Portfolio VFA Alternate History

[TGDesigns]

I started some ideas for a thread like this once.
It was 'what if the VFL was never formed, what would footy look like today?'
For one, it would have been the VFA until expansion around Australia.

And that's all I've got to so far.

Mero, as the website's most respected historian, it seems interesting with your alternate history should the VFA have remained as the top-flight competition.

It is interesting with the Western Melbourne club (Footscray, West Melbourne and Williamstown merger) has a jumper that is Footscray-centric, but could easily be confused with Adelaide's jumper if the Crows' number of hoops are reduced (colour order change of course). Brunswick seems interesting (given that Collingwood compete, they would have to settle for that design). Camberwell would be a lot like Hawthorn in marketing and base in OTL (our timeline). Richmond keeping the stripes is interesting, as in OTL, they changed to the traditional sash before Hawthorn joined the VFL in OTL. Port Melbourne would've struggled to keep up as suburbanisation expanded, being between South Melbourne, St. Kilda and Western Melbourne (the merged club) would've limited their support as professionalism expanded. As we can see, Carlton's, Collingwood's, Essendon's, Fitzroy's, Geelong's, Melbourne's, St. Kilda's and South Melbourne's jumpers are the same in WW2 in that timeline as in our timeline.

It raises interesting questions for your alternate timeline if the VFA was the base of the national competition, such as: "Do South Melbourne relocate as in OTL?", "Do Fitzroy get absorbed by an interstate team like in OTL?" and "Brunswick and Camberwell are well-off to survive beyond the 1980s-1990s?"

It would be interesting to find out what would happen in your suggested timeline. If you want to elaborate it further, Mero, you could create a separate thread about your alternate history or even put it up in the Alternate History Wikia. This alternate history you pointed up raises points like some minor changes could determine the fate of a club.

 

[Mero]

Thank you for the kind recognition.
I should point out I am an historian of what actually happened, and while that is an influence on my alternate history timeline, it doesn't necessarily mean this its any more or less creative than anyone else's.

This is Fizzler's thread, and I don't want to hijack that, so I will finish what I started offline, and then add them all together into one new thread.
As much as I can, I will try and include my reasoning behind why I chose certain clubs, their colours and their designs. Where possible that will be influenced by actual events, though I will also allow for some creativity (making stuff up).

 

[Fizzler]

Thank you for the kind recognition.
I should point out I am an historian of what actually happened, and while that is an influence on my alternate history timeline, it doesn't necessarily mean this its any more or less creative than anyone else's.

This is Fizzler's thread, and I don't want to hijack that, so I will finish what I started offline, and then add them all together into one new thread.
As much as I can, I will try and include my reasoning behind why I chose certain clubs, their colours and their designs. Where possible that will be influenced by actual events, though I will also allow for some creativity (making stuff up).

Don't worry. You're not hijacking my thread. You're helping me to choose what teams stay in.

 

[Mero]

Well, if you're OK with it, these are my thoughts so far.

Most VFL clubs who we know I have left alone.
Mostly because the only one I thought would have merged, apart from Footscray was StKilda.
Given Prahran's non-inclusion at the secondary level, which the VFA always was, they may have been more competitive and therefore less likely to require merging.
I did merge Williamstown and Footscray just because they were neighbours, and two of the weaker teams in the VFA.
As far as colours, Williamstown wore Blue with a Gold band, Footscray wore Blue with Red and White bands.
It doesn't seem a stretch to think swapping the White for Gold on the Footscray jumper would the logical merger jumper.
(I would also add, thinking ahead, it gives me reason to make Adelaide something other than their colours we know them by today.)

Brunswick come in to replace North.
Their original colours were Light Blue and Red, and given they would be in the same comp as Collingwood, they would not change that.
I have darkened that Red to Maroon, which over time would bring them into line with what a few soccer teams adopted.
You might question what soccer teams have to do with it, I would suggest the availability of dyes around the times of WW1 and WW2 would impact these choices.

In this scenario I have Port running out of players after WW1, and perhaps putting a team into a local comp. Their replacements are Camberwell.
Camberwell were very successful in the Melbourne District FL in the early 1920s and their recruiting zone would include what we would consider was the Hawthorn territory. Their colours are the same as was worn in the VFA IRL. As far as I can tell, these are the colours Camberwell has always worn. Given no club in this VFA was wearing Red White and Blue, they adopt them. Hawthorn are not included because it took a bit of a perfect storm for them to begin. The club started as one club, merging with two other local clubs to make one big club from the region to join the second tier VFA. Those clubs together would never have been strong enough to join this VFA in the early 1910s, and there would be no spot for them anyway. So in this timeline Hawthorn and Hawthorn Rovers never merge. There is simply a VAFA team called Hawthorn who wear Booroondara jumpers of Black with a Red sash.

