Broadcasting football, from behind a paywall celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025. As Saturday TV broadcasts have disappeared from ‘Free to Air’ television in 2025, we remember the first broadcasts of VFL football, for those who paid, in 1925.
As the 1925 VFL finals unfolded, early adopters with new wireless sets enjoyed the innovative experience of listening to football games being described on air but, of course, they had to pay their government licence fee. Not quite the same as paying Foxtel or Kayo but, if you didn’t pay, you had the full legal weight of the Commonwealth Government bearing down on you. If you wanted to listen to Geelong, Essendon, Melbourne and Collingwood battle out the finals in 1925, without the threat of fines, you had to pay the 3 shilling annual licence fee1, about $15 in today’s money2.
Nettleberg Furriers of Elizabeth St Melbourne fined £5 and £3 3/ costs for not having a licence for their wireless listening set (Geelong Advertiser 11/4/1925)
Radio Licence Ad from Canberra Times 18-10-1958 (With thanks www.australianotr.com.au/radio-receiver-licences.html)
Radio broadcasting in Australia was an emerging phenomenon during the 1920s. Entrepreneurs invested in the exciting new technology, enthusiastic customers, with the financial means, purchased new wireless sets, and the Australian government implemented new legislation for this unfamiliar terrain. The very first wireless sets sold in 1923 were locked into a subscription service. You had to pay for the wireless receiver and an annual subscription for the station you wanted to receive. Early wireless units were ‘sealed sets’, locked onto the station that listeners had subscribed to, a real paywall.
By 1925, the industry realised this format was not going to work and lobbied the government who introduced a new, two tier system. There would be two types of radio stations, the ‘A’ licence stations, paid for by licence fees, imposed and collected by the Government, and ‘B’ class licence stations to be offered to anyone else who thought they could make a business out of it. The ‘B’ stations would have to generate their own revenue3.
In 1932 the Government nationalised the ‘A’ class stations to create the ABC. 3LO and 3AR, both on air since 1924 in Melbourne, moved under the control of the ABC.
Some business models to generate revenue, by combining the new wireless broadcasting technology and sport, were a little complex. One company planned to sell code books with alternative names for racehorses and football teams while broadcasting results that could only be decoded by paying customers.8 Selling ads on air would prove a more reliable revenue raiser.
The early days of Outside Broadcasts, away from the studio, could also be challenging. In October 1924, 3LO planned to broadcast a dance program from Carlyon’s Ballroom in St Kilda. The eagerly anticipated show was in doubt until 6.00pm when the Postal Department was able to persuade a neighbouring resident to have their phone disconnected for the night. Those wires were used to connect the Dance Hall to the Studio and the show went to air.9 Everyone was learning in real time.
Before the 1925 finals if you wanted to know what was going on at a game in real time, you had to be at the game. There were a few different methods attempted to keep people up to date. At the 1906 Grand final, when Carlton beat Fitzroy, there were brown homing pigeons released after each goal4. It might have been a pigeon fancier who loved their footy or, possibly, the pigeons might have been heading to a pub in Collingwood where ‘Colourful Racing Identity’ John Wren was keeping gamblers at his Tote updated on the game. It was not the only time pigeons were seen flying from the MCG.
In 1920, residents of Richmond who could not get to the MCG for the Grand Final against neighbouring rivals Collingwood could look to the Town Hall tower. As soon as the game was won the news ‘flashed to the suburb” and the municipal flag was sent aloft to proclaim victory, “fluttering defiantly above the Town Hall” according to the Saturday night Herald.
The Herald took things even higher after Essendon’s victory over Fitzroy in the 1923 Grand Final. A red flag was unfurled on the roof of the Herald building, a signal soon picked up by Major Shaw in the Herald Plane. The good Major flew over Caulfield racetrack, filled with spectators enjoying Caulfield Cup day, setting off red flares signifying Essendon’s premiership win. Major Shaw released more red flares above Essendon, Prahran, Brunswick, Kew, Footscray and Newport, thrilling Essendon supporters, dismaying Fitzroy fans and possibly triggering some post-traumatic stress for some WWI veterans.6 Major Shaw was a WWI veteran pilot who, when he wasn’t doing jaunts for the Herald, would fly to work from his private airstrip in Beaumaris to his engineering factory at Fisherman’s Bend, occasionally flying home for lunch.7
The wireless revolution of the mid-1920s meant that the days of pigeons, flags and flares were numbered.
During 1924 and `25 there were sports updates during Saturday afternoons programs. However, on the 19th of September 1925, the First Semi-final between Collingwood and Essendon was broadcast by 3AR with Mr A. N. Bishop becoming the first commentator in league history.
