There’s always some conjecture concerning the relative quality of the state leagues and players that changed leagues in the 70s and 80s when the VFL/SANFL/WAFL competitions enjoyed something of a monopoly in their respective states.
What I’d like to do in this piece is look at some of the events surrounding the changes which affected state competitions in the 70s.
The 70s are a key period in the development of professional Australian Football in this country. They are the last decade before the VFL sent South Melbourne to Sydney. They were the first decade to truly open the gates to interstate recruitment on a large scale.
As the door opened to the 70s, the VFL constituted twelve clubs, the SANFL had ten clubs, and the WAFL had eight. The VFL opened VFL Park in 1970, the SANFL followed suit with Football Park in 1974.
The Western Australia Government had been developing Subiaco Oval since the early 20th century, but development really took off in 1969. The VFL had an attendance average of just over 21,000, the SANFL and WAFL just over 10,000 each.
It was the era when state league champions would play off for the champion of Australia title. Until the Championship ended in 1976, the 70s saw Victorian sides play every year against either WA and SA sides in the final of the championship.
Oddly enough, most championship finals would be played in Adelaide – including matches between Victorian and Western Australian sides in 1973, and two Victorian sides in 1976.
Despite lacking the home ground advantage, South Australian sides only triumphed once over the Victorians, when North Adelaide defeated Carlton by a point.
After 1973, the matches weren’t even close, with Richmond (1974) and North Melbourne (1975) both triumphing by 13 goals.
A Western Australian team made it to the final once, in 1973 where it lost to Richmond. In 1977, the Championship was supplanted by State of Origin.
It was the era of genuine champions. North Melbourne’s Keith Greig won dual Brownlow Medals in the VFL.
In the SANFL Barrie Robran and Russell Ebert collect two Magarey Medals each (Ebert would pick up a third in 1980, while Robran won his first in 1968).
Phil Kelly would close the decade with dual Sandover Medals in the WAFL.
Malcom Blight was the only man to win the Best and Fairest in two separate leagues winning the Magarey Medal in 1972, and the Brownlow Medal in 1978. He was probably the last to do so before state leagues became arguably national league feeder competitions in the 1980s.
It was the era of great goalkickers. Peter Hudson (Hawthorn), Peter McKenna (Collingwood) and near the end of the era, Kevin Templeton (Footscray) dominated the VFL’s Coleman Medal.
Hudson was the first player in the VFL to kick 100 goals in a season five times. He is still the equal highest goal kicker for any season of the VFL with 150 goals.
In South Australia, the Ken Farmer Medal wasn’t awarded until 1981, but Fred Phillis (Glenelg) was the dominant forward of his era, topping the goal kicking four times from 1970 to 1979, as well as in 1969.
Phillis kicked a then record 137 goals in 1969. He remains the SANFL’s third highest goal kicker of all time.
In Western Australia, the Bernie Naylor Medal did not yet exist, but the WAFL was dominated by the likes of Austin Robinson (Subiaco), and Ray Bauskis (East Fremantle). In 1968, Robinson kicked 162 goals for the season.
It was the era of players beginning to realise their worth. This started with two Collingwood players (Len Thompson and Des Tuddenham), and several Essendon players walking out over pay conditions in the 1970 preseason.
It then fully awakened when World Series Cricket came onto the scene.
The going rate for a VFL player at the time was about $600 per annum. Thompson and Tuddenham wanted between $6,000 and $8,000 per annum – quite a leap.
By the end of the 70s, VFL player wages had move from 15% of the average adult wage, to 75 percent.
By 1983, it would be 113 percent.
It was an era where several big name SANFL and WAFL players were unable to resist the riches on offer in Victoria.
In Western Australia, it was almost an epidemic with almost every Sandover Medallist heading East.
Ian Miller (Perth) won the Sandover Medal in 1972 and then debuted for Fitzroy in 1974. Barry Cable (Perth) won three Sandover Medals, the last in 1973, before heading over to North Melbourne for 115 games before returning to East Perth in 1978.
Graham Melrose (East Fremantle) won the Sandover Medal in 1974, and was off to play 111 games for North Melbourne. Peter Spencer (East Perth) won in 1975, but didn’t leave for North Melbourne until 1982.
Brian Peake took a similar approach, winning the Sandover in 1976, transferring to Geelong in 1981. Phil Kelly won it back to back in 1978 and 1979, and ended up at North Melbourne in 1981.
The SANFL had better luck with its champions. Barry Robran (North Adelaide), won the Magarey Medal three times, but never made the move.
