The origins of Australian rules football date back to the late 1850s in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria. There is documentary evidence of "foot-ball" being played in Australia as early as the 1820s. These games were poorly documented but appear to have been informal, one-off affairs. In 1858, cricketers, sports' enthusiasts and school students began to regularly play variants of English public school football in the parklands of Melbourne. The following year, four members of the newly formed Melbourne Football Club codified the laws from which Australian rules football evolved.