Although South Melbourne relocated to Sydney in 1982, it was many years earlier that the first Australia Rules Football match was played on the hallowed turf at the SCG.

In August 1881, the SCG hosted its first Australian Football match played between NSW and Victoria – pre-dating the first Test cricket match by six months.

Two years later in July 1883, South Melbourne, then the strongest club in the country, came to Sydney to play a series of games at the ground. Three games were played over the course of a week and South won them all.

The games paved the way for the first VFL match for premiership points at the SCG, which was a game between Fitzroy and Collingwood held on 23 May 1903.

In an attempt to grow the Australian football following, the VFL organised the Maroons-Magpies Round 4 clash at the SCG.

The VFL said in the lead-up to the match that it hoped at attract 10,000 fans. However, it exceeded all expectations, with an attendance of approximately 18,000.

In a report the following Monday, The Argus newspaper suggested that Sydneysiders found “something in the game”.

Under the headlines: FOOTBALL IN SYDNEY; INTRODUCING THE AUSTRALIAN GAME and SUCCESSFUL EXHIBITION MATCH, The Argus also reported: “Leaving the pavilion, the players had a magnificent reception.

“The pace and dash infused into the play, and the brilliancy and the accuracy of the kicking were a revelation, quickly convincing many sceptics ... that it has many advantages over Rugby.”

In another first for the VFL, the Fitzroy players wore numbers on the back of their guernseys as a one-off experiment, with numbers introduced for all players from all teams from the start of the 1912 season.

Fitzroy defeated Collingwood by 17 points in that 1903 clash and the Maroons’ annual report suggested the match represented a “red-letter day for Australian football” and added: “It now is felt that the game is placed on a firm basis and the part taken by Fitzroy will, your committee feel confident, will be a matter of extreme satisfaction.”

South Melbourne played at the SCG just two years later, but only in an exhibition match (on June 24) against Fitzroy, which the Maroons won by six points.

However, The Argus this time scoffed: “They have as much chance of supplanting it (Rugby) as they have of superseding cricket with croquet.” The newspaper even suggested that the VFL’s ambitions for Sydney were “hopeless”.

From there until 1981, there were only sporadic VFL attempts to test the waters in Sydney, with South playing an exhibition match against Collingwood in 1935.

The next big attempt was in 1952 when the VFL played what it termed “the Propaganda Round”, with matches played all over Australia.

While Sydney defeated North Melbourne by 22 points at Albury in Round 8, Collingwood defeated Richmond by 36 points in Sydney. Other matches in that round were played at Hobart, Yallourn, Euroa and Brisbane.

Then, in Round 6 of the 1981 season, Geelong defeated Melbourne by 49 points at the SCG and, in Round 17, South defeated Collingwood by 18 points at the SCG in a forerunner to the 1982 shift.