Russell Ebert (Port Adelaide) who won it four times – the only player to do so – went to North Melbourne for the 1979 season and returned to South Australia at the end of it.
It wasn’t all one way traffic. Several Victorians evidently came back across, including All Australian Gary Hardeman (Melbourne), who spent two years at Sturt.
It wasnt until the 1980s that the SANFL would feel the heat.
Which league was better though?
The 1977 season is instructive for two incidents. In June, the WAFL played a VFL side which contained several players of Western Australian origins.
The VFL were triumphant in that match defeating the WAFL by 63 points. In October the same year, Victoria played Western Australia under the original State of Origin rules, Western Australia flogged the hapless Victorians by 94 points.
It can be argued from this, that at the very least in 1977, while the WAFL was as good if not better as a state team, the state league suffered from all the departures.
In 1979, Victoria defeated South Australia under Origin rules by 52 points at Football Park. At the first Origin Carnival, Western Australia defeated Victoria in the final, while South Australia played off for third place.
Greenpool
Guest
Old article but wanted to comment anyway ! WA footy was consistently plundered by the VFL from the late 1960s . WA clubs happily took the money however it was to their own long term detriment . WA footy grounds where ( and still are ) very primitive . Grass hill outer , an ablution block ( horrible , cold and wet) maybe a food caravan and one decent members stand on the western wing ( no afternoon sun in your eyes) . Subiaco got the three tier stand ( a concrete wasteland but at least it was seated ) in 1968 and the Two Tiered stand ( slightly better ) in 1981. All the clubs had decent social rooms. The South Ozzie’s where much better with facilities and player retention . Football Park and the Player Retention Scheme are testament to the SA having better administrators. The all time H and A crowd was Perth Oval 1969 at 26760 . The top three clubs in WA where as good as the top 3 clubs in SA and they where both as good as the top 3 VFL clubs. No one really took inter league games seriously . Being SANFL premier was more important they say beating Richmond post season . The middle rung IMO was where the differences lay . 4 - 6 in WA would get easily beaten by a mid rung VFL team . The bottom VFL teams where woeful . South Melbourne and St Kilda in the late 70s where terrible.
Peter Warrington
Guest
I was there that day in 74. expat Tasmanian. cheering on the VIcs as half were TIgers, or so it seemed.
ashley
Guest
You left out the fact that 1979 SA df WA at Subiaco Oval destroying your argument about SA being the third state.
Phil
Guest
Just to pick you up on a few things. The Championship of Australia (end-of-season comp amongst premiers of VFL, SANFL, WAFL, and Tasmania) was reintroduced in 1968 (although it involved just the SANFL and VFL premiers from 1968-1970). In 1966, Sturt ('66 SANFL premiers) defeated Collingwood in an end-of-season game by 7 goals; in 1967, Sturt ('67 SANFL premiers) defeated Carlton by 8 goals. In the 1976 NFL night competition (won by Hawthorn), Port Adelaide beat Footscray by 34 points; Glenelg beat Richmond by 14 points; and Norwood beat Carlton by a whopping 106 points (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_NFL_Championship_Series_(Australia). VFL sides did not always have things their own way. The 52 point win by the VFL over SA in 1979 was not played under Origin rules - the captain for the Vics that day was none other than Malcolm Blight! That was effectively the last SANFL v VFL game played (ignoring the recent change of the VFA to the VFL). Because Blight was the SA captain at the first state-of-origin carnival in 1979 (played in Perth), he had the distinction of captaining two different states in the same year. I can't speak for Barrie Robran, but had he not had his knee destroyed in 1974 (ironically in an SA v Vic state game at SCG), he may well have gone to the VFL. He would have been successful had he gone. Rick Davies remained at Sturt - until lured by Hawthorn in 1981, but went too late - because Sturt payed him a fortune for a couple of years (1979 and 1980). I've been told from a fairly reliable source that, to pay for Davies in 1979 and 1980, other Sturt players had to accept pay cuts or no pay increase which led to a few Sturt players leaving the club. First real sign of administrative fragility at the club for many years, which, when combined with the one-point loss in the 1978 GF, had a profound impact on the club (in my opinion - in fact, the loss still haunts the club).
