Saturday 10 March - MCG
Crowd - 5000 to 6000
Melbourne 2.9
Geelong 3.5 (half time 1.2-1.4)
Geelong win by 1 goal
An England XI vs Victoria cricket match was halted at 5pm so that the English cricketers could watch their first Australian Rules football match. Much of the crowd came late in the day, showing the growing interest in football compared to international cricket.
With the centre wicket covered to prevent damage, Geelong won and were on their way in a season where they would go undefeated across three states and also beat a visiting English football team in a match.
Owing to the limited time available ends were only changed once, and both teams were rusty in their first match for the season.
Carlton were originally supposed to be the opposition but could not field a side.
Media
Age - 02/02/1888
Adelaide Observer - 11/02/1888
Age - 12/03/1888
Leader - 17/03/1888
Age - 14/05/1971