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Fathers of football buried in Kew
James Dowling
22Jul08
Founders of the AFL, including H.C.A. Harrison (second from left), who is buried in Kew.
Sydney Sherrin with photos of his ancestor TW Sherrin and a handmade Sherrin footy.
Scotch College captain Jack Bull.
FINDING the roots of Australian Rules Football may be closer than you think.
Few footy pilgrims realise that one of the game's founding fathers is buried in Kew.
Henry Colden Antill Harrison was considered one of football's pioneers.
He spent most of his life in Kew and was buried in the family plot at the Boroondara (Kew) Cemetery.
Yet his final resting place has no reference to his role in developing Australia's native game and could be considered one of the plainest graves in the cemetery.
Harrison's grand nephew Lawton Wills Cook said it was up to the AFL to erect a memorial at the grave site.
"The cemetery has said there has been little interest in the grave but with the 150 years celebration I would expect it to pick up," Mr Cook said.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said a large room at the MCG was named after Harrison, who was also the second captain of Melbourne and first of Geelong.
He said the AFL Commission would consider any proposal to put a commemorative plague at Harrison's gravesite.
As a child Mr Cook met the man, who for a long time, was described as the "Father of Football".
"I remember him as a stooped man with white air.
"He still went to the football well in his 90s, he was a remarkable man," Mr Cook said.
Harrison was the cousin of the game's brilliant but flawed inventor Tom Wills. He also married Wills' sister Emily.
Historian Greg de Moore said in recent years Harrison's role in creating and spreading the sport was unfairly maligned. "There is no evidence of him being involved in the very first game and rules," Mr de Moore said.
"However, he was the key administrative and playing force in Melbourne during the game's formative years."
Tour resting place of pioneers
THE footy, air-conveyance, pill, ball, prune, nut, pig-skin, the TW all come to one thing the Sherrin.
Few families have a physical manifestation of their history that thousands of people own.
Yet the Sherrin family see their name and one of their family's greatest achievements every time a footy is kicked.
Footy inventor T. W. Sherrin rests in the Boroondara Cemetery, and he, with one of football's pioneers H. C. A. Harrison, is the major highlight of the Friends of (Kew) Boroondara Cemetery 150 Years of Football tour, this Saturday.
T.W.'s descendant and former Sherrin business owner Sydney Sherrin says he still hand-makes footies as T. W. did.
Friends of Boroondara Cemetery president Elizabeth Hore says the tour, from 2pm, will take in many pioneers of the AFL game and people who had helped to make the sport what it is today.
Bookings essential: 9817 4896 or 0422 379 053.
A rivalry to get it going
IN 150 years there have been 1300 goals, 13 draws, 168 games and, more importantly, bragging rights won and lost.
On Friday, August 8, Scotch College will play arch rival Melbourne Grammar in football's oldest grudge match for the Cordner-Eggleston Cup.
The teams played the first-ever game of Australian rules football on August 7, 1858 a draw.
The re-enactment match will be played at the MCG from 3.55pm as the curtain-raiser to the Melbourne versus Geelong match and will celebrate the AFL's 150th anniversary.
The exclusive Hawthorn school owns the overall bragging rights with 82 wins. Melbourne Grammar has won 78 times and 13 matches have been draws.
Scotch has also won the past three matches. But Scotch College captain Jack Bull said Melbourne Grammar had a great side this year and both teams were desperate to win the game.
"It is a huge honour to play in a game like this," Jack said.
"Old boys are constantly saying how they always remember their Cordner-Eggleston Cup match and ours will be really special." In the week leading up to the match, the boys are being presented with a special heritage jumper by old boys who had played or are playing AFL/VFL.
For match tickets purchase through Ticketmaster: 13 6100 or ticketmaster.com.au
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