Almanac Footy History: Black and white evidence for footy’s forgotten years

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black and White Evidence for Footy’s Forgotten Years

by Michael Lefebvre

 

Students of our great game will be familiar with the historical thesis of Colin Carter. The former AFL Commissioner and Geelong President contends that 27 years of ‘forgotten’ Australian football history should be reclaimed by tracing the start of the AFL competition from 1870 rather than 1897 when the VFL was established by eight former VFA clubs. The issue has been considered on and off by the AFL since 2011 and is the subject of Carter’s own rigorously researched and persuasively argued book Football’s Forgotten Years published in late 2022.

The Carter thesis has the support of numerous historians and football scribes – including Professor Geoffery Blainey, Gillian Hibbins, Greg de Moore, Dr Mark Pennings, Greg Baum, Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson – and, if officially adopted, would have the significant effect of:

Formally recognising and allocating an additional 27 premierships won by seven of the current AFL clubs (Geelong 7, Carlton 6, South Melbourne/Sydney 5, Essendon 4, Melbourne 3, Brisbane/Fitzroy 1 and Collingwood 1);

Establishing that the AFL competition is the oldest continuous football championship in the world, beating England’s FA Cup by one year; and

Properly acknowledging and celebrating the pioneers and earliest champions of our game.

Amongst the supporting evidence for Carter’s view are twenty-plus years’ worth of premiership tables published after 1897 – by Melbourne newspapers and by the VFL itself in the Football Record – which consistently listed the 27 flags won between 1870 and 1896 by the clubs which ultimately formed the VFL. It wasn’t until 1919, when relations between the VFL and VFA had seriously deteriorated, that the historical narrative was changed and the League amended its premiership tables to start at 1897.

During separate research for a recently published biography – Cricket’s Lost Prodigy: The Story of Karl Schneider – I came across an interesting document which shows that despite the VFL’s changed stance on the premiership record, one of its most prominent clubs, Collingwood, continued to recognize its own pre-1897 history.

By way of background, Karl Schneider had been a prominent schoolboy cricketer and footballer in Melbourne the early 1920s before moving to Adelaide in 1926 to advance his chances of playing Test cricket. He was on the cusp of playing for Australia in the next Ashes series when he contracted leukaemia. His illness was reported in newspapers all around the country and prompted numerous letters of concern, support and encouragement.

One such letter, from May 1928, was from R T (Bob) Rush, Treasurer and Assistant Secretary of the Collingwood Football Club. On behalf of the club, Rush conveyed to Karl (whom he referred to as ‘Carl’) the sincere sympathy of his ‘many Collingwood friends’ and continued:

The ‘Magpies’ like all other Australians wish you a speedy restoration to health, with your physical powers unimpaired, so that you can fulfill the athletic promise of which you have already given such excellent proof.

Collingwood followed up their supportive message by arranging for their captain – and reigning Brownlow medalist – Syd Coventry to visit Karl a few weeks later when he was in Adelaide for Victoria’s interstate clash with the Croweaters. Tragically Karl died a few months later.

Mr Rush’s letter, dated 31 May 1928, is typed on a decorative club letterhead which displays  a lone magpie perched atop a lush tree alongside details of the club’s premierships, namely  ‘1896, 1902, 1903, 1910, 1917, 1919’ (1927 had yet to be added). Not only did Collingwood claim its VFA-era premiership of 1896, the letterhead also records the previous season of 1895 when the club was runner-up to Fitzroy.  Thus in 1928 – almost a decade after the VFL moved to change the official record – Collingwood was still proudly recognising its pre-1897 successes.

A prominent critic of Colin Carter’s research and conclusions is Eddie McGuire, the latter-day Collingwood President and broadcaster. McGuire has asserted that Carter is ‘rewriting history’, perhaps in order to enable Geelong to secure seven more premierships. In fact, the rewriting of history was done back in 1919 when for political reasons the VFL sought to expunge its origins and the early achievements of member clubs from the record books. According to Carter, ‘It’s time to reclaim the historical narrative of the game’s founding. The records are wrong and it’s time to put things right.’

Ironically, some black and white evidence can now be added to the cause.

Michael Lefèbvre

April 2025

 

Read more about Colin Carter’s Football’s Forgotten Years 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.