Grand Final History

Episode 12 1908 And Then There Were Ten

The first two expansion clubs, Richmond and University, join the VFL to make a ten team competition. Victoria wins the International Football Jubilee held at the MCG to celebrate the 50th year of the Australian Game. 
During the 1908 season St Kilda was caught up in two separate dramas. Were committee members and players caught up in gambling? Was there a game lost deliberately against a less established team? Could any of the allegations be proven? Then during the finals, were St Kilda players under the influence of alcohol, how much did they drink at half time? 
And who would win the premiership in 1908? Could Carlton make it three in a row or would another club rise to the occasion. 

Episode 11 Answering the Call

The season starts a week earlier and not everyone is happy. St Kilda has their most successful season yet while South Melbourne also make a move up the ladder. The VFL continues to talk up international expansion and also finds a new way to get more people to attend each semi final. Melbourne tries to appoint a coach but the sticky issue of professionalism causes more problems.
And when it gets to the serious end of the season, Carlton's coach puts the call out to two champions to help the club out. This is Grand Final History for 1907.

Episode 10A Supplementary The First 10 Years

A supplementary program that takes a quick look at the first 10 years of the VFL looking at 
The Different Finals Systems used and the Grand Final Venues
The efforts of the VFL to promote the game nationally and internationally
The emerging challenges of player payments and gambling
It is a way of looking at some of the trends of the first decade and see how the VFL developed in its early years. 

Episode 10 1906 Letter to America

The tenth year of the VFL saw the competition healthy and popular. The crowds had returned but there were growing rumblings about clubs breaching the original salary cap. No one was supposed to be paid when the rules said it was an amateur competition. But with big gate takings and the desire to win if you could get the best players. One reporter called it the world's most expensive form of amateurism.
And the league were enthusiastic about the potential for international expansion. They even sent a letter to the President of the United States and dared to hope about international games against America.  

Episode 9 1905 The Year of Miracles

The VFL was sending money to Queensland to help support the Australian game in Brisbane and beyond. (Perhaps this investment paid off in 2020 when many clubs were able to relocate to Queensland during the Corona Virus affected season?)
Some clubs in 1905 were not happy about the Grand Final being played at the MCG every year, disadvantaging the teams that had succeeded during the year and costing their supporters large sums (in aggregate) in travel costs. And some players even had to return from their sheep shearing duties to run out onto the ground on Grand Final day. 
 

Episode 8 1904 Know your Boundaries

The game is getting too fast for one umpire, it is time to bring in boundary umpires, who will signal out of bounds by waving white handkerchiefs. 
Carlton had some challenges when the committee tried to sack the coach but the players backed their man and it was the committee members who were pushed out. Many more committee room coups to come.
The VFL learns that it can increase the price of finals tickets and the crowds continue to come to the games. The money was to promote the game in Sydney, although not everyone agreed. 

Episode 7 1904 Sydney Here We Come

The first push to promote the game in Sydney. A game for premiership points payed in the harbour town, with no radio or TV to follow the game, some supporters were not too happy about losing a chance to watch their team play. And in an preview of 2020 one club has to cancel games and change their travel schedule because of a deadly contagious virus. 

Episode 6 1902 The Home of Football

The Grand Final is played at the MCG, the Home of Football for the first time. And see which club employed the first coach. The Argus Finals system was updated and the specter of gambling and its influence over the game was raised again, possibly leading to the end of a champions career. 

Episode 5 1901 Federation

Australia became a united country. So we would have interstate games instead of inter colonial games. 
The final system updated again and the first use of the term Grand Final as the first version of the "Argus System" made its debut. And see why Geelong were unhappy about the lack of a challenge option for the team finishing on top of the ladder, the only time this happened in normal finals until the system was revised in the 1930's

Episode 4 1900 The end of the Century

The process for deciding the premiership continued to be criticized, St Kilda would win a game with the decision being made at league headquarters in the week after the game, just like 2008 Sirengate affair in York Park Tasmania and one team makes a late run for the premiership which results in more changes to the finals in years to come.