There’s been countless bids to take Australian Rules football worldwide and almost three decades ago the Adelaide Football Club became part of the quest.
This month marks 28 years since a contingent of Adelaide players, coaches and staff flew to London for a post-season exhibition game, played against West Coast.
The match was hosted at The Oval, an international cricket ground in Kennington, and happened just 15 days after the Eagles beat Geelong in the 1994 AFL Grand Final.
Discussions to take the game to an international audience began in March that year, with possibilities of playing a match in South Africa or Ireland.
But it was England that eventually won out as the most practical place to play a game.
The two teams stayed at the Grafton Hotel, which was within walking distance of Regent’s Parks, and was used for training, before the match took place on Sunday, October 16.
West Coast proved too strong for Adelaide, winning 14.14 (98) to 8.8 (56) in front of a crowd of 7000.
Chris Groom, Tony Modra, Wayne Weidemann, Mark Ricciuto and Rodney Maynard were among the Crows players who featured in the match.
The tour was also well-known for being the moment players found out the Club had acquired the rights to recruit Andrew McLeod.
Groom was traded to Fremantle and the Crows received McLeod, who went on to win two premierships, two Norm Smith Medals and play 340 games for the Club.
Despite the loss, there were a few highlights from the trip, including Tony Modra’s apparent English stardom, told by former player and current Board Member Rod Jameson.
“When we got to the hotel, West Coast’s Chris Mainwaring, Craig Turley and Peter Wilson were walking down the stairs as I was walking up with Tony Modra,” Jameson said.
“They said ‘hey Mods’ and when we got upstairs he said to me ‘far out, they know me over here as well’.”
Players also used the time to tour London.
They visited Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Windsor Castle, as well as London’s West End to catch theatre shows including Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.
Some even managed to watch the Queens Park Rangers v Manchester City soccer match, while another group went on a moonlit, foggy ‘Jack the Ripper’ walk.
The trip itself and the aim of bringing Aussie Rules to a wider audience was deemed a success, with Channel 7 Australia also broadcasting the match nationally.
