Grand Final History
52 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 21 hours ago -Welcome to Grand Final History, a Podcast that explores every VFL and AFL premiership since 1897. Each episode takes you through a summary of the season, the changing rules, emerging trends, controversies and highlights. Then into the finals culminating in two teams challenging each other in a Grand Final to become the premiers for the year (Apart from the seasons where a round robin system replaced the Grand Final). From the early years of the VFL when 8 suburban clubs built a competition to a national league playing games in every state and territory across the country.
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Episodes
Episode 40A Supplementary Episode The Fourth Decade of the VFL (1927-1936)
July 14, 2024 02:56 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBWelcome to Grand Final History. In this special supplementary episode, we review the fourth decade of the VFL, from 1927 to 1936. We explore the trends, issues, significant incidents, and quirks over the ten years. New rules, night football, new finals system, new club mascots, goal kicking master classes and the dominant Magpie Machine, the Fourth Decade of the VFL provided a welcome relief for supporters struggling through the Great Depression. This special, supplementary episode provides...
Episode 40 1936 Never on a Sunday
June 28, 2024 07:53 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBAbdications, invasions, Olympics and Grand Finals but some people in 1936 were more worried about all night trams and football being played on a Sunday. It was the VFL’s 40th Season with Richmond’s Punt Rd home ground the centre of an extraordinary dispute that might bankrupt every club and the league. One of the most infamous tribunal hearings will result in a champion missing a Grand Final and decades of fake news. One club takes on a new nickname as part of their rise to success. Another ...
Never on a Sunday
June 28, 2024 07:53 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBAbdications, invasions, Olympics and Grand Finals but some people in 1936 were more worried about all night trams and football being played on a Sunday. It was the VFL’s 40th Season with Richmond’s Punt Rd home ground the centre of an extraordinary dispute that might bankrupt every club and the league. One of the most infamous tribunal hearings will result in a champion missing a Grand Final and decades of fake news. One club takes on a new nickname as part of their rise to success. Another ...
1935: Watch Out For That Truck
June 03, 2024 02:23 - 1 hour - 62.2 MBCollingwood and South Melbourne play each other seven times, but only one can win the 1935 VFL premiership. It was a year that saw the first night game between VFL clubs and beer came in cans for the first time, two pivotal moments in history. Footscray made their bid for worst jumper of all time and the Magpies almost forfeited a game. North Melbourne and Hawthorn struggled while the league promised to help Rugby Union. Meanwhile Richmond was looking for alternatives to Punt Road for a home...
Episode 39 1935 Watch Out For That Truck
June 03, 2024 02:23 - 1 hour - 62.2 MBCollingwood and South Melbourne play each other seven times, but only one can win the 1935 VFL premiership. It was a year that saw the first night game between VFL clubs and beer came in cans for the first time, two pivotal moments in history. Footscray made their bid for worst jumper of all time and the Magpies almost forfeited a game. North Melbourne and Hawthorn struggled while the league promised to help Rugby Union. Meanwhile Richmond was looking for alternatives to Punt Road for a home...
Episode 38 1934 The First Centenary Premiership
April 06, 2024 04:26 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBIn this gripping episode of "Grand Final History", we transport you back in time to relive the highs and lows of the 1934 Victorian Football League (VFL) season. This episode encompasses Melbourne's Centenary year, the effects of economic depression, global political turbulence, and local events as experienced by the average supporter We examine the game-changing evolution of how football was played, from new rules to record breaking performances. This episode captures the essence of the ...
Episode 38: 1934 The First Centenary Premiership
April 06, 2024 04:26 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBIn this gripping episode of "Grand Final History", we transport you back in time to relive the highs and lows of the 1934 Victorian Football League (VFL) season. This episode encompasses Melbourne's Centenary year, the effects of economic depression, global political turbulence, and local events as experienced by the average supporter We examine the game-changing evolution of how football was played, from new rules to record breaking performances. This episode captures the essence of the ...
