From: marino@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.australian
Subject: Short History of AFL/VFL (up to 1939)
Date: 12 Jan 93 11:49:00 +1100
Organization: Computer Centre, Monash University, Australia

   A SHORT HISTORY OF THE AFL
   --------------------------

The game of Aussie Rules was first played in 1858 by two of the private schools
in Melbourne. The original game consisted of 40 players and the field was 1 mile
long. The first to score won the match. Of course this took too long so the game
was quickly refined to something very similar to today's game. In 1859 the first
club game took place between the Geelong and Melbourne football clubs. Then most
clubs were run on a voluntary committee basis, or as a club for people to join
as they please. Now most of the clubs are companies and shares can be purchased
in each team. There is no real private ownership here (it was tried but it
failed as it is not really profitable).

Anyway, after this first games other clubs were formed from various regions
close to Melbourne. Originally these clubs were offshoots from cricket clubs and
the game was used to keep cricketers fit during the winter months. Some of the
teams that were formed in those early days were:
        Carlton (formed 1864)
        Collingwood (1892)
        Essendon (1873)
        Fitzroy (1884)
        Geelong (1859)
        Melbourne (1858)
        South Melbourne (1874) (now the Sydney Swans)
        St. Kilda (1873)

In 1877 most of these teams as well as others from around Melbourne formed an
association called the Victorian Footbal Association (VFA). This association
still exists today but it is of a lower standard than the AFL. By 1896 the
management of the VFA was becoming autocratic and so Collingwood, Essendon,
Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, and South Melbourne met in 1896 and decided to form
a breakaway league called the Victorian Football League (VFL). They also invited
Carlton and St.Kilda (as they were the richest clubs). In 1897 the VFL first
played its games. The first premiership was won by Essendon. St.Kilda finally
won its first game in Round 1, 1900 after 48 consecutive losses (I told you they
were only there because they were rich).

    Premierships (1897-1907):
    ------------------------
    1897 Essendon   (no grand final)
    1898 Fitzroy        (38)  d. Essendon        (23)
    1899 Fitzroy        (27)  d. South Melbourne (26)
    1900 Melbourne      (34)  d. Fitzroy         (30)
    1901 Essendon       (43)  d. Collingwood     (16)
    1902 Collingwood    (60)  d. Essendon        (27)
    1903 Collingwood    (31)  d. Fitzroy         (29)
    1904 Fitzroy        (61)  d. Carlton         (37)
    1905 Fitzroy        (72)  d. Carlton         (45)
    1906 Carlton        (94)  d. Fitzroy         (45)
    1907 Carlton        (50)  d. South Melbourne (45)

The VFL had grown greatly in its first years. From only 3000 people watching
the first finals matches, the crowds had grown to 45000 watching the 1907 grand
final. As such there was pressure for more games to be played. More teams had
to be admitted so the league took applications from clubs. In 1908 University
(formed 1866 from Melboure University) and Richmond (1885) joined. North
Melbourne was told to wait for another place to open (in 17 years time).

    Premierships (1908-1914):
    ------------------------
    1908 Carlton        (35)  d. Essendon        (26)
    1909 South Melbourne(38)  d. Carlton         (36)
    1910 Collingwood    (61)  d. Carlton         (47)
    1911 Essendon       (41)  d. Collingwood     (35)
    1912 Essendon       (47)  d. South Melbourne (33) (rec. attendance 54,463)
    1913 Fitzroy        (56)  d. St.Kilda        (43) (rec. attendance 59,479)
    1914 Carlton        (45)  d. South Melbourne (39)

In 1915 the war came and clubs began disbanding due to the shortage of players.
University disbanded in 1915 and was never to enter league ranks again. In 1916,
Essendon (rejoined 1918), Geelong (1917), Melbourne (1919), South Melbourne
(1917) and St.Kilda (1918) were forced into recess.

