and the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, on both of which the team played Australian Rules Football against local clubs The 1888 tour was organised by three professional English
cricketers,
James Lillywhite,
Alfred Shaw and
Arthur Shrewsbury, but they could not obtain patronage from the
Rugby Football Union who refused to patronise the tour, though the RFU was happy for the tour to go ahead, provided there was no infringement of the rules of amateurism. The team was led by
England's Robert L Seddon and took in 35 games, though no test matches against international opposition. Of the games played the tourists won twenty seven, drew six and lost two matches. The tour was undertaken by Shaw and Shrewsbury as a purely financial exercise with little regard to producing a "British Isles" team, and the team itself is more often recorded as an English team. The two managers were not unfamiliar with touring sides, having organised cricket teams to Australia, and the rugby tour was a follow on from the financially disastrous
England Cricket tour of 1887. '' The rugby tour was not an economic success either and lost both managers money. Worse was to occur when team captain Seddon, drowned on 15 August in an accident while sculling on the
Hunter River in
West Maitland. The captaincy was then passed to
Andrew Stoddart a future England rugby captain and
Wisden Cricketer of the Year. A further economic issue that related to the tour was the burgeoning professional movement that was gathering momentum in England at the time. Rugby players and clubs in Britain were divided by the growing belief that players should be paid for their time playing their sport. The growing popularity of the now professional Association Football was causing many, especially in the North of England, to challenge the amateur standing of the union code. One of the catalysts to the split between amateur union code and the future league code, was when
Jack P. Clowes, a member of the 1888 tour, was designated a 'professional' sportsman after he accepted £15 to buy equipment shortly before he left for Australia. The other players on the tour were then required to sign an affidavit to state they were not to be paid for playing rugby when in Australia and New Zealand. in front of the grandstand at the
South Melbourne Cricket Ground. In addition to playing 35 game of rugby union, the Lions team also played 19 games of Victorian Rules Football (later known as
Australian rules football). The Lions won 6 of the matches under the Australian rules, despite having no experience with the code prior to the tour. The uniforms worn by the side on their first tour was a jersey displaying thick red, white and blue hoops, white shorts and dark socks. ==Touring party==