Champions of Australia Series

Great thread guys, I love this stuff.

Yes hawthorn are pretty good with their non AFL history....like their recent history book which lists the clubs players when it was in the amateur league.

Ive contacted the Hawks museum to clarify the lines up got from the paper... But no luck. They dont have lineups from 71 or 86 either.

Im trying to get the AFL to recognise the NFL and 68-75 COA but am usually greated with hostility

South Australia tends to skewer and twist history as much asthe AFL.

This makes it very hard to look back at these tournaments. For every person that says we have the cup sitting proudly and there is an article in an our history book there is something to negate this (i.e. North Melbourne's excellent history book says of the NFL 'players lacked enthusiasm').

The reality is the NFL was a failed night series - shouldit be forgotten? No.

The champions of Australia 68-75 were post season exhibition games for some and serious for others

Before this who knows - they were likely to be just tour games with a fancy name and nothing official.

Are they worth remembering? Yes. Are they worth being on an SANFL club's letterhead? No. Celebrate your real premierships

Seeing as you guys are debating the 68 onward games, I better catch up pretty quick. You will forgive me for leaving out all the details of interstate representative club games in an effort to keep this moving.

Here is PART 3

Games after WWII were infrequent and as JH has mentioned, they meant different things to different clubs.

1951 Port Adelaide and Geelong met as premiers of the 2 states and Big Bob McLean secretary of Port said, "We regard Saturday's game as the Championship of Australia. Geelong has a lot at stake and Port, as SA's representative will be all out to add to this State's football prestige." His impasssioned words didn't work and Port lost by 8 points in front of 25,000 people.

1955, 1956, 1959 Melbourne beat Port Adelaide all at Norwood Oval.
1960 Melbourne d North Adelaide at Adelaide Oval
1964 Melbourne d South Adelaide at Norwood Oval

Presumably Norwood was used due to the lack of cricket played at this ground.

Certainly was Melbourne's purple patch over a decade.

1968 - 1975 Championship matches revived

The SANFL underwrote a revived champiohsip series between the SA and Vic premiers in 1968. However, the Australian National Football Council ruled there could be no such "championship" if the premier teams of all 4 major football states were not involved.

Ron Barassi's Carlton took on the Double Blues in the middle of their 5 in a row dynasty and said that the clash was not only for $7000 in prizemoney but for the prestige and that the whole image of Vic footy was at stake.
Barass could breath a sigh of relief as the Vic Blues easily defeated the SA Blues in front of 39000 fans at Adelaide Oval.

1969 Richmond d Sturt at Adelaide
1970 Carlton d Sturt at Adelaide
1971 Hawthorn d North Adelaide at Adelaide
1972 North Adelaide d Carlton at Adelaide

The 1972 game warrants special discussion as it broke the Victorian stranglehold on these matches and the growing outlook that the Victorian clubs were much much stonger than those in SA.

This series also featured the premier teams from the other states, which makes the achievement all the more memorable. A crowd of 23000 witnessed an enthralling game between North and Carlton. The Blues led by 5 points at the last change and were kicking with a reasonable breeze in the last qtr. Barrie Robran was at his brilliant best which led to a spectacle not often seen in which one piece of his artistry was so admired by his opponent, Alex Jesaulenko (no slouch himself), that the latter actually stood and applauded the former.

CUE: Robranisgod!

1973 Richmond d Subiaco at Adelaide Oval
1974 Richmond d Sturt at Football Park
1975 North Melbourne d Norwood at Football Park

Victorian Clubs had won 7 out of 8 titles since the reintroduction of a championship in 1968. Even Adelaide crowds had started to lose interest with crowds dropping from 30000 to 17500 over the 8 year period.

End of Part 3

Some would argue 1972 is more famous more Mal Brown's insanity v Carlton.

Carlton had an extensive post season in 72 plaing three game in Euroe v a team called 'All Stars' where they were able to even things up with Brown.

I believe Robran was listed BOG in the game North lost in 71. The sponsors introduced the Winfield Medal in 73 for player of series: bartlett 73-74, blight 75. Cornes was awarded a Ford motor car as best player in NFL series

PART 4 - The finale

As JH and AH have described some of the various other matches played between interstate clubs it is fair to state that the National Football League's competitions from 1976 took over the mantle of these matches between the top clubs from the states.

An expanded VFL night competition called the Australian Football Championships was held from 1979 to 1986.

Some of these were not without controversy. In the 1982 competition Swan Districts were doing quite nicely early on and defeated Glenelg and Collingwood. The organisers (VFL) then pulled an unscheduled change to the fixture. Swan Districts responded by sending their reserves team to Melbourne in protest. Richmond, as expected, smashed them and resulted in Swan Districts being banned from the competition until 1985.

Sounds all too familiar by today's standards. VFL dictating how footy shall be played under their own rules, able to be changed at their discretion.

The disparity between the VFL clubs and SANFL / WAFL had been growing for quite some years.

With the advent of the West coast Eagles, Brisbane Bears in 1987 and Adelaide Crows in 1991, the relevance of national club based competition died a natural death. A fully (or almost) national competition consigned the SANFL and WAFL clubs to their own devices.

And the Champions of Australia concept (by whatever name it had been known) was officially dead.

However, it definitely holds a place in football history and does need to be placed in its own context.

1997-1999 VFL premiers played TFL premiers for Premiers Cup