Editing Australian rules football (section)

===Early competition in Victoria===
{{See also|List of Australian rules football clubs by date of establishment}}
[[File:Australianfootball1866.jpg|thumb|Engraving of a football match at the [[Yarra Park|Richmond Paddock]], 1866. The MCG and its first pavilion are visible in the background, as are kick-off posts, the forerunner of today's behind posts.{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|p=17}}]]

Following Melbourne's lead, [[Geelong Football Club|Geelong]] and [[Melbourne University Football Club|Melbourne University]] also formed football clubs in 1859.{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|pp=10–12}} While many early Victorian teams participated in one-off matches, most had not yet formed clubs for regular competition. A [[South Yarra Football Club (1858–1873)|South Yarra]] club devised its own rules.{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|p=11}} To ensure the supremacy of the Melbourne rules, the first-club level competition in Australia, the Caledonian Society's [[Challenge Cup (Australia)|Challenge Cup]] (1861–64), stipulated that only the Melbourne rules were to be used.{{sfn|Pennings|2012|p=25}} This law was reinforced by the Athletic Sports Committee (ASC), which ran a variation of the Challenge Cup in 1865–66.{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|p=20}} With input from other clubs, the rules underwent several minor revisions, establishing a uniform code known as "Victorian rules".{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|pp=18–20}} In 1866, the "first distinctively Victorian rule", the [[running bounce]], was formalised at a meeting of club delegates chaired by [[H. C. A. Harrison]],{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|pp=22–23}} an influential pioneer who took up football in 1859 at the invitation of Wills, his cousin.{{sfn|Coventry|2015|pp=16–17, 20}}

The game around this time was defensive and low-scoring, played low to the ground in congested rugby-style scrimmages. The typical match was a 20-per-side affair, played with a ball that was roughly spherical, and lasted until a team scored two goals.{{sfn|Coventry|2015|p=2}} The shape of the playing field was not standardised; matches often took place in rough, tree-spotted public parks, most notably the Richmond Paddock ([[Yarra Park]]), known colloquially as the Melbourne Football Ground.{{sfn|Hibbins|Ruddell|2009|p=9}} Wills argued that the turf of cricket fields would benefit from being trampled upon by footballers in winter,{{sfn|de Moore|2011|pp=87, 288–289}} and, as early as 1859, football was allowed on the MCG.{{sfn|Hess|2008|p=44}} However, cricket authorities frequently prohibited football on their grounds until the 1870s, when they saw an opportunity to capitalise on the sport's growing popularity. Football gradually adapted to an oval-shaped field, and most grounds in Victoria expanded to accommodate the dual purpose—a situation that continues to this day.{{sfn|Hess|2008|p=44}}