1.
Australian Football League
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The Australian Football League is the pre-eminent professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the governing body. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association, the league currently consists of 18 teams spread over five of Australias six states. Matches have been played in all states and territories of Australia. The AFL season currently consists of a competition, followed by a 23-round regular season. The top eight teams play off in a four-round finals series, culminating in the AFL Grand Final. The winning team in the Grand Final is termed the premiers, the current premiers are the Western Bulldogs. The six clubs invited two more VFA clubs – Carlton and St Kilda – to join the league for its season in 1897. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams, with Richmond crossing from the VFA, Port Adelaide was the most successful club of the competition winning three titles during the period along with an earlier victory. In 1925, the VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Between the years of 1927 and 1930, Collingwood became the first, in 1952, the VFL hosted National Day, when all six matches were played outside of Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground, North Hobart Oval, Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn, Footscray became the first of the 1925 expansion teams to win the premiership in 1954. Melbourne became a powerhouse during the 1950s and early 1960s under coach Norm Smith, the club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957. Television coverage began in 1957, with telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games, however, when the VFL found that television was reducing crowds, it decided that no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961, replays were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted in Melbourne, in 1959, the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, VFL Park, to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club, which managed the Melbourne Cricket Ground. VFL Park was planned to hold 155,000 spectators, which would have made it one of the largest stadiums in the world – although it would ultimately be built with a capacity of 78,000. Land for the stadium was purchased at Mulgrave, then farmland, the VFL Premiership Trophy was first awarded in addition to a pennant flag in 1959, essentially the same trophy design has been in use since
2.
Essendon Football Club
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The Essendon Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League, the sports premier competition. Formed in 1871 as a club and playing as a senior club since 1878. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, dyson Heppell is the current team captain. A founding member club of both the Victorian Football Association, in 1877, and the Victorian Football League, in 1896, the club claims to have over at least one million supporters Australia wide. Essendon has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition, the club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken, the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon club and his son, Alex, Alex would later become president of the newly formed VFL. Alexs cousin, Collier, who had played with Melbourne, was the teams first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton second twenty on 7 June 1873, Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the junior members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its matches at Flemington Hill. In 1878, Essendon played in the first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a field at Flemington Hill. In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white, in 1883 the team played four matches in Adelaide. In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892,1893 and 1894, one of the clubs greatest players, Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period. Essendon was undefeated in the 1893 season, at the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League. Essendons first VFL game was in 1897 was against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong, Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final, the club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively. The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 and it was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon
3.
Geelong Football Club
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The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in the city of Geelong, Australia and playing in the Australian Football League. The Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with three in the AFL era and they have also won nine McClelland Trophies, a record shared with Essendon. The club was formed in 1859, making it the second oldest club in the AFL after Melbourne and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Geelong participated in the first football competition in Australia and was a club of both the Victorian Football Association in 1877 and the Victorian Football League in 1897. The club first established itself in the VFA by winning seven premierships, the club won a further six premierships by 1963, before enduring a 44-year waiting period until it won its next premiership—an AFL-record 119-point victory in the 2007 AFL Grand Final. Geelong have since won a further two premierships in 2009 and 2011, the clubs home ground is Kardinia Park, currently also known by its sponsorship name Simonds Stadium. However, the club also hosts matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Geelongs traditional guernsey colours are blue and white hoops. The clubs nickname, The Cats, was first used in 1923 after a run of losses prompted a local cartoonist to suggest that the club needed a black cat to bring it good luck, the clubs official team song and anthem is We Are Geelong. Geelong Football Club was formally established at a meeting held in the Victoria Hotel on 18 July 1859, the club contested its first match of Australian rules football against Melbourne at Argyle Square in 1860, which finished as a scoreless draw. In 1863, Geelong travelled to Melbourne to contest the Caledonian Challenge Cup, although the competition was played under compromised rules, Geelong reached the final and defeated Melbourne to become the second winners of the cup. The club continued to contest the cup in the following years, during this time, Tom Wills—one of the founders of Australian football—played exclusively for the club from 1865 until his retirement from football in 1874. Following the formation of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, Geelong joined the association as one of its foundation clubs. The club relocated to Corio Oval as its home ground in time for the 1878 season. In 1924, following the death of VFL and Geelong administrator Charles Brownlow, the first player to win the award was Geelongs Edward Greeves. Having been one of the dominant clubs in the old VFA and it wasnt until 1925 that the club won its first VFL premiership. Geelong followed up with further wins in 1931 and 1937. In 1941, the club was forced to relocate from its Corio Oval base due to the oval being required for training during World War 2
4.
