[Editor: This letter, regarding a game of Australian Rules Football being played by Australian soldiers in Egypt in 1914 (during World War One, 1914-1918), was published in The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.), 9 February 1915.]
Football in Egypt
Australian game played
“Magpie” player captain
Australian football has been played in Egypt. Mr S. Sherrin, of Collingwood, has received a letter from H. W. Matheson, the Collingwood player, who is now on active service with No. 2 Field Company Engineers of the First Australian Division. The letter will be read with interest by footballers and others who saw the fine play of Matheson with the Magpie team. He writes:—
“On December 19 we played a game under Australian rules in Cairo. There were two teams picked from the 2nd Field Company Engineers, Victoria. Alec Howlett, of the Port Melbourne Club, was captain of one side, and I of the other. My side won a well-contested game by 12 points, the scores being 6—12 to 5—6. The goal-kickers for the winners were:— Matheson (5), Paterson (1), and for the losers Howlett (2), Weeks (2), Milligan (1).
“Playing football in Egypt is not all beer and skittles, the ground being extremely hard and grassless. Without any training and under such conditions, you can imagine the tired limbs that eventually sought repose at the Pyramids, nine miles away. This match was played with the ball you gave me, and was the first match under Australian rules ever contested in Egypt. I feel proud to think that I was captain of the winning team, and that it was a ball carried from Australia which was the first booted through the goals by one of the ‘Fighting Magpies’ in Egypt.
“Three days after landing here I was attacked by ptomaine poison, and was in hospital for a week, on water diet.”
Source:
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.), 9 February 1915, p. 1 (Final Edition)
Also published in:
Morwell Advertiser (Morwell, Vic.), 12 February 1915, p. 4
The Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic.), 13 February 1915, p. 35
The Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.), 24 February 1915, p. 6
Editor’s notes:
Australian rules = Australian rules football
See: 1) “Australian Rules Football”, The Institute of Australian Culture
2) “Australian rules football”, Wikipedia
Collingwood = [1] a suburb of Melbourne (Victoria)
See: “Collingwood, Victoria”, Wikipedia
Collingwood = [2] Collingwood Football Club (named after Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria), an Australian Rules football team
See: “Collingwood Football Club”, Wikipedia
Magpie = of or pertaining to the Collingwood Football Club (named after Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria), known as the “Magpies” (or, in its abbreviated form, the “Pies”)
See: “Collingwood Football Club”, Wikipedia
not all beer and skittles = a saying which states that something is not as easy, enjoyable, or fun as many people might think (the phrase “beer and skittles” refers to something which is carefree, easy, enjoyable, fun, or pleasurable; however, the phrase is mostly used in a negative form in modern times, e.g. “it’s not all beer and skittles”, “life is not all beer and skittles”)
See: 1) “NotesAndLinks”,
) Pascal Tréguer, “‘Beer and skittles’: meaning and origin”, Word Histories, 31 July 2018
2) “Beer and skittles”, The Word Detective, 5 January 2010
3) “The surprisingly complex etymology of ‘Skittles’”, Vice
4) “beer and skittles”, Wiktionary
5) “life is not all beer and skittles”, Wiktionary
Port Melbourne Club = Port Melbourne Football Club (named after Port Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria), an Australian Rules football team
See: “Port Melbourne Football Club”, Wikipedia
ptomaine = substances produced by bacteria during the process of decaying organic matter (i.e. the putrefaction of animals or plants); “ptomaine poisoning” is a term for food poisoning
See: 1) Evie Lee, “Ptomaine poisoning”, CPD Online College, 25 November 2021 (updated 20 April 2023)
2) “food poisoning”, Encyclopaedia Britannica
3) “ptomaine”, Oxford Reference
4) “1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ptomaine Poisoning”, Wikisource
5) W. A. Brend, “The ptomaine-poisoning myth”, The Spectator Archive (The Spectator, 25 May 1934, p. 9)
6) “Foodborne illness”, Wikipedia [see section: “Ptomaine poisoning” misconception]
repose = to rest; to sleep; to lay down to rest or sleep; to recline or sit down; resting in a calm, peaceful, or tranquil manner; a state of quiet resting or being at rest (can also be a reference to death, to rest in peace, to lie dead)
Swans = South Melbourne Football Club (named after South Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria), known as the “Swans”, an Australian Rules football team; in 1982 the club relocated to Sydney (New South Wales) and subsequently changed its name to “Sydney Swans”
See: “Sydney Swans”, Wikipedia
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