Sydney AFL Clubs
In that year, the first local game was recorded as being played between East Sydney who defeated Sydney 3.10.28 to 1.6.12 at what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground. This was the first game of any football played on the ground.
Initially, games were arranged by clubs between each other but there was no premiership to speak of. Although a fixture was drawn up and played in 1887, an organised competition was not played until 1889 when clubs competed for the Flanagan Cup.
The game attracted a reasonable amount of newspaper exposure and rivaled the rugby code until 1894, when during one of the worst depressions to hit the country, the game fell from favour and the association collapsed.