text: Tom Wills, a Victorian cricketer devised the rules in 1858. A letter by Wills was published in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle on July 10, 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. An experimental match, played by Wills and others at the Richmond Paddock (later known as Yarra Park, next to the MCG) on July 31, 1858, was probably the first game of Australian football. However, few details of the match have survived.\n\nOn August 7, 1858, two significant events in the development of the game occurred: the Melbourne Football Club was founded, one of the world's first football clubs in any code, and a famous match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College began, umpired by Wills. A second day of play took place on August 21, and a third and final day on September 4. \n\nSome aspects of the laws came from English public school football games which eventually became rugby most notably the mark.