1916 AIF Pioneer Exhibition Game | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Date | 28 October 1916 | |||||||||||||||
Stadium | Queen's Club, West Kensington, London | |||||||||||||||
Attendance | 3,000 – 6,000 (various estimates) | |||||||||||||||
Umpires | S.R. Gray (first half) George Barry (second half) | |||||||||||||||
Coin toss won by | Australian Training Units Team | |||||||||||||||
Kicked toward | Northern end (kicked with the wind) |
On Saturday 28 October 1916, the former Olympic champion swimmer and the later Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Lieutenant Frank Beaurepaire, organised an Australian Rules football match in aid of the British and the French Red Cross.
Promoted as the Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London, and "believed to be the first exhibition of Australian football in London" (de Lacy, 1949), the match was contested between two teams of Australian servicemen who were stationed in the UK — the Australian Training Units Team and the Third Australian Divisional Team — all of whom were highly skilled footballers, and the majority of whom had already played senior football in their respective states prior to their enlistment.
The Third Australian Divisional team beat the Australian Training Units Team 6.16 (52) to 4.12 (36).