Pre-VFL statistics and history thread

[Supermercado]

Hello all, have been trawling the Trove archive for pre-1897 MFC related stats/reports and thought there should be a place to discuss them.

A couple of interesting things I turned up in 1885 -

- A second 20's game between Melbourne and Essendon which finished 1.9 to 1.5 in Melbourne's favour but Melbourne are listed as the winner. Everything else I've seen says that behinds weren't counted in the score until 1897, so it may be an error by the newspaper but the reports of the day are surprisingly keen on reporting on behinds when they were effectively meaningless.

- Melbourne vs Essendon on July 18, 1885 - Melbourne were 2-9 and had lost by 12 goals to nothing the week before (12.17 to 0.1 if you're interested in behinds) but beat the previous unbeaten Essendon. The question I'd have is was the 12.17 - 0.1 the biggest thrashing in a senior match until that point, and does the win over Essendon rate as the greatest upset of the pre-1897 era.

This well established thread/website is another winner for VFA scores and some info - http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/victorian-football-association-vfa-results-and-ladders.874855/

Also found this news story about a project to catalogue all the pre-VFL senior players. Very interested in getting my hands on this if published - http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tracing-forgotten-stars-of-yesteryear-20130925-2uelf.html

 

[RogersResults]

Also found this news story about a project to catalogue all the pre-VFL senior players. Very interested in getting my hands on this if published - http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tracing-forgotten-stars-of-yesteryear-20130925-2uelf.html

First volume has been published.

Mark Pennings, The Origins of Australian Football: Victoria’s Early History, Volume 1: Amateur Heroes and the Rise of the Clubs, 1858 to 1876, Connor Court Publishing, Ballan, Victoria, 2012, pp.474.
ISBN: 9781921421471 (paperback) ISBN: 9781921421495 (hardback)

Copy can be obtained here: http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Or...source=googleps&utm_medium=ps&utm_campaign=AU


Forthcoming titles by Mark Pennings (to be published by Connor Court)

The Origins of Australian Football: Victoria’s Early History, Volume 2: A Golden Era: Football in ‘Marvellous Melbourne’, 1877 to 1888.
The Origins of Australian Football: Victoria’s Early History, Volume 3: Tough Times: The Amateur vs. the Professional, 1889 to 1896.
The Origins of Australian Football: Victoria’s Early History, Volume 4: Players and Clubs: The Complete Records, 1858 to 1896.

Contact Pennings: http://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/penningm/

Publisher: http://www.connorcourt.com

 

[VFA1877]

A couple of interesting things I turned up in 1885 -

- A second 20's game between Melbourne and Essendon which finished 1.9 to 1.5 in Melbourne's favour but Melbourne are listed as the winner. Everything else I've seen says that behinds weren't counted in the score until 1897, so it may be an error by the newspaper but the reports of the day are surprisingly keen on reporting on behinds when they were effectively meaningless.

- Melbourne vs Essendon on July 18, 1885 - Melbourne were 2-9 and had lost by 12 goals to nothing the week before (12.17 to 0.1 if you're interested in behinds) but beat the previous unbeaten Essendon. The question I'd have is was the 12.17 - 0.1 the biggest thrashing in a senior match until that point, and does the win over Essendon rate as the greatest upset of the pre-1897 era.

- I checked The Age (20 July 1885 edition) and found the reserves match final score listed as "Essendon second 1 goal 9 behinds v. Melbourne second 5 behinds." The Argus similarly states the result as "Essendon v Melbourne (second), won by the former by 1 goal 9 behinds to 5 behinds". So I think we can safely say the game finished 1.9 to 0.5 in favour of Essendon reserves.

- The Age (13 July 1885 edition) lists the final result as South Melbourne 12.19 Melbourne 0.1. Often the behinds tallies will vary between different newspapers.

- The largest margins prior to the South Melbourne-Melbourne game of 11/7/1885 in senior matches in Victoria:
(1) Geelong 13.20 East Melbourne 0.0 at Corio Oval on 10/6/1882 (just 2 months before the East Melbourne club folded)
(2) Geelong 13.16 Ballarat 0.1 at Corio Oval on 3/5/1884 (some sources say Ballarat scored 0.2)
(3) Hotham 12.13 University 1.8 on 4/7/1885 (just a week before the SM-Melb encounter)

- I would suggest one of the biggest upsets prior to this in the VFA was the Williamstown-Geelong match played at Williamstown's Garden's Reserve ground on 27/9/1884. Geelong had just won their third consecutive premiership (and 6th in 7 years), while Williamstown was bottom of the ladder and in their first season at senior level. Williamstown led 3.11 to 0.0 at half-time, then held out against the strong wind in the second half to win 3.11 to 2.9.

 

[SJ]

Hello all, have been trawling the Trove archive for pre-1897 MFC related stats/reports and thought there should be a place to discuss them.

A couple of interesting things I turned up in 1885 -

- A second 20's game between Melbourne and Essendon which finished 1.9 to 1.5 in Melbourne's favour but Melbourne are listed as the winner. Everything else I've seen says that behinds weren't counted in the score until 1897, so it may be an error by the newspaper but the reports of the day are surprisingly keen on reporting on behinds when they were effectively meaningless.

- Melbourne vs Essendon on July 18, 1885 - Melbourne were 2-9 and had lost by 12 goals to nothing the week before (12.17 to 0.1 if you're interested in behinds) but beat the previous unbeaten Essendon. The question I'd have is was the 12.17 - 0.1 the biggest thrashing in a senior match until that point, and does the win over Essendon rate as the greatest upset of the pre-1897 era.

This well established thread/website is another winner for VFA scores and some info - http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/victorian-football-association-vfa-results-and-ladders.874855/

Also found this news story about a project to catalogue all the pre-VFL senior players. Very interested in getting my hands on this if published - http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tracing-forgotten-stars-of-yesteryear-20130925-2uelf.html

That's the article which perpetuates the myth of the Champion of the Colony award.