In 1987 the VFL competition expanded to 14 teams and included the West Coast Eagles and Brisbane Bears.
The VFL morphed into the AFL (Australian Football League) in 1990 because by that time West Coast Eagles and Sydney were a part of the VFL competition.
The competition further expanded in 1991 when Adelaide Crows joined, 1995 with Fremantle and 1997 Port Adelaide, coupled with a 1996 merger between the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy, giving the competition two teams in each of WA and SA, and one team apiece in Qld and NSW.
Remembering the home grounds of the 12 teams
Carlton - Princess Park
Collingwood - Victoria Park
Essendon - Windy Hill
Fitzroy - Brunswick Street Oval
Footscray - Western Oval
Geelong - Kardinia Park
Hawthorn - Glenferrie Oval
Melbourne - Melbourne Cricket Ground
North Melbourne - Arden Street
Richmond - Punt Road Oval
St Kilda - Moorabbin
South Melbourne - Lakeside Oval
Of all these grounds only Melbourne and Geelong remain at their original home grounds.
In the early 70s I used to work as a senior technician for Channel 9 (TCN9) in Sydney.
Every Saturday in winter I used to work in the link room bringing up a VFL game from Melbourne. I am not a sports fan but I didn’t mind VFL even though I didn’t understand it at all.
I think it was every Saturday but it might have been every Sunday.
We had a video link to the Daily Telegraph offices, Sr Frank Packer used to ring me, “Packer here, get me the Flemington races”… Click. Yes sir, three bags full sir.
In the 70s there were 6 matches played on Saturday afternoon.
Me being in Tasmania, I was glued to the radio, listening to the broadcast game and continual crosses to the other games for score updates.
Goodness I’ve no idea how long footie leagues have been around in the UK but they don’t sound very old in Oz. Not too popular then?
What on earth did Aussie yobs do on a Saturday afternoon before then? Kick boxing with kangaroos.
How d’you mean?
I envy them a bit too sometimes as they don’t seem to get themselves dragged into a load of global aggro and sabre rattling. They’ve got more sense.
It’s kinda like they looked at the rest of the world and recognised the ideas to avoid adopting. Whereas the rest of the world hasn’t quite got round to admitting their own errors and got shot of the same old stupid ideas.
One of my first jobs in Australia in the mid 60s was installing the PABX (Telephone Exchange) in the brand new St George Leagues Club building. At the time St George was the footie club, they had won ten premierships in a row.
BTW The game in NSW is Rugby League and the league started in 1907.
I was working one Saturday at the club and was having a break and a beer when the game in Kograh Oval opposite finished. In came hordes of St George fans followed by hordes from the opposing team (I forget who they were.
I thought it was going to kick off as it did in the UK with opposing soccer teams if they met, but, no the fans from both teams mingled and chatted amiably about the game. So different from the UK where opposing teams have to be kept apart.
Violence is very much a soccer thing.
The two codes in Australia are AFL (Aussie Rules) and NRL (Rugby League) they are separated by the Barrassi Line. East of the line is Rugby League west of the line is Aussie Rules.
The line used to stretch from the Vic/NSW coast border to where the NT border hit the Gulf of Carpinteria.
First up it is a ridiculous cost for a maximum crowd of 23,000.
No doubt the stadium will cost so much more, (and they know that).
How much more? I will hazard a guess at 25%.
? $1,400,000,000
$1.4 Billion and maybe higher.
Second up, what a waste of space. The stadium will be empty for at least 80% of the time.
Projects like these ignore the real state of the citizens. Homelessness, healthcare, I could go on but will limit my gripe.
As usual, the citizens are ignored so that pollies and the AFL can spout, “Look what we have done for your state”
What they are doing is plunging the state into further debt which means taxes will have to rise again.
Rant over.