Phil
Guest
Biggest crowd for H&A SANFL game is 37,292 on Anzac Day at Adelaide Oval in 1958 (Port v Norwood). Biggest crowd for H&A fixture is 38,213 for a Sturt v Port and North v Central double-header at Football Park in 1988. Anzac Day matches regularly attracted more than 30,000 people - the Sturt v Port (1966-1969) Anzac Day matches all drew over 30,000 spectators, including 36,492 in 1968. A Sturt v Glenelg Anzac Day match in 1975 at Football Park drew a crowd of 36,053 people. In 1981, a Port v Norwood game at Football Park (full round of matches on the same day - i.e., no split round) attracted a crowd of just over 35,000. Easter Monday (April), Adelaide Cup Day (May), and Queen's Birthday matches (June) also regularly attracted crowds in excess of 20,000 and sometimes in excess of 30,000. The 1959 Queen's Birthday match between Port and West at Adelaide Oval drew a crowd of 33,028. To my knowledge, the largest crowd for a H&A WAFL match is just over 26,000. At least a dozen SANFL Grand Finals drew larger crowds than the 52,718 mentioned, the biggest being 66,897 at Football Park in 1976 (Sturt v Port). It has been conservatively estimated that 10,000-15,000 people were turned away from FP that day, meaning that a crowd of around 80,000 may well have atended if FP had sufficient capacity. Most of FP was standing room only in 1976. If my memory serves me right, SANFL Grand Finals with crowds larger than 52,718 include the 1946, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1964-1969, 1972-1977, and 1980 Grand Finals - that's 17 Grand Finals. I'm not trying push an SANFL barrow, but just setting the recod straight. I have a great admiration for the WAFL, its history, and its past great players. I'm not an old man (49 years of age), and I can't speak for West Aussies, but I'm convince that, from an Aussie Rules point of view, the city of Adelaide is much the poorer for having 2 teams in the AFL (an extended VFL competition still) than it was when it had a strong, vibrant, 10-team SANFL competition. I'm sure there are West Aussies who feel the same way about the WAFL and football in the city of Perth. By the way, the initention was to eventually extend the original grandstand at Football Park (FP) to surround the entire oval so as to increase its capacity to 80,000. I have an old SANFL Football Budget (equivalent to VFL/AFL Record) with a sketch of what FP was supposed to eventually look like. What a shame the full stand was never built. I have no doubt that crowds of around 80,000 would have regularly attended SANFL Grand Finals. To avoid the calamity of 1976, tickets were pre-sold for the first time for the 1978 Grand Final. Ticket sales were limited to just over 50,000, which is where some fool got the idea that 50,000 was an appropriate capacity for FP, thus resulting in the shelving of plans to expand capacity. Many thousands of fans missed out and had to be content with a direct telecast (first ever in 1978). No-one likes to be in attendance when your team loses a GF, but there's nothing better than being there if they win. I;ve been to the MCG with 90,000 people in attandance, but I regard the opening minutes of the 1976 SANFL GF as the most electrifying atmosphere I've ever experienced. Perhaps it was because I was only 12 years of age at the time - plus my team went on to win. I miss those days when footballers were blokes who got by on whatever talent they had (with a bit of honing of their skills) and not the well-drilled, robotic athletes of today. I'd love to see a player hestitate as he takes his kick because he's undecided whether to execute a drop-punt, a torpedo punt ('screwies' in SA), or a drop-kick. As for kicking for goal, wouldn't it be great to see someone line up to use the flat-punt aka Hudson (Hawthorn) and Whelan (Sturt) in the 1970s. Where's the variety and grace in footy? It was a graceful game, as many sports were at one point in time. Some players would skip backwards to take their kick after taking a mark. Others would take big windups as they came into kick, and drop kicks were low and raking - just perfect for high marks. Plus a handball involved punching the ball from the palm of the opposite hand, not a near-throw involving the ball being collectively projected from the palm of one hand and a near-fist with the other.
Steve M
Guest
Slight correction, you wrote 'In the SANFL Barrie Robran and Russell Ebert collect two Magarey Medals each (Ebert would pick up a third in 1980, while Robran won his first in 1968).' Russell Ebert collected three Magarey medals in the 70s and his fourth in 1980.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Pope corrected me on the Bauskis thing :P
Brewski
Guest
TBH i did not know i was correcting you, cheers :)
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
so he did. cheers for the correction. And keith greig was an out and out champion. http://australianfootball.com/players/player/Keith%2BGreig/10465
Brewski
Guest
Have to argue the point on Keith Greig, absolute champion IMO, forget the 2 Brownlows !!, the guy absolutely used to glide across the ground, and his skills and evasion were first class.