Episode 37 1933 Every Club Needs a Mascot
February 16, 2024 08:07 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBIt was the year a cartoonist bestowed a mascot onto a VFL club, it was the year Australian Rules and Rugby League tried to invent Universal Football and it was the year St Kilda and North had a game that they both recall very differently. The VFL experimented with a new pricing model for finals, the crowds might have been lower but the league considered it a success. Has the League ever regretted a price rise?
Episode 36A Supplementary: Football Media Pioneers
January 05, 2024 02:32 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MBSo much of football history relies on the pioneering journalists who covered the early years of the VFL. In this episode we take a break from normal programming to look at some of the key reporters in print and the emerging radio media. Find out the names and the stories behind the pseudonyms of those early trail blazers who established media traditions still with us today.
Episode 36 1932 NinthTime is a Charm
December 03, 2023 05:37 - 59 minutes - 71 MBAustralians struggle with the Depression, unemployment and the death of Phar Lap but there is always footy to look forward to. South Melbourne bring in a new jumper, new management and new players but will it be enough? The Tigers have been runners up four times in five years, their coach Checker Hughes has led teams into eight Grand Finals and been runners up eight times, will it change in 1932?
Episode 35 1931 Almost an Exhibition
September 22, 2023 07:47 - 58 minutes - 61.2 MBGames at the Exhibition Oval, next to the Exhibition Buildings? The VFL was negotiating with Cricket Clubs to get a fair share of revenue for football on grounds controlled by Cricket Clubs and released the 1931 fixture with games at the Exhibition Oval and the Motordrome, opposite the MCG. Football clubs were threatened with eviction. It was going to get tense before an agreement was struck. Collingwood were trying for their fifth premiership in a row but lost a champion player who moved to...
Episode 34 1930 Harry Waits 59 Years for Charlie
August 30, 2023 08:26 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBCollingwood are looking for their fourth premiership in a row but with three time premiership captain Syd Coventry appointed Captain Coach of Footscray how will the Magpies cope? Harry Collier finally gets to meet Charlie, it only took 59 years! Geelong supporters wonder if the You Yang mountains are cursed. 1930 was a tough time for many people but footy provided relief for many. And though the rain fell heavily at times some wanted to make Victoria a dry state.
Episode 33A Supplementary: Colden Harrison The Father of Football
June 02, 2023 08:25 - 30 minutes - 34.1 MBThe Rum Rebellion, the tragedy of Australia’s frontier wars and the birth of our own game, all of this will be explored as we look at the Henry Colden Antil Harrison, the Father of Football and the forgetting and remembering of his cousin, Tom Wills. Colden Harrison may not have been at the very birth of the game, unlike cousin and brother in law Tom, but his impact was pivotal in the growth and establishment of the native game. And the establishment would recognise him in his own life, even...
Episode 33 1929 Coventry’s Ton and Goodbye to the Father of Football
May 25, 2023 07:39 - 1 hour - 75.3 MBCoventry kicks a ton, the Father of Football dies and the Victorian team rescue a stowaway and there is talk of the VFL killing the VFA, again! The VFL and the world were changing in 1929, not always for the better but one thing that could be counted on was the Collingwood Machine and their quest for a premiership hat trick. The Saints would make a late run for the finals and the premiership game would have a familiar look to it.
Episode 32A Suplementary 1928 VFL VFA An Olive Branch Extended
April 22, 2023 08:48 - 14 minutes - 10.3 MBAffiliation between the VFA and VFL was a hot topic in 1928. Could these two feuding organisations put their history behind them and cooperate for the good of football in Victoria. Many meetings, detailed proposals and a preview of an arrangement that was implemented many decades later. An episode for those interested in the fractious relationship between the VFL and the VFA
Episode 32 1928 A Lot Depends on You Today
April 20, 2023 07:21 - 53 minutes - 62.7 MBCollingwood players threatening to go on strike over pay cuts, the VFA looking to affiliate with the VFL, a Brownlow winner off to the USA to teach American footballers to kick and meet Hollywood stars and Geelong’s grandstand burns down so the players get new boots. 1928 was a busy season as the economy started to look tougher clubs looked to save money. But how could the Magpies defend their premiership if they went on strike? And how did Fitzroy have three more scoring shots than the Cats...
