1924 AND ALL THAT - PART SEVEN by Whispering Jack

[Demonland 70,268]

The dust settled on the 1924 season and, on the face of it, the Melbourne Football Club had very little to show for the experience. 

It was described by one observer as a perplexing season that promised so much but ended in the team narrowly averting a wooden spoon and finishing eighth in the nine team competition that was about to expand with the addition of three new clubs.

The VFL premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club, its sixth flag and the second in a row. It won the round-robin finals series which was the last time a VFL/AFL premiership was not decided by a grand final and the only time when the premiers lost their last match of the season as they were beaten by runners-up Richmond 9.13 (67) to 6.11 (47) in the last round-robin match.

Things quickly turned ugly for the premier. Some Essendon players were unhappy at the poor performances of teammates in the round robin match against Richmond. There were reports of heated arguments and fist fights in the rooms after the match and after a post-match function later that evening amid accusations of match fixing and receiving bribes.

Little wonder that when the VFA premiers Footscray challenged Essendon to a match for the championship of Victoria, it was the former which won comfortably by 9.10.64 to 4.12.36. The unofficial “championship” match played a week after the VFL grand final was in aid of Dame Nellie Melba's Limbless Soldiers' Appeal. There were further accusations of match fixing in that game and, as a consequence, champion centre half-back Tom Fitzmaurice was so disgusted that he never played again for Essendon.

Footscray’s performance was the catalyst for the club’s admission to the VFL but the League didn’t stop there. North Melbourne and Hawthorn also defected to make it a twelve team competition when the 1925 season began.

In the meantime, the VFL introduced an award for the fairest and best player based on the vote of the umpires and the first Brownlow Medal was awarded to Edward "Carji" Greeves of Geelong. Melbourne’s Bert Chadwick was runner up by one vote behind Greeves.

1924 might not have been a watershed season for the Melbourne Football Club but there were changes taking place that would see a significant improvement in 1925 to third place and a premiership in the following season when the club won its second flag in 1926.

By that time Chadwick was captain-coach alternating between the ruck and centre half back and the great Ivor Warne-Smith had returned to the club to win the first of his two Brownlow Medals . In the space of two years, the club had risen from the doldrums to cover itself in premiership glory.

Photograph of Melbourne Football Club, Premiers 1926, Image courtesy of the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum collection

[58er 5,932]

31 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

The dust settled on the 1924 season and, on the face of it, the Melbourne Football Club had very little to show for the experience. 

It was described by one observer as a perplexing season that promised so much but ended in the team narrowly averting a wooden spoon and finishing eighth in the nine team competition that was about to expand with the addition of three new clubs.

The VFL premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club, its sixth flag and the second in a row. It won the round-robin finals series which was the last time a VFL/AFL premiership was not decided by a grand final and the only time when the premiers lost their last match of the season as they were beaten by runners-up Richmond 9.13 (67) to 6.11 (47) in the last round-robin match.

Things quickly turned ugly for the premier. Some Essendon players were unhappy at the poor performances of teammates in the round robin match against Richmond. There were reports of heated arguments and fist fights in the rooms after the match and after a post-match function later that evening amid accusations of match fixing and receiving bribes.

Little wonder that when the VFA premiers Footscray challenged Essendon to a match for the championship of Victoria, it was the former which won comfortably by 9.10.64 to 4.12.36. The unofficial “championship” match played a week after the VFL grand final was in aid of Dame Nellie Melba's Limbless Soldiers' Appeal. There were further accusations of match fixing in that game and, as a consequence, champion centre half-back Tom Fitzmaurice was so disgusted that he never played again for Essendon.

Footscray’s performance was the catalyst for the club’s admission to the VFL but the League didn’t stop there. North Melbourne and Hawthorn also defected to make it a twelve team competition when the 1925 season began.

In the meantime, the VFL introduced an award for the fairest and best player based on the vote of the umpires and the first Brownlow Medal was awarded to Edward "Carji" Greeves of Geelong. Melbourne’s Bert Chadwick was runner up by one vote behind Greeves.

1924 might not have been a watershed season for the Melbourne Football Club but there were changes taking place that would see a significant improvement in 1925 to third place and a premiership in the following season when the club won its second flag in 1926.

By that time Chadwick was captain-coach alternating between the ruck and centre half back and the great Ivor Warne-Smith had returned to the club to win the first of his two Brownlow Medals . In the space of two years, the club had risen from the doldrums to cover itself in premiership glory.

Photograph of Melbourne Football Club, Premiers 1926, Image courtesy of the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum collection

I believe we should be doing everything to win the 2025 and 2026 Flags.

imagine if we could win especially in 2026 on an anniversary year. One for the ages.