Challenge Cup (Australia)

The Challenge Cup was the name of several football trophies contested in Melbourne, Australia, during the 1860s and 1870s under the Melbourne Football Club rules and the Victorian rules (which were early versions of Australian rules football).

Football in Victoria was played under an informal administrative structure until the establishment of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. As such, any trophies or competitions were unofficial, and were arranged entirely at the agreement of the participating clubs. Trophies were either purchased by the clubs or donated by a third party.

There were three Challenge Cups which were contested among the top senior metropolitan clubs between 1861 and 1871: the Caledonian Society Challenge Cup (1861–1864), the Athletic Sports Committee Challenge Cup (1865–1866) and the South Yarra Presentation Challenge Cup (1870–1871).

The Challenge Cup, which was won and held based on the results of specific games, was separate from the Premiership, which (in years when it is considered to have existed) was based upon performance in all games during a season.

The inaugural football Challenge Cup was a silver cup donated by the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne. It was initially put up as the prize for a football match between University and a team of challengers which was to have been played during the Society's Caledonian games on 28 December 1861. The game was attempted, but abandoned well short of its full length as there was inadequate space among the other Caledonian games events to accommodate a football game. The cup itself was nevertheless presented to University.

In May 1862, the same cup was put up as a prize in a scheduled match between University and the Melbourne Football Club, but the game was twice abandoned due to University having too few players; Melbourne claimed that as a result of University's forfeiture that it should take ownership of the cup, but University refused and remained in possession. The matter was finally resolved on-field in 1863, when Melbourne defeated University 2–1 over three afternoons' play in July and August – at that time, matches were untimed and won by the first team to score two goals: the first day's play on 18 July was scoreless, the second day's play on 8 August resulted in one goal to each team, and the winning goal was scored after half an hour's play on 22 August.

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