Episode 31 1927 The Uncertainty Principle
March 02, 2023 05:01 - 56 minutes - 64.6 MBOne champion footballer killed in a car crash and Geelong nearly lose three premiership players in another accident on the Geelong Road. The popularity of cars is increasing and the road toll is growing. 1927 was not short of drama and incident. Collingwood dumped their captain before the season started with never ending rumours of bribery and corruption. At the National Football Championship a tactic used by the VFL causes an immediate rule change for all future championships. Meanwhile vio...
Episose 30A Supplemantary The Third 10 Years 1917--1926
January 14, 2023 04:56 - 36 minutes - 40.5 MBTen years in one episode, the third decade of the VFL. From a time of war and global pandemic a six team competition grows to 12 clubs and the game is faster, with higher scores but not everybody is happy. The first radio broadcasts and growing number of newspapers feed a never ending hunger for news about footy. Gambling and bribery scandals target premiership teams. There is event discussion of privately owned clubs and night football decades before theire time. And will Collingwood be all...
Episode 30 1926 Six Wonderful Minutes
December 22, 2022 05:11 - 51 minutes - 55.9 MBTragedy strikes on and off the field, bushfires burn the state and one VFL player dies due to a tetnus infection after breaking his arm in a game. 1926 had its challenges. There were also highlights, the game was faster, the scores were higher and a Grand Final was won with six wonderful minutes sealing the game. It was also the year where two men coached at one club but played for another in the same season. And, if you think that's odd, wait until you hear about the Geelong business owners...
Episode 29 1925 Now we are 12
November 08, 2022 00:42 - 56 minutes - 71.3 MBThe VFL becomes a 12 team competition, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Footscray leave the VFA. Threats of legal action, suspensions and accusations of dishonourable conduct. But then proposals for two new privately run teams, playing under lights on Saturday and Sunday decades before night football was established. And Grand Final players bashed after training by a gang of supporters from the other club. It was all happening in 1925. New clubs, new rules and host of new coaches across the lea...
Episode 28 1924 No Grand Final but plenty of scandal and the first Brownlow
September 18, 2022 10:38 - 43 minutes - 54.9 MBNo Grand Final but plenty of scandal. Did the premiership team take a dive? Why did Fitzroy select the coach of Melbourne to play in their Semifinal? Is the Brownlow for the Fairest and Best or the Best and Fairest and why are the umpires casting the votes? And the league looks at a new ground as an alternative to the MCG. And will the VFL finally make a decision to admit a 10th team. All this and more in season 1925.
Episode 27 1923 The Blues get the blues
August 11, 2022 02:36 - 47 minutes - 58.7 MB1923 sees the start of radio broadcasting but letting people know who won the Grand Final can also be done by shooting flares from an air-plane over a crowded Caulfield Cup crowd. Every team except Carlton would spend some time in the Four yet it would come down to the last round of the season to lock in the finalists. The Blues were not a happy club and players fighting with committee members after a game at Essendon was not going to help but it did see three players suspended. It would be ...
Episode 26 1922 The Sun Rises Over a New Globe
June 29, 2022 05:24 - 50 minutes - 61.9 MBSignificant changes in 1922 as some of the VFL's biggest names end their careers while two Newspapers debut, providing even more coverage of football for a sports hungry public. The Sun News Pictorial and the Sporting Globe add their voice to the 26th season where Richmond will attempt their third premiership in three years, Essendon move to a new home at Windy Hill and the VFL grapple with new rule proposals. Will throwing the ball become legal?
Episode 25 1921 Up there Cazaly
December 15, 2021 04:55 - 45 minutes - 52.9 MB1921 in the Victorian Football League, it was a year that Essendon’s efforts to find a new home ground saw the temporary demise of North Melbourne and a slow train journey to Perth had the best players from Victoria and South Australia playing kick to kick on the wide open Nullarbor Plain. Roy Cazaly moved to South Melbourne and the cry of “Up there Cazaly” was born. During a vicious hail storm that covered the MCG with ice spectators from the outer invaded the hallowed MCC Members’ Stand, d...