As far as Richmond are concerned. They went to a band in the 1910s and then a sash in 1914.
With Western Melbourne already wearing a Gold band I have them staying with stripes.
Essentially I see them as the Hawthorn jumper of this timeline, playing with them slightly in the 1930s and 1950s as new manufacturing capabilities were invented, but essentially staying the same once a design is decided upon. So the wide stripes of the early 1900s make way for the sort of stripes we saw on North and Hawthorn jumpers.

That sums up where the timeline ends so far.

I'll have a bit of a think about where it goes from here.

 

[Fizzler]

Unfortunately I'm going to have to stop doing this. I've got a new portfolio that will be better than this.

 

[Mero]

Given this has gone 30 months without update, I'll add in my thoughts on the future of the VFA, as it might have been had there never been the breakaway of 1897 to the VFL.
I left it in about 1945, with 12 teams: Brunswick, Camberwell, Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, Richmond, South, StKilda & Western Melb.
Essentially, Western Melb is Footscray & Williamstown, Camberwell have replaced Hawthorn and Brunswick have replaced North from actual history.
1950s and 60's VFL was fairly static, with the successful clubs like Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood & Essendon winning more often than losing, and sides like Camberwell (Hawthorn) & Fitzroy struggling.
The only exception I would suggest to this is the rise of Western Melbourne, who with a wider supporter & income base would have been able to keep more players than the Footscray side did in the same era.
Young Charlie Sutton, Ted Whitten, Jack Collins, Wally Donald & Arthur Edwards all still come from the local area to the team, and players like Peter Box don't leave over money. So I am suggesting them to me more successful than we know Footscray to be.
What that does mean is they become one of the powerful Melbourne clubs.
The Seagulls jumpers of Blue, Red & Gold are now sacrosanct.
Given Camberwell would have had a better start at a supporter base, and therefore income, I'm suggesting there was no reason to give them two zones, as happened in 1967 when the VFL began Country Zones.
So instead of Tuck, Knights, Matthews, Scott, Moore, Moncrieff, Brereton, Ablett & Ayres all playing for the same club, instead, Tuck, Knights, the Abletts and Ayres all play for the already powerful Western Melbourne Seagulls, who keep the entirety of Gippsland, instead of splitting it up.
As such, the beginning of the 80s Western are tooling up for another run at more flags, Camberwell are still middle of the road, and Fitzroy have started winning more often than losing.
Fitzroy wins the 83 premiership and the ensuing revenue streams mean the club can keep players like Osborne, Lynch, Roos, Pert & Barwick from moving to other clubs.
By the time the VFA starts talking about expanding and relocating clubs to NSW, Fitzroy is not even considered.
Brunswick, having just seen out the careers of local boys Schimma and Keith Greig are the obvious candidates, along with South.
However, as Light Blue is the NSW colour, I'm going to send them to Sydney.
South, still struggling financially, and now still in Melbourne, are my candidate for John Watts' efforts in the mid 80s to relocate a team to Perth.
So Perth become the Perth Swans, and, of course, wear a derivative of the old WA State jumper.
JK's involvement means there's a little bit of an East Perth look to them as well, so it's the yoke with Swan logo.
Still looking for Brisbane and SA expansion, the VFA, now called the AFA, offers Camberwell a lifeline and send them north.
The Brisbane Cobras begin in 1988.
The Association is still at 12 teams though now in 4 states.
It is 1990. The clubs look like this.
However, the rumblings are that the Swans have been given too many concessions when it comes to WA player selections, and the AFA also are still looking for a team in South Australia.

 

[Fizzler]

That's awesome Mero, heaps better than what I started this thread with.

 

[fumbler]

Nice.
You know how the SANFL tried to put in a bid after Port Adelaide did, i wonder how that would of gone with the AFA?

 

[Prison bar Pete]

The Brisbane Cobras begin in 1988.

jumper?

 

[fumbler]

jumper?

The Camberwell one?

 

[Prison bar Pete]

The Camberwell one?

yep, but I'd expect a new look and perhaps new colours

 

[fumbler]

yep, but I'd expect a new look and perhaps new colours

Yeah i wondered that also?

Maybe it was similar to the Lions of the AFL, they had to maintain the history, colours and logos?
Maybe just a simple red to maroon would do.

 

[Mero]

It says Camberwell, and I tried to change it, but the way Big Footy handles pics won't let me.
I would say the earliest iterations of the Brisbane jumpers would be the old Camberwell jumpers, perhaps with new sponsors sewn on, but initially, they'd actually be the same jumpers.
In coming years they'd change to Queensland Maroon.

 

[Mero]

Nice.
You know how the SANFL tried to put in a bid after Port Adelaide did, i wonder how that would of gone with the AFA?

Sturt and Norwood.
Oh that was successful. It's just we're not up to that, yet.

 

[Fizzler]

Sturt and Norwood.
Oh that was successful. It's just we're not up to that, yet.

Oh, not the Cartel? That's a shame really.