This week we take a look at where it all began back in 1894.

From The Armidale Express, 4 August, 1894.

"The town continues very dull, not much business doing. A football match was played on the show ground on Saturday between the Armidale Juniors and the Walcha club, resulting in a win for Armidale by 23 points to nil. There was a fair attendance of spectators and the town band was in attendance. This is the first football match played here with any outside club. There is a good deal of sickness here just now from colds and influenza. Mrs Kermode, an old resident of this district, died at her residence near Ingleba on Saturday night. Her funeral will take place this afternoon. A Land Court will be held here on the last three days of this month."

The author of this bland report of the weekly happenings in Walcha in 1894 might have expounded more on the football match had he been aware at the time of its historical significance. Indeed, the correspondent might well have done so in the Walcha Witness, but unfortunately no known copies of the newspaper exist. Fires in 1928 and 1932 destroyed the premises and existing copies of the Walcha Witness and the Walcha News.

The correspondent's use of the term' the Walcha club' in the article in the Armidale Express is significant in that it gives formal identification of the existence of a club having been established with office- bearers and the committee. Although the Walcha Club did not affiliate with the New England branch of the NSWRU in 1893 it does suggest that organised football was played in the Walcha district prior to 1894 and that the Walcha Club was formed and prepared for outside competition. The club had a ground and guernseys and was prepared to travel, albeit by horse or horse and coach.