with the New Zealand press, which was enamoured with rugby and continually derisive toward the Australian code. Although the code struggled with negativity from the media, in these early days rugby authorities were generally cooperative with access to grounds, enabling the codes to coexist. In 1880, a proposal was put forward to send an Australasian team of players from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide to New Zealand and combine and tour England. Otago, one of the game's last strongholds, along with Auckland, pledged to send players for the tour. However the only football team that set sail was the Australian (New South Wales) rugby side in 1881. This helped dispell assurances from Australasian Rules advocates that the Australasian game was fast overtaking Rugby in popularity in Sydney the reaction that year was that in its Otago stronghold 5 of the 8 clubs affiliated with the Otago Rugby Union and saw the code's popularity across the country plummet. H C A Harrison toured Auckland in 1883 with the cricket team and met with the governing body of Rugby Union proposing that it switch to Victorian Association Rules and would be in turn raising the idea of a universal form of football with football authorities in England. New Zealand football officials also noted English officials rejection of Harrison's suggestion during his visit to London that rugby clubs there adopt some of the Victorian Rules. The fallout would lead to the continually sharp decline in the fortunes of the game locally. The 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team matches saw a Māori team visit Victoria, as part of a year long tour of the UK and Australia, to play a program of Victorian Rules games. The team played eight games, winning three and losing five. It defeated South Melbourne Football Club, which at that stage was Victoria's premier club. New Century: Australasian rules booms After being virtually nonexistent since the 1880s, interest in Australian football was rekindled on the back of a wave of immigration from Australia in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1903, the 'New Zealand Association of Australian Football' was formed in Christchurch by a committee of expat Victorians. The league had 4 clubs (City Wanderers, Sydenham, Woolston, and Imperial with a fifth, Carlton, formed a year later). By 1904, a number of leagues were being established throughout the country. In Wellington, a league of five clubs was formed