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{{Infobox_Person
| name = Tom Wills
| residence =
| other_names =
| image = Tom wills statue.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Statue at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] of Tom Wills [[umpire|umpiring]] a game of school or folk football in 1858
| birth_name =
| birth_date = August 19, 1835
| birth_place = Near [[Gundagai, New South Wales]] or [[Queanbeyan, New South Wales]]<ref name = birthplace>Family history states 19 August near Gundagai (reference {{cite web | year = 2006 | url = http://tww.id.au/fam/liza-edward/pafg03.htm#91 | title = Thomas Wentworth Wills | work = An Index of Australian Wills Families: Descendants of Edward Wills | publisher = Tom Wills | accessdate = 2006-07-05 | archive-date = 2011-09-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110929023343/http://tww.id.au/fam/liza-edward/pafg03.htm#91 | url-status = dead }}) However, the [[Australian Dictionary of Biography]] entry (reference: {{cite web | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060443b.htm | title = Wills, Thomas Wentworth Spencer (1835 - 1880) | author = W. F. Mandle | year = 1976 | accessdate = 2008-11-25 }}) gives the date of birth as 19 December and the location as on the [[Molonglo Plains]], near present day [[Queanbeyan, New South Wales]].</ref>
| death_date = May 2, 1880 (aged 44)
| death_place = [[Heidelberg, Victoria]], Australia
| death_cause = Suicide by [[stabbing]]<ref name = SLV/>
}}
'''Thomas Wentworth "Tom" Wills''' (19 August 1835 – 3 May 1880) was an [[Australia]]n all-round sportsman who helped invent [[Australian Football]] and helped write the [[Laws of Australian Football]].<ref>http://www.footystamps.com/ot_tom_wills.htm</ref><ref name = SLV>{{cite web|url = http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/reading_victoria/summerread/2008/shortlist/shortlist18.html|title = Tom Wills: His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall - biography by Greg de Moore|publisher = State Library of Australia|work = Reading Victoria > The Summer Read > 2008 > Shortlist|accessdate = 2008-11-25|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220233814/http://slv.vic.gov.au/programs/reading_victoria/summerread/2008/shortlist/shortlist18.html|archivedate=2009-02-20}}</ref>

Wills was born in south-east [[New South Wales]], Australia either near [[Gundagai, New South Wales|Gundagai]] or [[Queanbeyan, New South Wales|Queanbeyan]].<ref name = birthplace/>

From the age of 14 he went to [[Rugby School]] in [[England]]. At school he played both [[rugby football]] and [[cricket]] very well. By his final year in England, he was captain of the Rugby XI and he was listed in [[Bell's Life in London|Bells Sporting Life]] as being one of the most promising young cricketers in England.

In 1859, Wills was involved with others in creating a set of football rules that were like a cross between [[Rugby football|rugby]], [[Football (soccer)|soccer]] and [[Gaelic football]]. He made up the game for [[cricket]]ers to keep in shape during the off-season (winter). Wills had help from people who included his cousin Henry Colden Harrison, and W.J. Hammersly and J.B. Thompson. This game is now [[Australian Rules Football]].<ref name = WillsADB>{{cite web | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060443b.htm | title = Wills, Thomas Wentworth Spencer (1835 - 1880) | author = W. F. Mandle | year = 1976 | publisher = Australian National University|work = Australian Dictionary of Biography| accessdate = 2008-11-25}}</ref>
[[Image:Aboriginal cricket team at MCG in 1867.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Tom Wills with the Aboriginal cricket team he captained at the MCG in December 1866]]
Wills grew up with [[Indigenous Australians]]. He spoke the language of the people who lived near him and played with the children. It has been suggested that Australian Rules Football is based in part on ''[[Marn Grook]]'', an [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] game with some similar rules to Australian Rules Football. Because the indigenous people Wills played with as a child would have played ''Marn Grook'', Wills would have been influenced by this game when creating the rules for Australian Rules Football.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/whats_the_score/pdf/afl.pdf|title = Australian rules football: Australian Football League|format = pdf (18 pages|publisher = Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission|work = What’s the score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport|date = 2007|accessdate = 2008-11-25|archive-date = 2008-10-30|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081030091902/http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/whats_the_score/pdf/afl.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref>

Willis was an [[alcoholism|alcoholic]]. He committed [[suicide]] by stabbing himself in the [[heart]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Tom}}
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian cricketers]]
[[Category:Australian rules footballers]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from New South Wales]]
[[Category:Sportspeople who committed suicide]]
[[Category:Suicides by blade weapons]]
[[Category:Suicides in Australia]]