Australia's Game: A Football Timeline

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Photo excerpt of the 1902 Grand Final from the Argus

1902: New era, old rivals

The 1901-1902 off season presented the VAFL with only small changes to the club presentation, such as jumper design, however, one major event was going to change the sport forever. On January 17th, South Melbourne, a club that was once a top tier team, had dropped to sub par levels due to their loss of many good players after they joined the VFL, and to counter this they hired the first professional coach in Australian football history, ex-Fitzroy player Jack Worral. Immediately, Worral made a difference in the club, leading training sessions, and recruiting talent, all of which led to the roles that a club coach holds today. His "successful" pre-season encouraged other clubs to hire their own coaches in the future.

The season opened on the now traditional Carlton v Fitzroy match, now being played at the MCG, drawing a crowd of 22,000. Playing is a heavy downpour, with the ground flooding, Fitzroy dominated the reigning premiers, demolishing them by a then record of 88 points. That was turned around the following week however, as South Melbourne beat Fitzroy by 56 points, getting them the top ladder position.

The round 5, last place Williamstown managed to pull of an upset victory against 2nd place Essendon. Williamstown led all day against the player depleted Essendon who lost many of their better players against Footscray in round 3, and at the final bell, Williamstown led 43 to 21. This win however, didn't make a big impact on Williamstown's season, as a week later, St Kilda beat them back into last place to the tune of 54 points.

St Kilda, a team that had relatively little success prior to the 1902 season, ran up the ladder following a 2 point win over Collingwood. Half-way through the 1902 season, after seeing the dramatic fly up of South Melbourne on the ladder, officially hired former Geelong player Charles Brownlow to become coach of the club. This led to 8 stunning wins in a row for the club, including the defeat of 4th place Carlton from 6th spot in round 9. Their stunning rise closed off the top 4 by round 14, and were ready to take on their first finals.

End of Season Ladder:

1.South Melbourne
2.Fitzroy
3.Essendon
4.St Kilda

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5.Footscray
6.Carlton
7.Geelong
8.Collingwood
9.Prahan
10.Port Melbourne
11.North Melbourne
12.Williamstown
13.Melboune
14.Richmond


Finals
During the season, the VAFL commissions board decided to included a new law to the finals system, the right to challenge. It aloud the minor premier to challenge the grand final victor to a rematch if the minor premier played in it and lost, or challenge the grand final victor if they had not played in it.

The finals series opened up to a 45 point thrashing by South Melbourne over Fitzroy in damp weather at the MCG. South Melbourne took the lead in the highest scoring quarter up to that point (46 points), and Fitzroy, behind Gerald Brosnan, attempted to claw their way back, but to no fruition. The next match was between Essendon and St Kilda. Played in the afternoon due to Essendon's delay, St Kilda got off to a fast start, kicking 2 goals to 1 behind. Essendon later caught up in the 2nd quarter, taking a 2 point lead into half time. The continued to apply to pressure in the 3rd and 4th quarters, taking a 16 point victory into the next week.

In the semi-final, Fitzroy, with many retiring players had to face up against the relatively new faces of Essendon. Fitzroy's fast start was quickly neutralized by a strong defence. They carried their forward moment into the 3rd and 4th quarters, and the Grand Final was gradually getting away from Fitzroy. Essendon's 24 point victory over Fitzroy led them to face off against their seasonal rivals, South Melbourne.

In the second semi-final or the first Grand Final, a crowd of 37,000 saw Essendon overcome a then highest grand final margin of 27 points, and win in 36 degree weather. The first quater saw South Melbourne go up by 15 points before a 2nd quarter "blow-out" to 27 points. Essendon drew the score back down to 21 points just before half-time. Essendon continued their comeback by performing a Footscray-esque manoeuvre of throwing everything forwards, and applying pressure to the other teams defences. Drawing the score back to a margin of 3. In the final quarter, Essendon, with all the momentum behind them scored 2 goals to none score to win the game by 9 points. However, South Melbourne, as minor premiers challenged Essendon to a rematch the following week.

Grand Final
The 1902 VAFL Grand Final, also known as the 1902 second Grand Final, was played at the MCG in relatively warm weather in front of a crowd of 32,000 spectators. South Melbourne, following their loss the week before, challenged Essendon under the right to challenge law, and before they new it, the game began. Essendon, rather than let South Melbourne get away like they did the week before locked down their defences in the first quarter. This method, although not allowing South Melbourne to score, disallowed them a quick break out of their defence, and in the first quarter, the score was 2 points to 1 in Essendon's favour. The second quarter was far more smooth than the first, with both teams scoring 2 goals in the quarter, however, Essendon remained in front for the half-time break.
Coming back onto field, the two progressed into a more frenzied stage, as none of the teams could get a clear break from the other, until a late quarter surge by Essendon gave them a 9 point lead going into the 4th quarter. Finally, with South Melbourne tired and seemingly defeated, Essendon blew the game open, and 4 goals in the last quarter sealed the game, giving Essendon the premiership by 16 points.

1st Quarter:
Essendon - 0 goals, 2 behinds - 2 points
South Melbourne - 0 goals, 1 behind - 1 point

2nd Quarter:
Essendon - 2 goals, 4 behinds - 16 points
South Melbourne - 2 goals, 2 behinds - 14 points

3rd Quarter:
Essendon - 4 goals, 5 behinds - 29 points
South Melbourne - 3 goals, 2 behinds - 20 points

4th Quarter:
Essendon - 8 goals, 7 behinds - 49 points
South Melbourne - 5 goals, 3 behinds - 33 points

Following the seasons end, Fitzroy decided to modernize their image by converting from their old leather, lace up jumper to a modern woollen jumper. The VAFL also decided to unveil a new design for the VAFL logo, which was used until the VAFL's conversion to a national league, and was eventually picked up by the new Victorian Football League (1922) and used until 2009.

