Rare footage shows Aussie rules the way it was
BEFORE TV, salary caps, flooding and AFLX, Aussie rules was asimple, beautiful game. These precious films show footy in the days when legends were made.
Melbourne
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THESE are the days on which the modern AFL was built.
Today’s footy heroes owe their existence to the men in long shorts and lace-up guernseys, captured in these grainy clips preserved by the National Film and Sound Archive.
These are the players who helped turn a suburban competition into a tribal Melbourne obsession that spread through the southern states and now stands as by far the most popular football code in Australia.
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This clip was produced by the National Film Board to demonstrate the various football codes that were popular in Australia.
Oddly, even an exhibition gridiron match played by visiting American servicemen is represented.
But the main focus is the VFL grand final between Carlton and Essendon, which was played on Saturday, September 27.
It ended in a thrilling one-point win to the Blues, 13.8.86 to 11.19.85. It was the narrowest grand final win since Fitzroy defeated South Melbourne by the same margin in 1899.
Carlton forward Fred Davies and Essendon spearhead Bill Hutchinson kicked four goals each, with Bombers captain coach Dick Reynolds chipping in with two goals.
But the hero of the day was Carlton’s Fred Stafford, who took the ball after a throw-in snapped a goal 40 seconds before the final siren to get the Blues in front.
This film shows the MCG was it was before reconstruction ahead of the 1956 Olympics and gives glimpses of a crowd of almost 86,000 people enthralled I the contest, the narrowest grand final win since Fitzroy’s one-point victory over South Melbourne in 1899.
It was heartbreaking for Bombers fans. Essendon was going for back-to- back premierships but weren’t good enough to beat the Blues in ’47.
Some of the great VFL players of the 1920s were featured in this VFL film, which includes close-ups of the players, some drills and glimpses of the MCG and a Western Oval grandstand under construction.
Those featured in the film were:
ST KILDA’S Barney Carr, Bill Cubbins, Stan Hepburn, Horrie Mason and William Roberts;
SOUTH Melbourne’s Jack Petchell (captain) and Ted Johnson — Petchell was dropped after the 1929 season and resurfaced at Preston in 1930;
FOOTSCRAY’S Arthur Stevens, Alby Outen Sr, Allan Hopkins (one of two 1930 Brownlow medallists), Vic Samson (club secretary) and Alec Eason (coach);
MELBOURNE’S Ivor Warne-Smith (Brownlow medallist in 1926 and 1928), Herbie White, Bob Johnson Sr, Bill Tymms, Dick Taylor and Bob Corbett;
Curiously, some of the titles in the VFL film misspelled the names of some players who appeared in it.
The National Film and Sound Archive preserves the oldest known film clip of Australian rules football — segments of the 1909 VFL grand final between Carlton and South Melbourne at the MCG in 1909.
The film shows sights no longer seen in footy, such as slap passes and placed kicks, with crowds chairing the victors from the ground.
About 37,000 people packed the MCG to see the game on Saturday, October 2, 1909.
Spectators were dressed in their finery — men in suits and bowler hats or straw boaters and women wearing bonnets and elaborate dresses.
Interestingly, the South Melbourne uniforms didn’t match. Some had their red sash from left shoulder to right hip, but for others the sash descended from their right shoulder.
The MCG has been knocked down and rebuilt many times since 1909. Here, the old members’ stand is visible along with trees in Yarra Park.
This match was South Melbourne’s first VFL grand final win. In a rain-soaked match, South beat the Blues 4.14.38 to 4.12.36.
A collection of footy films held by the NFSA is available here.
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