In the pre-war years of the VFL the scores were very low. Place-kicks were used
(a la rugby and american football) when shooting for goal and this slowed the
game. After the war, scores increased with the decreased use of the place-kick,
the penalisation of kicking the ball out of bounds and a general greater profic-
iency of the game eventually lead to regular record high scores in the 1930's.

    Premierships (1915-1924):
    ------------------------
    1915 Carlton        (78)  d. Collingwood     (45)
    1916 Fitzroy        (85)  d. Carlton         (56)
    1917 Collingwood    (74)  d. Fitzroy         (39)
    1918 South Melbourne(62)  d. Collingwood     (57)
    1919 Collingwood    (78)  d. Richmond        (53)
    1920 Richmond       (52)  d. Collingwood     (35)
    1921 Richmond       (36)  d. Carlton         (32)
    1922 Fitzroy        (79)  d. Collingwood     (68)
    1923 Essendon       (63)  d. Fitzroy         (46)
    1924 Essendon     (no final played)

In 1925 crowds once again were getting substantially bigger. The league decided
to expand to 12 clubs. They received applications from many clubs in the VFA
but they decided to chose North Melbourne, Hawthorn, and Footscray. The league
stayed with these twelve teams until 1982 when South Melbourne moved to Sydney.

To understand where all these teams come from, here is a map of Melbourne and
the suburbs which the clubs are named after. Geelong is a city about 50 miles
South West of Melbourne.

                                                   1=Melbourne
                                                   2=North Melbourne
                                                   3=Footscray
                           11                      4=Carlton
                                 5 6               5=Fitzroy
                              2  4                 6=Collingwood
                           3   _1   9   10         7=South Melbourne
                              /  \7                8=St.Kilda
                            /      \8              9=Richmond
                          /          \             10=Hawthorn
                                                   11=Essendon
     Scale
              -----
              0   5 km

The teams had a great rivalry between them. The rivalry had two causes: a close
proximity to each other, or close and hard fought games. The oldest rivalry in
the VFL was between Carlton and Collingwood. This was mainly because Carlton
was the more affluent suburb, and Collingwood was the working-class suburb.
Other rivalries have been formed over the years, such as Melbourne and
Collingwood because they played 6 or 7 grand finals between each other in the
1950's. Other rivalries are Collingwood and Richmond, Carlton and Richmond,
Essendon and Carlton. For most Melbournites, the two teams you love to hate are
Carlton and Collingwood. This is also the case because they have won the most
premierships between them.

 Geelong finally won their first flag in 1925 but amazingly they lost their
first game of the year to newcomer North Melbourne. All three new teams in 1925
were in the bottom three with Hawthorn coming last. This was also the case in
1926 and 1927. Hawthorn came last in 1925, 1927, 1928, and 1932. North Melbourne
came last in all the other years until 1935 except for one. It wasn't until
round 2 of the 1938 season that all three teams won a game on the same day!

 Collingwood began their unparalleled record in 1927 of four premierships in a
row. They won the flag in 1928 with an unbeaten regular season and only lost the
second-semi final to Richmond who they beat in the Grand Final. In fact they
defeated Richmond in three of the four premierships. Some of Collingwood's
greatest legends played in this era. Gordon Coventry played over 300 games for
the club, the first player in the VFL to do so. He also has the record aggregate
goals with 1299 for his career. Collingwood was also coached in this period by
the great Jock McHale. McHale was associated with Collingwood from 1903 and
coached the club for 37 years from 1913 to 1949. He took the club to 20 Grand
Finals and won 8 premierships. Other great names in this period were Syd
Coventry, Harry Collier and Albert Collier.

 Some changes occurred in the game around this game. In 1930 a reserve was
introduced. The reserve was known as the 19th man as there are 18 men in a team.
The reserves changed in the same manner as a soccer reserve. In 1931 the finals
system was changed to the 'Final Four' system. This system was retained until
1970 when there was a 'Final Five'. The previous 'Argus' system allowed the team
that finished on top of the ladder to challenge a re-match if they lost the
final! amongst other anomailes.