Melbourne Football Club
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The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club, playing in the Australian Football League. It is named after and based in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne is the worlds oldest professional club of any football code. The clubs origins can be traced to an 1858 letter in which Tom Wills, captain of the Victoria cricket team, Melbourne has won 12 VFL/AFL premierships, the latest in 1964. The club celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008 by naming 150 Heroes as well as creating a logo which appeared on its official guernsey. The football club has been a section of the Melbourne Cricket Club since 2009. In the winter and spring of 1858, an organised football team known as Melbourne played in a series of scratch matches in the parklands outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Other figures associated with this embryonic Melbourne side include cricketers Jerry Bryant, William Hammersley, Thompson, and teacher Thomas H. Smith. During meetings held on 17 and 21 May 1859, Wills, Hammersley, Thompson and Smith met near the MCG at the Parade Hotel, owned by Bryant, the resulting ten codified rules are the laws from which Australian rules football evolved. The first mention of a match played under the new code was between Melbourne and South Yarra in July 1859, with Hammersley as Melbournes inaugural captain. In 1861, Melbourne participated in the Caledonian Societys Challenge Cup, the club pushed for its rules to be the accepted rules, however many of the early suburban matches were played under compromised rules decided between the captains of the competing clubs. By 1866 several other clubs had adopted an updated version of Melbournes rules, drafted at a meeting chaired by Wills cousin. Harrison was a key figure in the years of the club, he often served as captain and, in later years. Due to his reputation and administrative efforts, he was officially named Father of Australian Football in 1908. During the 1870s, Melbourne fielded teams in the Seven Twenties, after a visit to England by one of the clubs officials, the colours of red and green were officially adopted by the club. Shortly following, the club wearing a predominately red strip. The name Redlegs was coined after a Melbourne official returned from a trip to England with one set of red, Melbourne wore the red set while the blue set were, allegedly, given to the Carlton Football Club. This may be the source of Carltons nickname, The Blueboys, in 1877, the club became a foundation member of the Victorian Football Association. During the same year the took part in the first interstate football match involving a South Australian side, Victorian
5.
Collingwood Football Club
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The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or less formally the Pies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. This spike in membership registration can mainly be attributed to the winning of the 2010 AFL Premiership and this record was again broken in 2013, with club reaching a new high of 80,000 members. Collingwood is regarded as one of Australias most popular clubs, being the highest attended, Collingwoods home guernsey consists of black and white stripes, matching the colours of an Australian magpie. Throughout its history, the club has developed rivalries with cross-town Melbourne based clubs Carlton, Richmond, Essendon, historically one of the most successful clubs in the league, Collingwood has won 15 VFL/AFL premierships, the third-most of any team. Collingwood has played in a record 43 grand finals, winning 15, the club fields a seconds team in the Victorian Football League and a womens team in the AFL Womens competition. It also owns and operates a team in the National Netball League. The Collingwood Football Club was established on 12 February 1892, Collingwood played its first game in the Victorian Football Association against Carlton on 7 May 1892. The club won the VFA Premiership in 1896, in 1897, Collingwood, along with fellow VFA clubs Fitzroy, Melbourne, St Kilda, Carlton, Essendon, South Melbourne and Geelong split from the VFA and formed the Victorian Football League. Collingwood won its first premiership in 1902, defeating Essendon by 33 points, Collingwood was the most successful club of the 1920s and 1930s, appearing in 13 out of a possible 20 Grand Finals during the period. Collingwood were premiers six times during this time, including four consecutive premierships between 1927 and 1930, a VFL/AFL record, and two premierships in 1935 and 1936. The clubs coach during this period was Jock McHale, who served as coach from 1912 to 1949, Collingwood lost two Grand Finals to Melbourne in this decade, but bounced back to win premierships in 1953 and 1958. Collingwoods 1958 premiership is much cherished by the club as it prevented Melbourne from equalling Collingwoods record four premierships in a row, the 1958 premiership was however to be Collingwoods last for 32 years, as the club was to suffer a string of Grand Final defeats in coming decades. A string of eight Grand Final losses, often by narrow margins, between 1960 and 1981 gave rise to a perception that the club was prone to choking, a phenomenon wittily dubbed Colliwobbles. Whether this perception is accurate remains a subject of debate, however, Lou Richards ceremoniously buried the Colliwobbles at Victoria Park after the clubs 1990 premiership. Collingwood made a return to the finals in 2006, but were defeated by the Western Bulldogs by 41 points, having earned a preliminary final against Geelong, the Pies challenged the eventual premiers, only to fall short by five points. Nathan Buckley would announce his retirement at seasons end after playing just five games in 2007 due to injury, Collingwood finished eighth in 2008 and were assigned an away final against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. After at one point trailing in the match, the Pies went on to end Adelaides season, having defeated the Saints in both their regular season meetings, the Pies lost convincingly, ending their 2008 season. The 2009 season saw Collingwood finish inside the top-four for the first time since 2003, but the season ended abruptly for the Magpies, with an 73-point loss to the Cats
6.
