Some history of the Dees

The seeds of the Melbourne Football Club were sown in 1858 with matches and early meetings involving influential cricketer Tom Wills, Scotch College headmaster Thomas H. Smith and Melbourne Cricket Club member and publican Jerry Bryant, a personal friend of Wills. Wills was instrumental in the push to establish senior football teams and in the same year wrote a letter pushing for a football club with a "code of laws" to be established. Melbourne's early team had a strong link to the Melbourne Cricket Club through its players playing both football and also for the cricket club and playing under the name of Melbourne, with Wills as its inaugural captain. The first mention of a game played is between Melbourne and South Yarra in September 1858.The team was formally acknowledged and established as a separate sporting entity by the Melbourne Cricket Club on 14 May 1859.

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