AFL grand final 2024: Looking back on Fitzroy’s one point victory over South Melbourne in the 1899 VFL grand final

Things were different the last time Sydney – then known as South Melbourne took on Brisbane – then Fitzroy for an AFL – then VFL premiership. Glenn McFarlane takes a look back 125 years at the 1899 grand final.

VICTORIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERS FOR 1S99, Fitzroy.

It’s the grand final pairing that has been 125 years in the making, but the AFL will be hoping Saturday’s grand final doesn’t have as many challenges as the last time these two famous clubs met in a premiership decider.

That was way back in 1899 – 15 months before Australia was Federated, less than 20 years after Ned Kelly was hanged, and only three seasons into the newly formed Victorian Football League, which came about when Fitzroy, South Melbourne and six other clubs defected from the Victorian Football Association.

Back then, Fitzroy were the Maroons, before morphing into the Gorillas for a period then the Lions. South Melbourne were known as the Southerners, then the Bloods, and famously as the Swans.

Junction Oval St Kilda grand final crowd 1898 (Weekly Times)

And it is somehow fitting that the Swans – who have been based in Sydney since 1982 – meet one of the oldest clubs – the Lions have been based in Brisbane since a 1996 merger – have reached the grand final in their 150th year of existence.

Just like this year’s premiership playoff, the 1899 grand final was played in neutral territory, which added in part to the controversy leading into the game.

In what was only the second VFL grand final – Fitzroy had won the previous year and there was no grand final in the competition’s first year of 1897 – this 1899 playoff was played at the Junction Oval, the home of St Kilda at the time.

The two clubs refused to settle on a suitable venue, with South Melbourne opposing a proposal to toss for the choice.

In the end, the VFL was forced to call for grounds to offer tenders for the game, which ruled out venues such as the old East Melbourne ground who wanted to share one third of the gate.

In the end, thrift won out.

St Kilda was prepared to accept just 10 per cent of the revenue, but it was not a popular choice with leading football journalist Markwell, from the Australasian, who noted: “It was a Utopian idea to think that Leaguers would put the interest of sport before the paltry pecuniary gains of their respective clubs … They have in this business set an example of greed that will, I have no doubt, be followed by many of their players.”

Then the weather intervened to put the game in doubt on what was the third – but not last – Saturday in September.

For almost 12 hours leading into the game, the heavens opened and brought a deluge onto the Junction Oval, which led to South Melbourne protesting that the game should be put back a week.

A suspicious Fitzroy believed some of the Southerners had been carrying sore bodies and the weather could provide a convenient excuse to give them an extra week.

Under the VFL’s Challenge System at the time, Fitzroy could afford to lose this game and get a second chance the following week. South Melbourne had only one shot at it.

But the League’s ‘wet weather committee’ overruled and ordered the game to proceed.

Incredibly, while this Saturday’s match will push towards 100,000 fans, the 1899 playoff produced the smallest crowd in VFL grand final history – with only 4823 fans braving the elements.

Fitzroy had its own selection drama, too.

Forward Bert Sharpe – who would later play for South Melbourne – was unable to play as his father had died the previous day, with the Maroons wearing black arms on the day.

Then Chris Kiernan failed to turn up on the day and missed out on the chance to play in back to back premierships.

The Maroons were the clear favourites, but South Melbourne more than made its presence felt from the outset after kicking with the wind in the opening term.

Former Australian Test cricket captain Warwick Armstrong was a member of the South Melbourne side in 1899.

Alec Sloan, captain of Fitzroy in 1899

A thickset 20-year-old called Warwick Armstrong was playing his 13th game for South Melbourne at the time. In the years ahead, he would cast off football for his other passion – cricket – and would go on to play 50 Tests for Australia and captain his country in 10 Tests.

This 1899 grand final was a waterlogged grind from start to finish, with Old Boy, from The Argus, writing: “From the first bounce until the last very last tickle of the bell, it was a battle between two earnest, strong teams and the crowd entered into the excitement, and what it lacked in numbers, it made up for in enthusiasm.”

South Melbourne kicked the first two goals of the game in the opening term before Fitzroy hit back with two in the second, with the Maroons taking a halftime lead of only one point.

Then the Southerners got out to a seven-point lead in the third quarter before Fitzroy made a sustained run in the final term, courtesy of their centre half-back Pat Hickey.

As one reporter suggested of Hickey, “I have never seen a man do more for his side … nominally, he was halfback; as a matter of fact he was everywhere.”

Hickey managed to get the ball into rover Billy McSperrin in attack during the last quarter, with McSperrin running around and putting the Maroons in front.

A trickle of behinds followed, and the final bell rang as the Southerners were in attack, leaving Fitzroy as the victors by a solitary point.

Let’s hope it is just as close on Saturday without the controversy.