Universal football was a proposed hybrid sport

Hybrid sports

A hybrid sport is one which combines two or more sports in order to create a new sport, or to allow meaningful competition between players of those sports....

 of Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 and rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

, trialled at the Sydney Showground

Sydney Showground (Moore Park)

The former Sydney Showground at Moore Park was the site of the Sydney Royal Easter Show in New South Wales, Australia from 1882 until 1997, when the Show was moved to the new Sydney Showground at Homebush Bay, which was built for the Sydney 2000 Olympics...

 in 1933. The game has not been played since that time.

Following negotiations between the New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

 and Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 a report, including a proposed set of rules, was prepared by the secretary of the NSWRL, Harold R. Miller. A trial game was held in secret, but the plans were never instituted.

The game was designed to be played by teams of 14 on oval

Oval

An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...

 fields. The off-side rules of rugby league applied within 35 metres of the rugby league-style "H"-shaped goalposts. Hand passes could only be made backwards, though knocking-on and regathering were permitted. Players could be tackled anywhere between the knee and the shoulders. The Australian rules style of mark

Mark (Australian football)

A mark is a skill in Australian rules football where a player cleanly catches a kicked ball that has travelled more than 15 metres without anyone else touching it or the ball hitting the ground....

 was kept. Tries

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

were worth two points and conversions kicked over the crossbar were worth one point.