 The 1930's saw the continuing strength of Richmond, Geelong, Collingwood and
Carlton but the surprise was South Melbourne. South won the first 10 games of
the 1932 season but then their luck ran out. They finished with a 13-5 record
that season and lost their finals match, but the next year they won the flag.
In 1934 their star goal kicker Bob Pratt broke the season goal-kicking record
to kick 150 goals in 21 games, a record only equalled by Hawthorn's Peter Hudson
in 1970. Even though South was the first team to score over 2000 points in an
18 game season they still lost the Grand Final. In fact they also lost the next
two.

 Fitzroy and Essendon had an amazing run in the Brownlow Medal during this
period. They won every Brownlow medal between 1931 to 1938, Fitzroy winning 5 of
the 8. The main winners were two great players of the day, Haydn Bunton of
Fitzroy and Dick Reynolds of Essendon. The each won 6 of the 8 Brownlow Medals
in this period. The list of Brownlow medal winners until 1939 are:

                1924    E. 'Craji' Greeves      Geelong
                1925    Colin Watson            St.Kilda
                1926    Ivor Warne Smith        Melbourne
                1927    Syd Coventry            Collingwood
                1928    Ivor Warne Smith        Melbourne
                1929    Albert Collier          Collingwood
                1930    Harry Collier           Collingwood
                        Stan Judkins            Richmond
                        Allan Hopkins           Footscray
                1931    Haydn Bunton            Fitzroy
                1932    Haydn Bunton            Fitzroy
                1933    W. 'Chicken' Smallhorn  Fitzroy
                1934    Dick Reynolds           Essendon
                1935    Haydn Bunton            Fitzroy
                1936    Dinny Ryan              Fitzroy
                1937    Dick Reynolds           Essendon
                1938    Dick Reynolds           Essendon
                1939    Marcus Whelan           Collingwood

 The premierships between 1925 and 1939 went to:

    Premierships (1925-1939):
    -------------------------
    1925 Geelong        (79)  d. Collingwood     (69)
    1926 Melbourne     (119)  d. Collingwood     (62)
    1927 Collingwood    (25)  d. Richmond        (13)
    1928 Collingwood    (96)  d. Richmond        (63)
    1929 Collingwood    (79)  d. Richmond        (50)
    1930 Collingwood   (100)  d. Geelong         (70)
    1931 Geelong        (68)  d. Richmond        (48)
    1932 Richmond       (92)  d. Carlton         (83)
    1933 S. Melbourne   (71)  d. Richmond        (29)
    1934 Richmond      (128)  d. S. Melbourne    (89)
    1935 Collingwood    (78)  d. S. Melbourne    (58)
    1936 Collingwood    (89)  d. S. Melbourne    (78)
    1937 Geelong       (122)  d. Collingwood     (90)
    1938 Carlton       (100)  d. Collingwood     (85)
    1939 Melbourne     (148)  d. Collingwood     (95)

 The Grand Finals were regularly drawing crowds of between 60,000 and 80,000,
but the 1938 Grand Final drew a crowd of 96,834. In 1939, the Grand Final was
down because of war breaking out in Europe on September 1st.

 That is enough for now. I hope you have enjoyed this early history of the VFL.
I have not mentioned some of the other great names like Roy Cazaly of St.Kilda
and South Melbourne, Reg Hickey of Geelong, Jack Titus of Richmond, 'Soapy'
Valence of Carlton, and others but there isn't enough space. If you would like
to read more about the game, the book 'Every Game Ever Played' contains all
the scores from VFL/AFL matches up to the end of the 1992 season. I'll try to
write the post-war part soon.

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-  John Marinopoulos                                                      -
-                                                                         -
-  Department of Mathematics                           Tel:+613 565 5460  -
-  Monash University                                   Fax:+613 565 4403  -
-  Clayton Victoria 3168            E-mail: marino@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au  -
-  Australia                                                              -
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