"Pioneer Exhibition Game" in London (1916) & The Book- The Game Of Our Lives (2016) By Nick Richardson
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 between two teams of Australian servicemen in aid of the British and French Red Cross.
 
The match was promoted as the "Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London". It was held at Queen's Club, West Kensington before an estimated crowd of 3,000, which included the (then) Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), and King Manuel II of Portugal.
 
    An Australian football match (an Australian Division v. Training Groups) will be played at Queen's Club, West Kensington, tomorrow, at 3 p.m., in aid of the British and French Red Cross Funds. The game, played by 18 players a side, will show how Australians have combined "Soccer" and Rugby. (The Times, Friday, 27 October 1916.)
 
The members of the competing teams, Australian Training Units and The Third Australian Divisional Team, were all highly skilled footballers, the majority of whom had already played senior football in their respective states.
 
In order to celebrate the match, Beaurepaire commissioned a set of team photographs that were inserted into a mounting board decorated with a British Union Jack and an Australian Red Ensign, that had "Australian Football in London. Pioneer Exhibition Game. At Queen's Club, West Kensington. Saturday 28 Oct. 1916" at its head, and "Organizer of Match & Donor of Photos to Club Lieut. Frank Beaurepaire" at its foot.
 
"Pioneer Exhibition Game": Result
 
Played in a very strong wind which favoured one end of the ground, the Third Australian Divisional Team beat the Australian Training Units Team 6.16 to 4.12 the progressive scores were:
First Quarter: Divisional: 0.2 (2); Training Units 2.5 (17).
Second Quarter: Divisional: 2.10 (22); Training Units 2.7 (19).
Third Quarter: Divisional: 2.13 (25); Training Units 4.9 (33).
Final Quarter: Divisional: 6.16 (52); Training Units: 4.12 (36).
Goals: Divisional: Moyes (2), Willis (2), Jory (1), and Lee (1); Training Units: Moore (1), Paine (1), Maxfield (1), and Armstrong (1).[52]
 
AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL: NOVEL MATCH AT QUEEN'S CLUB.
The Times, Monday, 30 October 1916.[53]
Over 3,000 people watched a football match at Queen's Club on Saturday between a team from an Australian Division and another representing Training Details. The game was played under Australian rules and was a novelty to most of those present.

    The ground is oval, running to 120 yards in width and 180 yards in length. The goal posts have no cross-bar, and as long as a ball is kicked through them the height does not matter. A penalty goal can be dropped, punted, or placed, and in passing the short kick is much used, the off-side rule being non-existent. All the rules are designed with the object of making the game a fast one, and it has certainly the look of being that. There are four-quarters of 20 (sic) minutes each, and after the first and third there is merely a quick change round and no interval.

    The spectators were also treated to their first exhibition of Australian "barracking". This barracking is a cheerful running commentary, absolutely without prejudice, on the players, the spectators, the referee, the line umpires, and lastly the game itself. On Saturday it was mostly concerned with references to the military history of the teams engaged. When a catch was missed, for instance, a shrill and penetrating voice inquired of the abashed player, "D'you think, it's a bomb? It's not, it's a ball." On one side there was a colonel playing among the backs and the captain of the other side was a chaplain, and a popular one, to judge by the cheery advice that he got from the privates on the line and in the stand.

    The men playing on Saturday were not used to each other, but though the teams thus lacked combination the game was fast, and there were some excellent displays of high marking and kicking for goal. The Division eventually won by six goals and 16 behinds (52 points) to four goals and 12 behinds (36 points). All the gate money and profits from programmes went to the funds of the British and French Red Cross Societies.
 
Souvenir Program is in poor condition but is largely intact. Contains Cartoons from the Game of AFL.
 
The Book is in fair to good condition