Grand Final History
Welcome to Grand Final History, a Podcast that explores every VFL and AFL premiership since 1897. Each episode takes you through a summary of the season, the changing rules, emerging trends, controversies and highlights. Then into the finals culminating in two teams challenging each other in a Grand Final to become the premiers for the year (Apart from the seasons where a round robin system replaced the Grand Final). From the early years of the VFL when 8 suburban clubs built a competition to a national league playing games in every state and territory across the country.
Episodes

Friday Jan 05, 2024
Episode 36A Supplementary: Football Media Pioneers
Friday Jan 05, 2024
Friday Jan 05, 2024
So much of football history relies on the pioneering journalists who covered the early years of the VFL. In this episode we take a break from normal programming to look at some of the key reporters in print and the emerging radio media. Find out the names and the stories behind the pseudonyms of those early trail blazers who established media traditions still with us today.

Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Episode 36 1932 NinthTime is a Charm
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Australians struggle with the Depression, unemployment and the death of Phar Lap but there is always footy to look forward to. South Melbourne bring in a new jumper, new management and new players but will it be enough? The Tigers have been runners up four times in five years, their coach Checker Hughes has led teams into eight Grand Finals and been runners up eight times, will it change in 1932?

Friday Sep 22, 2023
Episode 35 1931 Almost an Exhibition
Friday Sep 22, 2023
Friday Sep 22, 2023
Games at the Exhibition Oval, next to the Exhibition Buildings? The VFL was negotiating with Cricket Clubs to get a fair share of revenue for football on grounds controlled by Cricket Clubs and released the 1931 fixture with games at the Exhibition Oval and the Motordrome, opposite the MCG. Football clubs were threatened with eviction. It was going to get tense before an agreement was struck. Collingwood were trying for their fifth premiership in a row but lost a champion player who moved to Tasmania to coach and get a job rather than be unemployed in Melbourne. A Tiger Immortal made their debut but did not get a touch. And the finals get a shake up with the traditional Right of Challenge dismissed for all time.

Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Episode 34 1930 Harry Waits 59 Years for Charlie
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Collingwood are looking for their fourth premiership in a row but with three time premiership captain Syd Coventry appointed Captain Coach of Footscray how will the Magpies cope? Harry Collier finally gets to meet Charlie, it only took 59 years! Geelong supporters wonder if the You Yang mountains are cursed. 1930 was a tough time for many people but footy provided relief for many. And though the rain fell heavily at times some wanted to make Victoria a dry state.

Friday Jun 02, 2023
Episode 33A Supplementary: Colden Harrison The Father of Football
Friday Jun 02, 2023
Friday Jun 02, 2023
The Rum Rebellion, the tragedy of Australia’s frontier wars and the birth of our own game, all of this will be explored as we look at the Henry Colden Antil Harrison, the Father of Football and the forgetting and remembering of his cousin, Tom Wills. Colden Harrison may not have been at the very birth of the game, unlike cousin and brother in law Tom, but his impact was pivotal in the growth and establishment of the native game. And the establishment would recognise him in his own life, even if, in recent times, we have lost focus on the role he played in the making of our great game, Australian Football.

Thursday May 25, 2023
Episode 33 1929 Coventry’s Ton and Goodbye to the Father of Football
Thursday May 25, 2023
Thursday May 25, 2023
Coventry kicks a ton, the Father of Football dies and the Victorian team rescue a stowaway and there is talk of the VFL killing the VFA, again! The VFL and the world were changing in 1929, not always for the better but one thing that could be counted on was the Collingwood Machine and their quest for a premiership hat trick. The Saints would make a late run for the finals and the premiership game would have a familiar look to it.

Saturday Apr 22, 2023
Episode 32A Suplementary 1928 VFL VFA An Olive Branch Extended
Saturday Apr 22, 2023
Saturday Apr 22, 2023
Affiliation between the VFA and VFL was a hot topic in 1928. Could these two feuding organisations put their history behind them and cooperate for the good of football in Victoria. Many meetings, detailed proposals and a preview of an arrangement that was implemented many decades later.
An episode for those interested in the fractious relationship between the VFL and the VFA

Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Episode 32 1928 A Lot Depends on You Today
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Collingwood players threatening to go on strike over pay cuts, the VFA looking to affiliate with the VFL, a Brownlow winner off to the USA to teach American footballers to kick and meet Hollywood stars and Geelong’s grandstand burns down so the players get new boots. 1928 was a busy season as the economy started to look tougher clubs looked to save money. But how could the Magpies defend their premiership if they went on strike? And how did Fitzroy have three more scoring shots than the Cats but lose by 76 points? The Bulldog makes an appearance at Footscray but not everyone is pleased. The VFL gets its first draw in a finals series then in the Grand Final one player sets a goal kicking record that still stands today.

Thursday Mar 02, 2023
Episode 31 1927 The Uncertainty Principle
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
One champion footballer killed in a car crash and Geelong nearly lose three premiership players in another accident on the Geelong Road. The popularity of cars is increasing and the road toll is growing. 1927 was not short of drama and incident. Collingwood dumped their captain before the season started with never ending rumours of bribery and corruption. At the National Football Championship a tactic used by the VFL causes an immediate rule change for all future championships. Meanwhile violence on the ground and by spectators reaches new heights. The season ends in a Grand Final that sets records that have not been matched since.

Saturday Jan 14, 2023
Episose 30A Supplemantary The Third 10 Years 1917--1926
Saturday Jan 14, 2023
Saturday Jan 14, 2023
Ten years in one episode, the third decade of the VFL. From a time of war and global pandemic a six team competition grows to 12 clubs and the game is faster, with higher scores but not everybody is happy. The first radio broadcasts and growing number of newspapers feed a never ending hunger for news about footy. Gambling and bribery scandals target premiership teams. There is event discussion of privately owned clubs and night football decades before theire time. And will Collingwood be allowed to play their home games at Victorai Park?