It looks like organised chaos,” admits Henry Marshall (Caius 2023), President of the Cambridge University Australian Rules Football Club (CUARFC).

“The pitch is oval, play goes in all directions, it’s fast, there are four posts at each end, 16 or 18 aside so lots of people on the pitch, you kind of punch the ball out of your hand, you can kick it and run with it. Oh, and there is wrestling.” Not many people know that Aussie rules football may have had its origins at Cambridge – kind of – when Australian Tom Wills came to study here in the 1850s.

Legend has it he dropped out after a month, but not before he’d played rugby and football, then went home and created Australia’s game. “Despite the chaos, it feels like a natural game,” explains Marshall. “It’s like Keepies Off that we used to play, when you just have to keep hold of the ball at all costs. A game like cricket is quite inaccessible for people watching, but you can follow what’s going on in Aussie rules pretty easily.”

When Marshall started his PhD in Biological Sciences at Cambridge, he was looking for community, and two of his professors recommended CUARFC.

The club has been running as a proper society for approximately 10 years but informally for 95 years longer than that – the Varsity match dates back to 1911, which makes it the longest running Aussie rules fixture outside of Australia. And they’re on the up – they train on Parker’s Piece, but Marshall is excited about the ongoing Grange Road grounds refurbishment, where a campaign to improve facilities will allow for year-round participation and growth.

“I had played when I was young, so when I first heard about CUARFC, I couldn’t wait. There was an element of nostalgia for me. And it’s just grown into such a big part of my life. We are a strong friendship group – seven of us went to a player’s wedding in the summer.

But obviously the Varsity is the big one. “Last year the game was tight and Ritzy (Amritz Ansara) was subbed on. He’s the heart and soul of the club – he wrote our club song, and though he’s left Cambridge now, he travels back to train with us like a few of the guys do – and when he came on he immediately kicked a goal. Even though the game was only three-quarters through, everyone streamed onto the pitch and lifted him up in an aeroplane. The other side was confused, but that’s how we are.”