Episode 24 1920 Morning Games
November 11, 2021 06:38 - 48 minutes - 52.7 MBInnovation was the theme in 1920 for the VFL: New jumpers proposed to avoid clashes, new rules to open the game and reduce congestion, proposals for ground rationalisation down to two grounds in Melbourne and scheduling Morning Games in the fixture. It was all happening over 100 years ago. Also, controversy in Grand Final week as one player is barred from playing due to a zoning restriction and another makes his debut, in his one and only VFL game, in the Grand Final.
Episode 23 1919 A Spanish VIsitor
October 03, 2021 04:30 - 32 minutes - 36.9 MBBorders closed between states, travel restricted, buildings closed, masks required when in public but the footy went on. Might seem familiar today but that was life in 1919 as the Spanish Flu arrived in Australia along with thousands of returning service men and women. All nine VFL teams were playing in 1919, but the Flu was taking its toll on players. Roy Cazaly was out for a few weeks and many players struggled to regain form when returning from illness. St Kilda set a couple of interestin...
Episode 22 1918 Goodbye Mr Steward
September 02, 2021 08:27 - 35 minutes - 40.9 MBSouth Melbourne go through the 1918 home and away season with just one loss. The secret to their defeat by St Kilda did not emerge for 50 years, and what a secret it was! But how would the Southerners go in the finals? Five Grand Finals for just one premiership so far in the VFL raised some questions about South Melbourne’s ability to handle the pressure in big games. Essendon and St Kilda returned to the VFL in 1918 allowing an eight team competition and the spectators set records for war t...
Episode 21 1917 A Lucky Horseshoe
August 11, 2021 05:23 - 32 minutes - 37.5 MBDuring a year of turmoil around the world and in Australia football provides a respite from war, tragedy and political division. But there are financial scandals that lead the resignation of the VFL president as clubs use money raised for Patriotic Funds to cover their own expenses. 1917 saw a six team competition and before the Grand Final one former player sent a lucky horseshoe made from a German artillery shell to encourage his team mates. Would it help them get to the “Top of the Tree”?
Episode 20A Supplementary The Second 10 Years
July 18, 2021 08:11 - 28 minutes - 33.2 MBTen years in one episode! The leage expands and contracts, players become professional but gambling and bribery allegations cast a cloud. Collingwood tries doping in a semi final yet lose the game anyway. Violence rears its ugly head involving players, crowds, police and the courts. Coaches are sacked, comittees dumped and players go on strike. The game is captured on film and the first exhibition match is played in London in front of the future King. And the spectre of WWI casts doubt on wh...
ThenThere Was Four
June 26, 2021 06:58 - 30 minutes - 35.7 MBHow do you run a league and a season of football when more than half the clubs refuse to play? 1916 was the year when a majority of VFL clubs said football was a distraction from the war effort and others argued that it provided a welcome relief and entertainment for the working man. And it would be an opportunity to raise money for the Patriotic Funds. It was a season like no other. Four clubs playing each other four times in a shortened season before the finals. Where every team made the F...
Episode 20. Then There Was Four
June 26, 2021 06:58 - 30 minutes - 35.7 MBHow do you run a league and a season of football when more than half the clubs refuse to play? 1916 was the year when a majority of VFL clubs said football was a distraction from the war effort and others argued that it provided a welcome relief and entertainment for the working man. And it would be an opportunity to raise money for the Patriotic Funds. It was a season like no other. Four clubs playing each other four times in a shortened season before the finals. Where every team made the F...
Episode 19 1915 Then there was nine
June 05, 2021 07:15 - 31 minutes - 40.3 MB1915, The season starts the day before the Gallipoli landings, with only nine clubs now that University has departed. But many people are asking why footballers are being paid to play a game while soldiers are needed to defend the empire. There is a vote to shorten the season and a majority of clubs agree. A charity game between VFA premiers North Melbourne and St Kilda is played, the purpose is to raise finds for wounded soldiers. But there is not much charity on the field, and why were No...
Episode 18 1914 The Storm Begins
May 16, 2021 08:44 - 28 minutes - 38.7 MBCarlton undertake one of the most successful rebuilding efforts of any VFL/AFL team, making the Grand Final with 9 first year players. Can they go all the way? And what happens when a player is reported for striking a spectator who punched him first, what ruling will the tribunal bring down? In a season that was marked by the start of the WWI the VFL had one of its most even seasons ever. But it would be the final year for University, competing against professionals was challenging, puttin...
