Old Footy Records now online

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Dec 18, 2002
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AFL Club
Melbourne
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Finally the State Library of Victoria Footy Record digitisation project has put up some real gold. They've had 2003 onwards up for a while but I've just noticed they've got 1912/1913 and 1938-1943 on there as well now.

Full scans/downloadable PDF's. The history/stats nerd in me (97% total) almost burst.

http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/R/?func=collections&collection_id=1081
 
Dec 18, 2002
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AFL Club
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Quality commentary from the 1912 gossip column.

"Some club officials went after a player in a taxi cab. He played on Saturday, and shaped so badly that one of the bunch remarked, "We'll take him back in a hearse."

Throws up a few interesting Q's though. For instance Arthur Ferguson is listed as being as #21 on AFL Tables (and other sources, probably ripped off from) for Melbourne in 1912 but according to the Record in the week he debuted he was #18. Unfortunately the record that they've scanned in from his second and last game the next week isn't one with the MFC numbers.

Update: He's listed as #21 in R5 after having played his last game for the club.
 

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Dec 18, 2002
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AFL Club
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Of course, I and presumably most others, got the numbers from here.
http://stats.afl.com.au/public/statistics/playerseasonlist/11/1912/playerseasonlist_11_1912.shtml

They appear to be a bit rubbery in general. I've had a number of corrections sent in, even from relatively recent seasons, so it's all a tad unsatisfying.

I just re-read my post and I should make it clear that I was suggesting the rip offs were of AFL Tables, not the other way 'round :eek:

How to be unintentionally rude... Oops.
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
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I'd forgotten to check back to see how that was progressing! Good to see someone is 'on the ball'.

Looking for something else I noticed the seconds ladder after 5 rounds in 1940.

4 points separated 1st and 11th. 8 teams on 3 wins 3 on 2 wins 1 on 0 wins.
 
awesome find. will spend some free time checking them out later.

i've now got a sudden urge for Bensdorps Royal Dutch Coco though :D
 
Dec 18, 2002
9,402
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AFL Club
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Needs a little bit of finesse. For instance they got caught out a split round/Monday games while labelling 1912 and the rounds start going out of whack halfway through the year (#14 is actually Round 13, not Round 14 as listed) etc.. but apart from small quibbles like that I'm loving it.

The MFC team listings from 1912 cast massive doubt on some of the numbers given to players in the official AFL stats. I've found even more weird differences to the ones posted above. Not sure how to incorporate this info into Demonwiki - plenty of notes, asterixes and explanations required I think..
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
3,174
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Wagga Wagga
Needs a little bit of finesse. For instance they got caught out a split round/Monday games while labelling 1912 and the rounds start going out of whack halfway through the year (#14 is actually Round 13, not Round 14 as listed) etc.. but apart from small quibbles like that I'm loving it.

The MFC team listings from 1912 cast massive doubt on some of the numbers given to players in the official AFL stats. I've found even more weird differences to the ones posted above. Not sure how to incorporate this info into Demonwiki - plenty of notes, asterixes and explanations required I think..

My understanding is that the convention of a player wearing the same number for a season let alone a career took a while to develop. Also the communication of the 'new-fangled' numbers from club to Football Record may have been patchy in the early years.

Good Luck with sorting it out.

Meanwhile they seen to have made a mess with the later 1940's editions - 1 page is 18-22 mb in size! Anyone else noticed that?
 

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Dec 18, 2002
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demonwiki.org
AFL Club
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Agreed, and it's hard to follow from week to week if you're only interested in one team as they don't have every record available, just a selection so who knows what was happening in the other weeks.

The words "may have" are going to get a huge run...
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
3,174
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From the State Library of Victoria:

Thank you for your feedback regarding the AFL Football Record. We are aware of the issue of large pdf page sizes and are currently working on a solution.
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
3,174
1,370
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Be careful what you wish for. The NLA has The Argus - amongst others - online, about 18MB per whole paper IIRC.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

Problem is - the resolution is so poor it makes using them quite painful, if not impossible.

Some of the Football Records are currently 22MB a page!! Over 600MB for an issue. Not right.

The resolution problem with the Argus is more to do with the condition of the the original high-contrast micro-film that the digital copies were made from. The difference can be seen with the copies of the Age in the Google News Archive which are scanned from original printed paper copies. (As the Football Records are.)

Until the NBN arrives in my woop-woop locale, Football Record pages under a megabyte would be appreciated.
 
Selwood got off easy. From the 1913 Grand Final record.

The interest in the proceedings at the
League rooms on Wednesday night was
shown by the swarm of Fitzroy supporters
who were in Collinis-street awaiting
news of the result of the inquiry into
the charges against Tom Willoughby.
P. Jory, of the St. Kilda team, gave
evidence, and said that, as the result
of the drive !)y Willoughby of his elbow
against his (Jory's) ear, he had
lost the sense of hearing in one ear.
Willoughby said that the occurrence was
accidental, but the independent tribunal
l:eld that the elI)owing was deliberate,
and disqualified Willoughby until the
end of July, 1914.

* * *
 

*Paul*

Club Legend
Nov 8, 2000
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Canberra
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The resolution problem with the Argus is more to do with the condition of the the original high-contrast micro-film that the digital copies were made from. The difference can be seen with the copies of the Age in the Google News

Maybe, but here's a comparison. On the left is an image I scanned from a microfilm machine, on the right is Trove's PDF version (same paper+year, not the same page though)
http://stats.rleague.com/public/Image3.png
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
3,174
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Selwood got off easy. From the 1913 Grand Final record.

An interesting find with contemporary relevance. Here's a bit more about the case.

Willoughby had evidence against him given by the field umpire, the steward (the MRP of the day who were actually on the ground during play), Percy Jory, the St Kilda player whom he hit (who also said that he had been threatened earlier) and another St Kilda player. All gave the opinion that the blow was deliberate. His defence had evidence from the Fitzroy assistant coach (early evidence of a such a position) and a spectator whose allegiance was not mentioned.

Willoughby had also been found guilty of 'striking' the year before and suspended for four matches. He resumed his career in round 16 of 1914 when Fitzroy's opponent was again St Kilda (with Jory playing) and finished his career that year without further issues with the tribunal.

In a final twist, Percy Jory was suspended for 12 matches in 1915 after having been found guilty of elbowing an opponent.

Argus Article (which also states that Jory suffered permanent hearing loss.)

For those who haven't come across it yet - AFL historical tribunal stats are here.
 

Donners

Cancelled
Ex-Moderator
Sep 1, 2002
4,681
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AFL Club
Sydney
I take it there's no player stats within these? I've tried going through them, but it's taking forever.

I'm having historical player stat withdrawal. :(
 

RogersResults

Premiership Player
May 7, 2009
3,174
1,370
Wagga Wagga
I take it there's no player stats within these? I've tried going through them, but it's taking forever.

I'm having historical player stat withdrawal. :(

From 1912 to the 1960's, the only player stats you'll find may be goals. Unless there was something remarkable that somebody happened to count.

The size of the files is apparently being addressed so that loading will be a lot quicker.
 

*Paul*

Club Legend
Nov 8, 2000
1,225
361
Canberra
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders
I take it there's no player stats within these? I've tried going through them, but it's taking forever.

I'm having historical player stat withdrawal. :(

Ha ha, really? Cuz I gots 1985 and 1986 fiillins (behinds, frees & hit outs) to be done. Just haven't named the images yet.


The TROVE PDF's (or JPG's) need to be zoomed to 100% before downloading.

I think the images presented in the browser and PDF offered up from the "PDF issue" link have different methodologies.
 

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