The Herald 18/9/1925, p19
The Semi-final and Preliminary Finals were also broadcast by 3AR with Mr A. N Bishop doing the honours. 3LO also broadcast the Preliminary Final, though it is not listed in the broadcast schedules. The clue is in a Sporting Globe article that describes Geelong supporters, enjoying the story of the game on a ‘wireless loudspeaker’ broadcast through 3LO by Jumbo Sharland, while they watched Geelong train at Corio Oval.12 Jumbo also recalled the Preliminary Final as his first broadcast.13
The Preliminary Final between Collingwood and Melbourne was even picked up in Devonport where it was noted that Ivor Warne-Smith, who had played for nearby Latrobe the previous season, was amongst the best players10. Yet they failed to mention which station they were listening to. An enthusiastic listener from Geelong wrote to the Herald, saying the broadcasts were a pleasure to listen to and came through ‘Clear as a bell.’11
The 1925 Grand Final was broadcast by both 3LO and 3AR. Geelong ruckman Jumbo Sharland was the 3LO commentator. Sharland described broadcasting the 1925 final from the back of the old Grey Smith stand in the Members. “There was no soundproof box, and sound accompaniment was pretty fierce when the excitement rose”.13
Geelong had dominated the VFA in the 1880s but success had been elusive in the VFL, so those who could not make the trip to the MCG made a special effort to listen in on the wireless. Tom Mullen, who played in Geelong’s 1886 premiership, listened to the game from Stawell, where the sound was so clear that listeners had their watches out counting down the final seconds.25
Wireless sets were installed in pubs, in the Geelong Hospital and at Kardinia Park where a local football final was being played. The crowd was more focused on the wireless than the game in front of them. Anyone who owned a wireless set was flooded with visitors for the afternoon and hundreds gathered in the streets where wireless receivers were set up.
The city was otherwise deserted and quiet until the most exceptional news was heard over the airwaves, the clanging of the final bell and the announcement, ‘Geelong has won the premiership’. The cheering and yelling across Geelong was extraordinary, whatever words followed were lost until a momentary lull by the crowds when, from the wireless was heard the prophetic words, ‘It will be a great night in Geelong tonight!’26
One gentleman who had been rather sceptical of the wonders of wireless innovation made his way to a more modern friend for the afternoon. Sitting in a comfortable chair, he soon had some compliments for Mr Marconi. As the game went on he wanted to get closer and persuaded his host to let him hear with the headset clamped to his ears. As the final quarter entered its last minutes and Collingwood scored another goal, a loud stentorian voice emerged from the gentleman as he spoke into the mechanism. “Say it again!” he demanded, but the commentator was too rude to answer. Our gentleman cheered the final result and was convinced of the potential benefits and bought a wireless set before the week was out. 27
In 1926, 3LO employed Todd Collins, an Essendon veteran half-back who had played in the inaugural premiership team during the 1897 season, as their football announcer. However, during the season it was back to regular updates during Saturday afternoons, alongside music and race results until the finals began. Todd did ‘Football Talks’ during the week, sharing news about what was happening around VFL clubs28. There would be no shortage of weekly football programs as the years passed.
3LO broadcast schedule 4/9/1926 Geelong Advertiser p15
An American visitor, was so impressed with the broadcast of the 1927 Semi-final, he wrote to 3LO full of praise for their entertainment. “The description stirred me, even with my foggy knowledge of your game, and made me almost wish I was an Australian, so that I could get the full kick of it. But, believe me, I’m going to see the next game— Richmond versus Collingwood.”22
Although the 1925 final was broadcast by both 3LO and 3AR, grand finals from 1926 to 1945 moved between 3LO and 3AR. Some years the football had to fight for space with horse races and it seems the quarter and half-time breaks were filled with musical interludes. Analysis of the game and previews of the next quarter were not yet a part of football broadcasting.
While VFL finals were again broadcast in both 1926 and 1927, routine Saturday afternoon broadcasts only began in 1928. By 1930, as the Great Depression took hold and crowds began to dwindle, League secretary Like McBrien observed that football clubs weren’t earning anything from radio broadcasts. He also suggested that these broadcasts might have contributed to the drop in attendance. The money from the radio stations was going to the cricket clubs that controlled the grounds.15,16 The League would look into the issue.
Radio stations did deals with individual grounds but, if they couldn’t get a deal done, there were creative ways of getting the broadcast to air. 3KZ wanted to broadcast South Melbourne games but could not come to terms with the custodians of the Lakeside oval. So the station erected a scaffold outside the ground and the game went to air. Ground officials then installed a large hessian screen preventing the next game’s description17. Eventually, a deal was done.
