Over the last twenty years, eleven different teams have won the flag, which represents a good distribution of premiership joy among supporters.
Some supporters have been privileged enough to experience several premierships; exceptionally privileged when you consider the plight of the (now quite elderly, or deceased) fans of the Western Bulldogs (née Footscray), who last saw one in 1954.
1954!?
There were BRAND NEW FJ Holdens being driven around in 1954.
It was so long ago, God Save the Queen was the national anthem, and it was the year the Queen visited us for the very first time (God stayed away until the British completed their nuclear tests).
This was a time when, following several of the aforementioned explosions, everyone would sit in front of their radiograms (there were no televisions remember) and listen to Prime Minister Robert Menzies announce: “The public should not attach any importance to Geiger counter readings of radioactivity” without choking on their Bonox or gagging on their liver pills.
Despite recently asserting themselves (and unfortunately losing three successive preliminary finals) poor Foostcray will always be associated with the distant past.
I have a book somewhere titled How To Play Australian Football.
On the cover is a Footscray player from an ancient era caught in a ridiculous pose, executing what I think is a drop kick. His arms are outstretched like aeroplane wings and both his high ankle boots are off the ground.
I can almost smell the mothballs on his thick woollen jumper.
It’s worth noting that in 1961 the contraceptive pill was introduced in Australia. It coincided with Melbourne’s premiership interruptus, when its run of five titles in six years (1955-1960) came to an end.
It popped up again in 1964, but hasn’t reproduced since.
Two years later St Kilda would win their only premiership with an awful kick for a behind. They would attempt to do the same in 2010 against the same opposition but to no avail.
Melbourne is only four premierships off joining the all time leaders Carlton and Essendon and yet it hasn’t claimed one for 48 years.
Of course, there is nothing the Bulldogs wouldn’t have done to be premiers as recently as 1964! These were modern times.
It was the year the Beatles visited the city and the slimline EH Holden was a vast aesthetic improvement on the chubby old FJ (many of which were already lying about as wrecks on empty suburban blocks).
This was the decade of excitement.
There was James Bond on film, JFK clearly getting shot from more than one angle on film, and an Australian Prime Minister who replicated Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice by faking his own death and getting whisked away by a submarine.
It definitely was a great period.
However, there is no getting around the fact that when Melbourne last won a flag, Crackers Keenan was only 13 years old… a long long time ago.
I must say that I’m still astounded by the large number of children running around in Richmond jumpers. Yes, the Tigers won a premiership well after Footscray, Melbourne and St Kilda won their last.
But it was still in 1980 – before people started dressing like Boy George.
Despite being one of the competition’s most consistent under achievers, kids keep flocking to them. I’m not sure if it’s the parents who supported the club in the successful years, or the team song which, on the rare occasion it is played, is the equal of Carlton’s: “We are the navy blues…”.
Or perhaps their popularity with the youngsters is simply the tiger – the most powerful marketing mascot there is.
Richmond have a way to go before they are consigned to the old dusty wardrobe of history where Footscray and Melbourne currently reside.
But the scent of mothballs grows ever stronger.
barneybuck
Guest
The way Footscray FC are traveling ATM it will be 2154 before they win another flag! If they stay rooted at the bottom of the ladder for the next few years and that is a possibility they maybe the next Melbourne club to be merged or relocated or fold if their debts pile up though lack of success.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
At no time was the League broke, several clubs were. Theres a distinct difference. (See the WAFL in 1984). The NFL proposed a national league in 1985, the VFL were not at the point where they were willing to have anything to do with it, they were in the middle of administrative shifts from the VFL board to the VFL Commission, the sale of Sydney to private ownership and negotiating their tv rights. The license fees did NOT save the VFL, the helped contribute to the botom line, but by far the biggest sealer for the VFL was the 30 million tv rights deal in 1987. In 1980 East Perth applied to join the VFL in the first of a series of applications to the league right up until the Suns were formed. With Norwood and Port both also alsking the same question, and a team already i Sydney, it was inevitable that the VFL would go its own way. Oh which incidentally is why the VFL and AFL are one and the same.
