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1897 The Great Betrayal |
"The Victorian Football Association rightly claims to be the parent body of Australian football".
"The League was formed in what we older Association delegates always remembered bitterly as the "Great Betrayal"."Today I have no bitterness unless it be at the unfortunate lack of co-operation between the League and the Association. Sadly, the old feud continues at a time when, jointly, they could build up football in Victoria, and also give invaluable assistance in developing the game throughout Australia"."This is how the breach began"."In the year 1890, when I made my debut as a delegate of the Victorian Football Association, our headquarters were at Young & Jackson's Hotel."At that time, Mr. T. S. Marshall was secretary, and, I think, Mr. Alex McCracken was president. We were a very happy family an all worked for the love of the game until one evening in the year 1896, when, on entering the meeting room, I found that the CarIton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne delegates were absent.""Those present represented Footscray, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond, St. Kilda and Williamstown.""We were consequently at a loss to explain the absence of the others until the well-known football editor of The Argus of that day, the late Mr Donald McDonald, entered the room and said: "Well, boys; have you heard the news? The other fellows are holding a meeting at Buxton's Art Gallery. They are going to break away, and form another body to be called the Victorian Football League.""Next day the news became public. The St. Kilda club, having received an invitation to join the League, accepted their offer, and joined tip within two weeks. Public opinion at the time was that we would have to disband, but our answer was emphatically --- No.""We firmly resolved to light to the last to keep the old V.F.A. flag flying. One result of our actions ably supported by that Prince of Secretaries, the late Tom Evans, was that we included new team"."We gradually strengthened our position, and matters progressed satisfactorily. At this time we annually played interstate matches with South Australian Football Association. Our match was always played on the Richmond Cricket Ground, and attracted many thousands. The League at that time thought this must be ended, so steps were taken, and the Australian Football Council was formed"."Yet another blow was delivered to try to settle us. The Richmond Football Club was taken by the League, thus depriving the Association of it's last central ground."(from The Sporting Globe Football Book, 1948).
Sinn's recollections suggest that there was some surprise at the breakaway move, but in reality, it was a badly-kept secret with the leading daily newspaper, The Argus predicting the move some weeks beforehand :
"… many of the clubs simply struggle on from year to year with little strength in the present and less hope for the future, and the idea is to drop those teams and continue the competition with six or eight teams, thus giving three or four good games each week."
The Argus, July 27, 1896His claim that "we annually played interstate matches" and as to the Richmond ground being "taken by the League" are both incorrect and misleading.
The V.F.A. had not played an intercolonial since 1894 (and with its somewhat downgraded status, did not play South Australia again until 1905 when it twice lost narrowly, 6.19 to 8.14 in Melbourne and 7.9 to 7.12 in Adelaide). Rather than an intercolonial match, the new League opted to play Ballarat who upset the applecart in a big way, defeating the V.F.L. 13.11 to 8.6 at Fitzroy. Richmond remained a leading V.F.A. club until 1908 and continued to use the ground for home matches.
What is odd is that the article ignores Collingwood when nominating the teams at two meetings which is strange because the club were both 1896 premiers and the newest member of Association, and ultimately became a pivotal factor in the formation of League.
Collingwood had only been in the V.F.A. for five years and favoured retention of the existing competition but with an amalgamation of several clubs (including itself with Richmond).
The V.F.A.'s handling of the 1896 Grand Final left them with the splinter group.
Collingwood and South Melbourne had tied first place both on premiership points, each winning 14 matches, losing three and playing a draw, appropriately enough, against each other. Percentages weren't considered at the time, and if they had been, Collingwood would have been the narrowest winner in football history - both teams had 55 goals kicked against them, but the 'Pies kicked 86 against South's 85.
The unheard-of situation forced the V.F.A. into a play-off. The two teams demanded that the game should be played on the Saturday immediately following the end of their season but the V.F.A. insisted that a number of matches which could not affect the deadlock still had to be played, claiming all senior umpires had been appointed and no-one suitable was available for such an important match.
With public interest at an unprecedented level, Collingwood warned the V.F.A. that if the demand was not met, it would join the breakaway group, but despite the logical argument of the two contending clubs, four meaningless Association matches went ahead, none of them involving either of the grand final combatants, and Collingwood, despite their protests, played an "arranged" match against Eaglehawk at Victoria Park, winning 6.7 to the Bendigo club's 2.6.
The rebel clubs ultimately met on the eve of the first ever "grand final" (played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground and won by Collingwood by a goal after scores were level with five minutes to play).
Carlton were part of the breakaway meeting, but they, like St. Kilda were not initially included in the new League. Despite being one of the leading teams for much of the 1870s, their performances had been poor for many years, but the club had plans to develop a new playing centre in Princes Park, and the location, again like St. Kilda's home at the Junction Oval proved irresistible to the new League and both clubs switched allegiances a few weeks after the original six clubs (Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne) constituted the new group.
Despite being just a moderately successful junior club, Brunswick were invited into the V.F.A. to make up a complement of six clubs (along with Footscray, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond and Williamstown). West Melbourne and a re-formed Prahran joined in 1899, and with the Essendon League team having played at East Melbourne and with little contact with the local area, an Essendon Town team (later Essendon Association) was included in 1900.
Many historians credit the new V.F.L. with introducing major rule changes still in place today, including the awarding of six points for a goal and one for a behind, the introduction of a 10 yard minimum for a mark to be awarded, and a reduction in the number of the players for 20 to 18.
Of these, only the former was in fact an initiative of the League, the idea being officially proposed by the Collingwood delegate early in 1897 after several unofficial proposals over many years.
The other rules originated from a V.F.A. sub-committee (Messrs Fitzpatrick, Wilson and the leading umpire J. J. Trait and overseen by the Association secretary, T. S. Marshall). The committee made its suggestions midway through 1896 and the first two changes were already accepted as coming into force in the following year, although another recommendation of a crossbar 10 feet above the ground over which the ball had to be kicked for a goal was dismissed as impractical, although it does suggest that some of the potential rule-makers still pined for a connection to the Rugby rules of England.
The Association committee's recommendation for the elimination of the recording of behinds was based on the assumption that they had no practical impact on the result of the game in reducing the number of draws, but initially even the new League's radical idea of including behinds as well as awarding six points for a goal had surprisingly little immediate impact.
The Association also adopted the new rules and started their fixture a week before the League, but it wasn't until the fourth round of matches of V.F.A. matches before the new scoring system saw a change in match results compared to 1896.
In a split round on May 22 and 24, the results of two games differed from what would have been seen under the old rules - but even under the "six points for a goal" system brought in to reduce the number of draws, two teams managed a draw!
On Saturday, Richmond picked up a bonus two points against Williamstown, kicking 7.10 to 8.4, and on the Monday holiday two days later, North Melbourne became the first "come from behind" winner, kicking 5.13 to Port Melbourne's 6.6.
Three full League rounds (of four games each) came and went before the first match of the new competition was decided under the new system on May 29, the Collingwood delegate perhaps regretting his move when South downed the 'Pies 5.11 to 5.3, a match that would have been regarded as a draw twelve months earlier.