Early broadcasts of Fitzroy home games were done from an upstairs room of a neighbouring terrace house, 10 shillings rent with afternoon tea included. Norman Banks stood on a ladder in the players race at Princes Park for his first broadcast.24
The Collingwood Council caused some controversy in 1934 by rejecting the 3LO tender of £65 and accepting the offer from 3KZ, controlled by the Unions at Trades Hall, of just £50 for broadcasting football from Victoria Park.19 Collingwood wanted to stop 3LO from getting a monopoly on all grounds and they could only broadcast from one ground each Saturday. Enabling a competitor meant more games broadcast from Victoria Park.
Radio stations also wanted to help people get a clear picture of what was happening at the game. 3UZ published a diagram of the Punt Rd Oval for their broadcasts in 1932. They used a clock face to show the goals at 2.00 and 8.00 with the grandstand spanning from 10.00 all the way to 12.00 on the clock face. Commentators could use the clock hours to let the listeners know where the action was. 20
Punt Road Oval “Clock Face” The Argus 18/6/1932 p19
We take it for granted now that if we are travelling around the world on Grand Final day we can find a place to watch the game. It might be an Irish pub in Istanbul or a sports bar in New York where we get our fix of the MCG on that ‘one day in September’. That tradition of following the Grand Final, wherever you are, started in 1934. Short wave transmission of the broadcast allowed one Richmond supporter to listen as the Tigers beat Carlton and then get a telegram to the team dinner, read out by Richmond’s president.29 A fitting marker of progress as Victoria celebrated its centenary year.
By 1937 the League was mandating that any broadcast fees had to be split 50:50 between the football club and the ground committee, and that the agreements banned stations from relay broadcast to country areas.18 Country Leagues had been complaining to the VFL that supporters were staying home to listen to the big matches from Melbourne, leaving local clubs out of pocket. The deals could be useful for league clubs. Fitzroy pocketed £150 in 1941 from the ABC, about $15,500 in today’s money.21 Not quite what clubs get from today’s TV deals though.
While the 1925 Grand Final was broadcast by two stations, the next time this happened was in 1942 where 3UZ joined the action with 3LO describing the Richmond Essendon Grand Final at Princes Park. Possibly because 3UZ had rights for Princess Park and not the MCG before the war?
One of the challenges of broadcasting from the MCG was the ban on mentioning sponsor’s names by broadcasters at the ground. It seems the members might have been offended by such crass commercialism. There was a simple work around though – stations could just feed crowd noises in from a record and superimpose a studio voice. The station got is advertising fee, the MCC rule was maintained and listeners were none the wiser.17
On the topic of the MCG and football broadcasting, there is an Encyclopedia Britannica article about the history of football that is simply wrong about radio and footy. It claims that broadcasts of Grand Finals were not allowed until 1946 owing to the reluctance of cricket officials.30 While cricket officials did have concerns about the impact of radio on crowd numbers for Test matches, every VFL/AFL Grand Final has been on the radio from 1925, regardless of the venue.
Football on the radio boomed after the Second World War and with the cheap transistor radios coming on to the market in the 1960s, you could listen to the game anywhere your portable, battery-powered device could get a signal. The AM band was full of football on a Saturday afternoon with games broadcast on 3LO, 3UZ, 3DB, 3KZ, 3AW and 3XY. You could get some relief on 3AK or 3AR if you wanted something other than football. The dreaded radio and TV licence fee scheme was dropped by the Labor government in 1974. It was both unpopular and costing more to collect than it raised.34 Football broadcasting was truly Free to Air, for a couple of decades at least.
Radio Schedule Saturday May 21 1964
Football on TV started in the late 1950s, showing the last quarter live. The fear of smaller crowds at grounds ended that experiment after a few years. Football games on TV then moved to replays, initially on every station before, eventually, just Channel 7 and the ABC until the broadcast rights deals of the late 1980s and 1990s created the Free to Air and Pay TV scene we are familiar with today.
Early radio pioneer Jumbo Sharland was clear-eyed about the potential of radio in the 1920s and, in 1960, as the VFL anguished about the impact of live broadcasts on attendances, just as they had feared radio in the 1930s, he provided advice that was years ahead of his time. He knew telecasts were not going to harm the game. “Telecasts are not going to stop the young going because they cannot equal the excitement of being there and telecasts would be followed keenly by many people who for one reason or another cannot attend.”13 It would be decades before the League followed his advice and allowed live TV broadcasts of the game, which would add to its popularity.
Today we can listen to the footy on AM, FM, streaming to our phones or PCs. We can listen to games hidden behind TV’s paywall or listen while we watch a game live at the ground. Broadcasts are done in Hindi, Chinese and Indigenous languages as well as English31,32. Commentators are in well designed, soundproof studios at all grounds. Except, as during COVID quarantine or maybe budget cuts, sometimes commentators are sitting back at the station calling off a TV screen.33 (At least there is no need to borrow a telephone line to get the outside broadcast back to the studio.)