The Pope
Guest
Ray Bauskis played for South, not East Fremantle. I don't think many people would consider Keith Greig or Phil Kelly to be "genuine champions", just very good players.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
If it gives you any indication, in 1989, the VFL was earning 30 million a year. The SANFL and WAFL combined made less than $12 million. Its a common msiconception, but the VFL itself was not bankrupt. There were half a dozen clubs that were technically insolvent, which lead to the formation of the VFL Commission to save th game in victoria from itself. The WAFL on the other hand DID go broke and needed bailing out. Right before the Crows joined, 9 SANFL clubs were regularly reporting losses as well. The clubs were helped along by the fees not just from West Coast but from Brisbane who both paid up front, by the time the Crows joined the situation had been alleviated greatly by the $30 million tv rights deal signed in 1987. It will all be covered in the look at the 80s. (i decided to do the 60s first lol.)
Brewski
Guest
Phil Carman's suspension cost Collingwood a premiership in 1977 .....no doubt about that. Enormous talent, but got white line fever ....Bad :).
Brewski
Guest
Wookie, i don't think the West will see another team, the WAFC are probably happy enough ripping WA footy fans off, ....... we have the highest membership prices in the nation for our AFL clubs we have waiting lists a mile long to get a seat we have the lowest ratio of seats available in the nation to see a game of football, comparative to pop. ( foootball states) we have a rapidly increasing population and a fast growing economy we have a very strong local football scene Even with a new 60/70 K stadium, we will still have the lowest ratio of seats available etc etc etc A new team here would soak up exisiting demand.
Brewski
Guest
East Freo have always had very strong junior leagues in the city, but they also have a strong country zone which includes Geraldton, but they don't just appear, you have to work them, full credit to East Freo.
Jack
Guest
I'm not convinced that the VFL having 'more money' is 100% accurate or a good thing - any fool can borrow money like the VFL did but not everyone can repay it. The VFL was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 80's (just a decade after the content of this post) and it was ultimately saved by the WAFL and to a lesser extent by the SANFL. VFL was definitely the strongest comp and more commercially minded so dont take this as an anti-VFL post because it isn't. It's meant to be balanced and share perspective. You are correct in saying that a lot of great WAFL & SANFL players went to the VFL for the money (borrowed), and yes also for the prestige but that same prestige was enhanced with 'borrowed money that couldn't be re-paid' - that's balance and perspective. It's all worked out in the end but I hope they reset all AFL records to begin when the AFL began and put the VFL records where they belong, in VFL history! Can't see another Perth team in the next 20-30 years unless the AFL throws common sense out the window
Jack
Guest
East Freo vs South Freo ie Fremantle Derby - Round 10, 1979 - 23,109 attendees - 52,718 at the Derby GF that same year, standing room only and packed to the rafters. What a game, Peake, Michael, Rioli et al and East Freo won. Not sure if that's the biggest H&A WAFL crowd in history but that beats the SANFL H&A record you speak of Anthony (if your numbers are correct of course - I wouldn't know). Irrespective, what an exciting era it was, all leagues were strong, loved and well attended. East Freo would have won their fair share of flags if we were a national comp 100 years earlier. 21 flags by 1957 but only 8 more since then and 29 times runners-up, that's 58 GF's. Flags: (29 total) 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1937, 1943,[2] 1945, 1946,[3] 1957, 1965, 1974, 1979, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1998 Runners-up: (29 total) 1899, 1901, 1905, 1907 1912, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1934, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1944, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2012 Notice the huge drop off for East Freo from 1965 onward. To this day EF retain, support and develop a very rich and very deep recruiting zone that continues to serve all leagues - but they have been raided by the VFL/AFL for the past 40-50 years so their stocks and success depleted. Port fans will reply soon and rightly so.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
I cant see a third perth team in the near future. The AFL is yet to resolve license issues over there, and when they do its going to cost a lot of money. This will prevent any new team being established since the AFL wont allow any new WAFL controlled entity and privatisation is almost certainly not likely to come about in our lifetime.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
I wanted to include the TAFL in this article, and they did have some success at origin level, as well as some very good players. That is likely to be a separate article in itself. At the moment, as I do in most offseasons lately, Im just trying to educate myself and others on what is perhaps the "lost lore" of Australian footy.
Strummer Jones
Guest
I think Wookiee's point is that money wasnt the issue pre-1980s, population size meant Melbourne teams could pick from a bigger crop, and subsequently they always were the better/slightly better comp up to the 1980s. As you state, the depth was much greater. Big call on another Perth team. Can't see it happening in my life time unless Gina can share the love which sees the population in Perth go up another 25% !!