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The new logo for the VAFL
 
*Ok, let's speed this timeline up*

1903-1905: The Changing Face

By the turn of the century, it seemed almost impossible for the game of Australian Rules Football to not reform. Still using a number of tactics found in the earliest games of the sport, many teams, especially those that were often found among the lower rungs of the ladder. Teams like Richmond, Prahan and Williamstown began the conversion to "professionalism", the earliest example of which came in the form of coaches. Hired to specifically train the players to their maximum, one of the first, and perhaps most well known of these coaches were Jack Worrall of the South Melbourne Swans. As the first coach, he left a mark on the game that seems irreversible now; training drills, proper drawn tactics and the managing of new talent. This consolidation of power in the hands of one man caught on with many other clubs, and by the 1903 season, titans would collide.

Whilst coaches brought about change backstage, it was the players true strength and determination that forced true change in football. Fully professional players led to an increase in tension among fans, that in turn led to raised funds, which completed the circle by allowing the clubs to afford better players. However, this new found professionalism didn't help out a number of clubs, as Prahan began to slump over a number of seasons. In 1903, the big players returned, with Jack Worrall's men at South Melbourne fought their way to the top of the ladder for a second consecutive year, and this time blasted away a lowly Carlton side to the tune of 34 points, who in turn took out Footscray a week earlier in the Preliminary. Down the bottom of the ladder, for the first of 4 consecutive wooden spoons was the lowly Prahan, which couldn't stop the onslaught of modernisation.

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South Melbourne taking on Carlton in the 1903 Grand Final

Following the blistering success of Jack Worrall, many new clubs brought into the venture of "coaching", such as the coach of Footscray, the controversial but extremely skilled former Collingwood Captain, Dick Condon. Renowned for his particular style of game play and ball movement, based around fast, short kicks, he boosted the Footscray Bulldogs to new heights, especially in the 1906 and 1907 seasons. Originally a Collingwood player, turned captain in the 1901 season, Condon was incredibly abusive towards not only the opposing team, but also players on his own side, and umpire officials. This led to many outburst during the turn of the century, and after he became captain, he decided to focus his energy into rooting out "failure"; especially among those who got in the way of a victory. However, this abrasive nature didn't turn the skilled player down, as he was often the one kicking the goals. However, midway trough the 1900 season, the umpires put a stop to his constant assault, even more so after his threat to attack a number of opposing players, and even threatening to attack Henry Crapp, perhaps the games most valuable and experienced umpire. At the end of the 1900 season, after Collingwood pulled out of the VFL, he was hit with a lifetime ban, unable to play the game ever again. Today, the "Condon Award" is a derogatory award given to player who has attacked or harassed the most during a single season. However, after the merger between the VFL and the VFA, many of the previous rulings made by umpires and commissioners became obsolete, or became twisted enough to allow players like Condon to return to their game. This allowed Footscray to pick up to lowly Condon in 1904, and despite the initial umpire reaction, he would find himself at the head of one of the league's strongest clubs.

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Side by Side; Dick Condon and Jack Worrall respectively

Coaching as a major part of the game would come to ahead during the 1904 season, for this was the first featuring a number of strong, early club managers. The 1904 Grand Final would be the first in which two coaches faced off against one another; these being the triple Premiership Essendon Coach by the name of George Stuckey, and the aforementioned Jack Worrall. Whilst many considered Essendon, coached by their famous captain, to win, it would come down to skill, rather and prestige, that won the battle. Worrall's men took a beating all day, only to find itself tearing into their weakened opponents by three quarter time, and the Essendon Same-Old's fell apart after the final break, despite it being a almost completely clear day, and the players pushing themselves in the second half. Many were calling fraud, as the Essendon team that left the field at half time wasn't the same as the one that came back on, and a 31 points lead at 2nd quarter time toppled down to a 9 points victory in favour of South Melbourne. A VAFL investigation was set up by the board members, and after a lengthy case that seemed to be going in favour of Essendon, the board found South Melbourne not guilty of game fixing. Essendon players and fans were out for blood, and they were going to get it.

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A newspaper clipping declaring South Melbourne the premiers of the VAFL

It would be a years wait for the enraged Essendon team to hit the field again, and after an impressive run against the now firmly weakened Prahan, Essendon demolished any other team in its way, tearing apart almost all opposition. No team, until Fitzroy exactly 100 years later, could take down the effort made by Essendon in the 1905 season, as they became the first of only 2 teams to complete the perfect season, and brought down the house on many of the teams rivals. The first 100 point victory was recorded in 1905, with Prahan being defeated by the high fliers in the final round of the year, capping off a run of 3 straight wooden spoons, and hasten the downfall of the Prahan club. But until that time, Essendon was busy defeating most teams, especially through the finals, in which they won against a storming Footscray team, which in more recent years took flak for acquiring the services of Dick Condon, but shut out most critics with victories over their many rivals. However, the battle against Essendon was not one that they were destined to win. Two weeks later, Essendon won retribution over those who doubted them during the season and those who had fought against them a year earlier, South Melbourne. Ripping apart the club by a then record 51 points, they made the club a disappointment among their fans, and completed their revenge. This didn't stop South Melbourne though, as over the years, both teams developed a significant hatred for one another, and created a rivalry that lasts to this day. However, that would be only a fragment of what is to come.

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The greatest team of the era, the 1905 Essendon Premiership team
 
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