However we listen to football, just like the American visitor in 1927, and we can still get a kick out of it. We should thank the pioneers of 100 years of broadcasting who brought the game to our ears. They created traditions, catch phrases and sometimes got that interview from the changerooms to air. 100 years of radio has promoted the game to the suburbs, the nation and around the world. We don’t need to rely on pigeons, flags or flares but, as TISM sang for Triple M’s promo, “Shut up, the footy’s on the radio”.
References (With Thanks to Michael Riley http://boylesfootballphotos.net.au/article70-1925-The-First-VFL-Grand-Final-Radio-Call
1. 50 Golden years of broadcasting
2. RBA Predecimal Inflation Calculator
3. The History of Australian Radio (Radio Adelaide) chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://media.adelaide.edu.au/radio/intro/history_OZ-radio.pdf
4. The Argus, 24th September 1906, p7 (Richmond supporter John Turner would also release pigeons as part of the 1980’s Woosha squad when Richmond kicked their first goal to their end
5. The Herald 2nd October 1920, p2
6. The Herald 20th October 1923, p3
7. A Magnificent Man and his Flying Machines
8. Broadcasting Sporting Results Chronicle (Adelaide) 6th Sept 1924 p47,
9. Wireless Programmes The Argus, 18th October 1924 p32
10. Listening In Advocate (Burnei) 8/10/1925 p4
11. Wireless Football. The Herald, 8/10/1925, p8
12. Geelong’s Practice. The Sporting Globe, 7/10/1925, p7
13. Football Commentators were not so biased. The Age, 16/4/1964 p2 of TV Radio Guide
14. League final played in lake. The Age, 3/0/1927 p6
15. Broadcasting Games The Herald, 30/9/1930, p17
16. Falling Receipts are causing concern The Sun, 1/10/1930 p18
17. Dial 179 the 3KZ story, p149
18. Broadcasting Decision, The Argus, 20/3/1937, p17
19. Right to broadcast football, The Argus, 27/3/1934
20. Match of the day, , 18/6/1932, p19
21. Broadcasts of Matches, The Age, 3/6/1941, p4
22. American Praises 3LO football broadcast, The Register (Adelaide), 26/4/1928, P12
23. 3LO Program, The Sun, 11/11/1926, p6
24. Radio Waves, The Age, 5/8/2006
25. Veteran hears result by wireless, Weekly Times, 10/10/1925 p85
26. Enthusiasm at Geelong, The Argus, 12/10/1925 p7
27. Little Folks Corner, Geelong Advertiser, 14/10/1925, p4
28. Todd Collins to broadcast Melbourne Football, Advocate (Burnie) 9/6/1926, p10
29. Heard game in Scotland, The Sun, 15/10/1934 p25
30. Football and its fans, Britanica.com
31. Hindi and Mandarin AFL Commentary Comes to Fox Footy on Kayo Sports
32. AFL welcomes new radio partner Aboriginal Radio Alliance
33. Pandemic year transformed AFL broadcasting – maybe forever
Visit Kieran Magee’s website HERE.
To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help things keep ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – click HERE.
Welcome Kieran.
You’ve set the bar very high for yourself and are a terrific recruit to our squad of historians.
Footy on the radio is a massive topic. Those of us who love the game have listened forever, whether to local footy on country radio stations or The Big Time.
Thanks for your piece.
When I was researching a footy and community topic I cam across the arrival of footy on the radio in Geelong. I think it was 3GL – I’d have to find my notes (good luck with that!) Anyway, the advent of footy broadcasts divided the Geelong community. Initially ‘Community Hymn Singing’ was broadcast live on Saturday afternoons. The the push for footy broadcasts came – from those who could not get to Corio Oval. From memory, a plebiscite was eventually held.
Of course 1925 was a Geelong premiership year.
Thanks again Kieran. We look forward to reading more.
An impressive start to your Almanac ‘career’, Kieran. More, please. I’m old enough to remember radio and TV licences. I think I even gave them a mention in my Honours thesis (1974). My family were regional Queenslanders, so I can’t remember if they bothered with them or not. Regardless, we always tuned into the cricket and the footy on the radio – all ABC, I think. I distinctly recall listening to Doug Walters crawl through the 90s to get his century on debut – we were in the onion or potato patch at the time!
Thanks Ian. Seems there was a lot of dodging the inspectors but plenty of fines handed out too.
Very comprehensive and a very interesting read Kieran. It would be interesting to find out if there is anything similar available in Adelaide and the SANFL.