Episode 17 1913 The Calm
April 28, 2021 10:28 - 36 minutes - 44.7 MBMelbourne players threaten to go on strike, a deadly virus causes a club to change travel plans, players form thier first union and St Kilda makes a barnstorming entrance into the finals. With record crowds squeezed into the MCG, can St Kilda pull off one of the biggest upsets yet in the VFL's history. In other matters there is an outbreak of peace and goodwill between the VFL and VFA but it won't last.
Episode 16 1912 Footy Record
April 06, 2021 09:05 - 38 minutes - 39.8 MBIt was the year of the Olympics and the Titanic's maiden voyage. But in Melbourne the focus was on the footy. Players now had numbers on their jumpers and the Footy Record was on sale before the game. Could Essendon go back to back under super coach Jack Worrall? One club would mourn the loss of an iconic leader with a shock death before the season began. Another club would have the honour of being the last team to be beaten by University as the students endured another tough year.
Episode 15 1911The Professionals
March 06, 2021 04:34 - 48 minutes - 73.9 MBThe era of amateurism (or shamateurism) is over, the VFL changes to a professional league but not all clubs agree. And a potential amalgamation is explored with the VFA. Essendon employ the original super coach Jack Worrall to move them to the next level. Meanwhile St Kilda players go on strike and the club uses more than 60 players in a season. A record that will never be broken
Episode 14 1910 Season of Scandal
January 30, 2021 07:18 - 57 minutes - 91 MBA year unlike any other. Committee room coups, on field violence, players arrested and charged in court, umpires assaulted at the tribunal hearings and bribery allegations during the final series. It has to be a bumper episode to fit all this in, so put your headphones on and find out what happened in the most controversial season of all time. And on a positive note, the New York Times publishes an article claiming the Australian game is the best football anywhere on the planet. Wouldn't t...
Episode 13 1909 One Day in October
December 31, 2020 07:22 - 33 minutes - 53.9 MBThe Grand Final is held in October for the first time. This year also saw a visit from a touring American team playing Australian rules, would they help grow the game in the USA? Carlton have to deal with dissent and disunity as they chase their fourth premiership in a row, St Kilda select a suspended player and lose one of their few victories for the year. And with the introduction of Half Day Trading on Saturday in the retail trade, many more people can now attend the games. All that extra...
Episode 12 1908 And Then There Were Ten
December 01, 2020 07:39 - 40 minutes - 65.3 MBThe 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 pla...
Episode 11 Answering the Call
October 17, 2020 06:25 - 35 minutes - 81 MBThe 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 ...
Episode 10A Supplementary The First 10 Years
October 02, 2020 06:08 - 12 minutes - 15.2 MBA 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
September 20, 2020 08:20 - 36 minutes - 16.9 MBThe 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 ev...
Episode 9 1905 The Year of Miracles
September 20, 2020 08:15 - 37 minutes - 17.3 MBThe 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...
Episode 8 1904 Know your Boundaries
September 20, 2020 08:09 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBThe 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 S...
Episode 7 1904 Sydney Here We Come
September 20, 2020 08:04 - 25 minutes - 11.5 MBThe 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
September 20, 2020 08:00 - 22 minutes - 10.2 MBThe 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
September 20, 2020 07:54 - 21 minutes - 9.99 MBAustralia 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
September 20, 2020 07:47 - 28 minutes - 12.9 MBThe 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.
Episode 3 1899 Eighteen is Enough
September 20, 2020 07:42 - 22 minutes - 10.4 MBThe third season of the VFL and the number of players on the ground was reduced from 20 to 18 to reduce congestion and open the game up. There were fears about the influence of gambling and the role of bookmakers and allegations that the VFL was more focused on money than spectators when it came to selecting a ground for the Grand Final
Episode 2 1898 The First Grand Final
September 20, 2020 07:36 - 25 minutes - 11.6 MBThe second year of the VFL saw the first Grand Final. But only after one of the competing teams decided not to follow through with their threat to boycott the match.