Jack
Guest
Still doesn't make it right. Read my post up the page re: WA & SA players as that post also applies here
Jack
Guest
I agree, remember WAFL players like Cable, Moss, Glendenning, Riloli, Krakouer Bros, Ron Alexander, Ken Hunter, Malarkey, Bairstow, Beasley, Peake, Stephen Michael, Fong, Buckenara, Mal Brown, Bunton Snr & Jnr, Mike Fitzpatrick, Hardie, Steve Marsh, Jack Clarke, Winmar, Austin Robertson, Bernie Naylor and many others - WAFL clubs would have won a few flags I am sure but the VFL was the strongest comp followed by SANFL then WAFL but they weren't poles apart. The VFL clubs were paying big dollars to entice WA & SA boys over and the local clubs couldn't match the offers. Peake was flown into Kardinya Park for his 1st training session in a helicopter, thats how crazy the VFL clubs were at the time. The clubs drafting and financial strategy helped send the VFL clubs and the league broke and then the VFL put their hand out and took $8 Million in license fees from WC & the Bears to save its ass. So the VFL clubs poached interstate players and then asked interstate clubs for compensation... Sounds like banks and bailouts. The AFL and anyone else can call it however they please but for mine there should be a demarcation between the VFL & AFL when referring to any form of records eg flags, medals, goals, games etc - that's just my opinion. Any other way just compromises the integrity as its not balanced - and either is the AFL today - makes sense when you know it's origins.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Its certainly not wrong though, and on point its factually correct. The VFL did not, as you wrote in your original post, cease to exist. The AFL remains a rebadged VFL with all the history its entitled to. Foundation clubs still make up half the league - even if they were relocated or merged. You dont throw away a hundred years of history over a name change, anymore than a bride erases the years before she gets married. Its why the AFL celebrates its centenary in 1996, its why the last Grand Final wasnt number 21 but a far greater number. Its why the Brownlow medal is still awarded despite being a VFL award that dates back to the 50s. Like wise the Coleman medal. Other leagues have their own bodies to watch their own history.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Obviously its all guess work, but I suspect that up until roughly 1970 there probably wasn;t much difference between the best SANFL and best VFL sides. Had the respective premiers played each other in serious games, the SANFL sides would probably have been competitive most of the time and won a reasonable share along the way. No doubt the VFL sides would have won most of them, but its quite conceivable that Port Adelaide's flags would have equated to six or seven in the VFL. The gap was far less than many Victorians like to believe. The WAFL was probably a bit behind that, and no Tasmanian side would have got close to the weakest WAFL team - partly because Tasmania was running three top tier leagues TFL/TANFL around Hobart, NTFA around Launceston and NWFU on the north-west coast.
Jack
Guest
that doesn't mean it's right Wookie. The AFL says and does a lot of things that I don't agree with and this is one of them
Strummer Jones
Guest
Agree. It will happen one day when they draw a line in the sand, but unlikely in the foreseeable future. The comp still carries too much "VFL" history which doesn't sit well in a so-called National competition. Having said that, I think some of the efforts made in recent years to recognise it is in fact a game followed passionately in at least 3 others states and not just Victoria, have been commendable but they need to do more.
Strummer Jones
Guest
Maybe. I guess this is also a problem every time a Melb team plays a non-Melb team in the GF at the G. I was surprised to note Phil Carman's comment this year in an interview that he found little difference between the VFL and SANFL when he made the move to Collingwood and thought Norwood was a more professional club!!
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Same league, same competition. With a new name. Even the AFL website says so.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Considering almost all the champions matches were played in Adelaide - including a vic team v vic team, and vic v wa team fnals. Id say they had something of an advantage.
Strummer Jones
Guest
North Adelaide beat Carlton in the Champions of Australia comp in 1972 to decide the best Aussie Rules team in the country. Must count for something? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15lK6HH3A78
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Bayman, I'm glad I wasn't the only one to unwittingly (unWhittenly?) criticise the great man. Despite the strange technique he probably kicked it 60 metres and hit his teammate on the chest. Still haven't found the book.
Bayman
Guest
Andrew, Yes, the original book came out some years before the Jim Main edited version. I have the book, though sadly not the dust jacket, and I well remember thinking that kicking action was one of the worst I had ever seen. It coloured my appreciation of that player for some years. There was no great sense of balance in the photo and absolutely no sense of style - or great talent. And the player was definitely the late, great, Ted "EJ" Whitten.
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Kevin, sometimes it's better not to reach a grand final than to lose one!
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Fair enough Jack
Jack
Guest
It's now called the AFL and the Blues & Bombers have not won the most flags. Its time to draw a line after the VFL ceased to exist and assign it to history as it stood at that time. Cats, WCE & Lions have won the most flags while the Dogs, Dees & Tiges are yet to open their account. That's the way I view it anyway!
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Granted, there were plenty of good ones. There still is. But not disproportionally so, given the equal zeal those states have for the game. I'm opting for the diplomatic line, and saying the AFL is 'The AFL' because of SA & WA, and Tassie, and south western NSW, and tiny bits of QLD, and, oh yeah, Victoria. And the NT too.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
I think you underestimate the number of WA players taken through the 70s and definitely the number of SA players taken during the early to mid 80s.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Not doubting the talent in WA, SA, and even Tasmania over a long period, but to suggest that Port or East Perth could hold their own in the old VFL, is a bit fanciful. I realize it's all hypothetical, and I'm sure they'd do OK against the strugglers of the day, but not much more. As for State Of Origin, weren't nearly all matches played outside Victoria? That was until the early nineties, when it at last returned to the MCG, whereby Victoria taught the visiting SA team a lesson they'd never forget. For the first time ever, Victoria took it seriously, were given a home game, and, hence,the thrashing. State Of Origin never fully recovered from that event. Although, I do recall Dunstall from QLD @ full forward for Vic. I admit, that wasn't right.