One hundred years ago today, the Melbourne Football Club began the long haul up from wooden spoon status by taking on St Kilda who had missed out on the finals in 1923 by a game and percentage. In 1924, the VFL competition consisted of nine teams of 18 players each on the field and no reserves with teams playing each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (16 matches and 2 byes).
The Roaring Twenties were well under way, but the world was still recovering from the devastation of the First World War (up to 17 million dead) and the plague of Spanish Flu which infected about a third of the world's population of about 1.5 million killing between 25 and 50 million people from February 1918 to April 1920. Adolf Hitler was sentenced to prison in 1924 for his involvement in a failed coup d’état by the Nazi Party, and J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the FBI in the USA. Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister of Britain for the second time after winning a landslide victory.
In Australia, with a population a touch under six million, the prime minister was Stanley Melbourne Bruce. Take note of that middle name; Bruce was born in Melbourne, went to Melbourne Grammar and held the country’s highest office from 1923 to 1929, meaning he was still there when Melbourne won the flag in 1926, its first premiership since Federation.
Among those born in 1924 were actor Frank Wilson, actor Patsy Adam-Smith, artist David Boyd, academic and educator Leonie Kramer, tenor and Aboriginal activist Harold Blair, entertainer Bobby Limb, Olympic high jumper John Winter and artist Clifton Pugh.
In sports other than Australian football:-
• Collingwood premiership player Bill Twomey Senior won the 130-yard Stawell Gift in 12.1 seconds, off a handicap of 8½ yards, as one of the shortest-priced favourites in the event’s history. He also won the Ararat Gift, and three different events in one afternoon at Warracknabeal that year. Three of Twomey’s four sons Mick, Pat and Bill, and grandson, David Twomey – son of his fourth son, Peter – all played with the Magpies.
• The Balmain Tigers defeated South Sydney 3-0 in the NSWRFL premiership final.
• The Melbourne Cup was won by six-year-old stallion Backwood (ridden by Bunty Brown and trained by Richard 'Dick' Bradfield). The race was won in a time of 3:26.5 with a field of eighteen.
Legendary football administrator Charles Brownlow, who also played for and captained Geelong in the VFA before the formation of the VFL, died on 23 January 1924. The Charles Brownlow Trophy (commonly known as the Brownlow Medal) awarded to "the best and fairest player" in the VFL (now the AFL) was instituted in his memory. Decided by the field umpire’s voting at the end of each home-and-away match, only a single vote was cast per game from 1924 to 1930.
The VFL introduced new initiatives including the convention of home teams wearing black shorts and away teams wearing white shorts. The fixture was scheduled from 1924 to ensure that neither South Melbourne and St Kilda (who played home games at either end of Albert Park Lake) nor Melbourne and Richmond (who played at the MCG and Punt Road Oval) had home matches on the same day due to the heavy transport and labour burden associated with running the two close venues at the same time. This arrangement continued as long as the clubs played at their nearby locations.
The 1924 VFL premiership was determined by an experimental finals system, which the VFL used for this season only. The format was similar to the round-robin used in the 1897 Finals System, but included the minor premier's right to challenge, which existed under the amended Argus System.
All four games in the opening round were played on 26 April 1924. The reigning premiers, Essendon suffered an upset 16 point defeat at the hands of Collingwood while Fitzroy withstood a blistering comeback from Carlton to win by two points. Melbourne also lost to St Kilda by the same margin while South Melbourne had a 27 point victory over Richmond. The Fitzroy versus Carlton match was the first in VFL history in which both teams scored 100 points. Geelong had the bye.
The Junction Oval located at the western end of Albert Park Lake was the scene of Melbourne’s season opener. The Fuchsias, as they were then known, had appointed Fitzroy champion and premiership player Gordon Rattray as its playing-coach. However, he was still residentially tied to Fitzroy and thus deemed ineligible to play for Melbourne. He therefore served the entire season as its non-playing coach.
Round 1 St. Kilda vs Melbourne
Saturday 26 April 1924
Venue: Junction Oval
Attendance: 15,000
ST. KILDA 1.2.8 4.7.31 8.10.58 12.12.84
MELBOURNE 2.8.20 5.11.41 10.11.71 11.16.82
Goals: Dave Elliman 6 Percy Tulloh 2 Edgar Dunbar George Haines Derek Mollison
Melbourne which had finished last in 1923 with three wins, started as favourite against the eventual wooden-spooner but fell short in a thrilling match. The Redlegs appeared more settled with only one newcomer, Jonny Egan, while the Saints had three recruits on their team.
Ruckman Bob Corbett put in a strong performance but was let down by his teammates in the middle. Winger Alf Wilson was given a bath on the wing after a late start to training due to cricket commitments.
Melbourne had the advantage of the wind in the first quarter but conceded the first goal and was wasteful with conversion, scoring two goals from 10 scoring shots of which one goal came from a free to forward David Elliman. Percy Tulloh, goaled from a free early in the second term and with three goals each in this period, Melbourne held a 10 point lead at half time. Elliman was on target in the third quarter with four of his team’s five goals for the term. St Kilda had rallied at one stage to take the lead but Melbourne responded to lead by 13 points at the last break.
St Kilda opened the final quarter strongly with two early goals and the teams traded goals, with the Saints snatching the lead with the last kick of the day. Elliman who finished with six goals had earlier had the opportunity to seal the game but his shot missed.
Melbourne's best were Derek Mollison, Percy Tulloh and Erica Donaldson.
Field umpire Jack McMurray said it was one of the "most pleasant matches" he had ever officiated. He dished out 54 free kicks to St Kilda and 31 to Melbourne on the day.
The father of St Kilda player W. Cubbins suffered a heart attack in the crowd during the exciting finish and later passed away.
In the seconds Melbourne 13.19.97 defeated St Kilda 10.4.64
The game gave the club pause to reflect, especially as it had the bye in the following round.
To be continued …
