily Telegraph from 2011 to 2018 and is currently a member part of ABC Grandstand’s AFL broadcast team.
Rod Gillett has written extensively about the game in NSW for country newspapers, the Sun-Herald, Inside Football and other publications. He has also had chapters published in the Footy Almanac and Footy Town. Rod was a member of the selection panel for the NSW Greatest Team in 2019 and is currently a member of the AFL NSW Hall of Fame selection committee.
