History was made at Carisbrook, Dunedin, on 17 June 1922, as 10,000 spectators braved light rain to watch New Zealand and Australia meet in the very first football international played by both nations. Fourteen rugby and ten league internationals had already taken place between New Zealand and Australia by the time the game the world plays finally saw the trans-Tasman rivals go head to head. That said, there had been some activity in the code between the two countries nearly twenty years prior, with New South Wales touring NZ in 1904, a nine-match adventure which included two internationals against the first New Zealand national team. A year later, a reciprocal tour of NSW was made by the NZ national team, who played a warm-up fixture against Wellington prior to departure.

Remarkably, and no doubt due in part to World War One, there was no trans-Tasman football activity following that 1905 visit by New Zealand until Australia embarked upon a fourteen-match tour of this country in 1922, three of which were full internationals. As well as the Dunedin encounter, the teams drew 1-1 in front of a further 10,000 fans at Athletic Park, Wellington, a week later, before New Zealand repeated their 3-1 triumph at the Auckland Domain, to the delight of the 15,000 patrons in attendance. Those present paid one shilling and eightpence to enter the ground, or two shillings and ninepence, plus a sixpence booking fee, for a seat in the stand - the very same building that overlooks Auckland Domain #1 today.

Among those to receive complimentary tickets were representatives from rugby, league, cricket and hockey, while the Auckland Rugby Union loaned equipment to the Auckland Football Association for the city's first football international. All clubs in Auckland were required to provide five members each to man the Domain ground for the international, while after the tour the AFA received a cheque from the NZFA for 14 pound, 14 shillings and 10 pence as their share of the profits from Australia's visit. A report on the ground-breaking encounter at Carisbrook can be read here, while below is a very rare photo in New Zealand footballing circles, that of the eleven players who won said international, along with half-a-dozen "suits" and, holding the ball, the team's mascot.