Sydney Swans
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The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club has been based in Sydney since the South Melbourne Football Club was relocated to Sydney in 1982, Sydney was the first club in the competition to be based outside Victoria. The Swans have played their games at the Sydney Cricket Ground since 1982. The South Melbourne Football Club was founded in 1874 and was strong through the 1880s and it won three premierships in 1909,1918 and 1933 before experiencing 72 years without a premiership, the longest premiership drought of any club. The club broke the drought in 2005 and won another premiership in 2012, the inauguration date of the club is officially 19 June 1874, and it adopted the name South Melbourne Football Club four weeks later, on 15 July. In 1880, South Melbourne amalgamated with the nearby Albert-park Football Club, following the amalgamation, the club retained the name South Melbourne, and adopted the clubs now familiar red and white colours from Albert-park. Nicknamed the Southerners, the team was more known as the Bloods. The colorful epithet the Bloodstained Angels was also in use, the club was based at Lake Oval, also home of the South Melbourne Cricket Club. The match took place on 3 October 1896 at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, Collingwood won the match, six goals to five, in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000. This Grand Final would be the last match South Melbourne would play in the VFA, the other clubs were St Kilda Football Club, Essendon Football Club, Fitzroy Football Club, Melbourne Football Club, Geelong Football Club, Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club. South Melbourne was one of the founding clubs of the Victorian Football League that was formed in 1897. The club had success and won three VFL premierships in 1909,1918 and 1933. Ironically, the driver was a South Melbourne supporter. It was during this period that the team known as the Swans. The name stuck, in due to the clubs association with nearby Albert Park and Lake. After several years only limited success, South Melbourne next reached the grand final in 1945. The match, played against Carlton, was to become known as the Bloodbath, courtesy of the brawl that overshadowed the match, Carlton won the match by 28 points, and from then on, South Melbourne struggled. In the following years, South Melbourne consistently struggled, as their traditional inner-city recruiting district largely emptied as a result of demographic shifts, the club missed the finals in 1946 and continued to fall such that by 1950 they were second-last on the ladder
7.
Fitzroy Football Club
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The club experienced some early success in the league and was the first club to win a VFL Grand Final. It also achieved a total of eight VFL premierships between 1898 and 1944, and more recently two VAFA promotions in 2009 and 2012. Despite this, the club survived in its own right and The Fitzroy Football Club Ltd came out of administration after the merger of its AFL playing operations in late 1998. For a brief time it experimented in partnerships with other semi professional, Fitzroy largely resumed its original VFL-AFL identity through its continued use of their 1975–1996 VFL-AFL jumper, their theme song and their 1884–1966 home ground at the Brunswick Street Oval. Fitzroy began in the D1 section of the VAFA in 2009 and it is notable for being the only club to have played in the VFA, VFL, AFL and VAFA competitions of Australian Rules football. In 2015 Fitzroy fielded its first womens team under the name of Fitzroy-ACU in partnership with the Australian Catholic University, in 2016, Fitzroy-ACU fielded two womens teams in the Victorian Womens Football League VWFL. From 2017, all Fitzroy teams play in the VAFA with the playing in the VAFAs Inaugural womens competition. The Fitzroy Football Club was formed at a meeting at the Brunswick Hotel on 26 September 1883, Fitzroys season-by-season records throughout its thirteen seasons at VFA level are given below. In 1897, Fitzroy were one of the eight clubs who broke away from the VFA to form the Victorian Football League, Fitzroy was the most successful club in the first 10 years of the VFL, winning four premierships and finishing runners-up on three occasions. In contrast, the 1916 Fitzroy team only won 2 home and away matches, all four teams qualified for the finals, and Fitzroy won their next three games to win one of the strangest VFL premierships. The Maroons won their premiership in 1922, a year season which included four very rough games against eventual runners-up Collingwood. However, after this their fortunes waned, and they did not make the finals at all from 1925 to 1942 and it was during this time that the Maroons became known as the Gorillas. Football was less affected by World War II than it had been in 1916 and it was in this year, under captain-coach Fred Hughson, that the Gorillas won their eighth VFL flag against Richmond in front of a capacity crowd at Junction Oval. However, it was also to be their last senior premiership, as the club, by the mid 1960s, Fitzroys traditional home ground the Brunswick Street Oval was in a state of disrepair. Pressure was applied by most VFL clubs, including Fitzroy, to have the ground improved, however, the ground managers were the Fitzroy Cricket Club. The Football Club had to pay the Cricket Club to use the ground, the football club put forward various ideas to try and change the situation, including the amalgamation of the Football and Cricket Clubs to form one club as in the manner of the Carlton Social Club. The Cricket Club held the licence and managed the ground. With a stake in the ground, the club could have better agitated for improvements to the ground by sourcing funds from other organisations such as the VFL
8.
Carlton Football Club
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The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an suburb of Melbourne, the club competes in the Australian Football League. Its nickname comes from the blue colour of its playing uniform. The club has fielded a team in the AFL Womens league since its establishment in 2017. Carlton has had a long and successful history, together with fierce rivals Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon, Carlton was considered historically to be one of the leagues Big Four clubs, and enjoys a healthy rivalry with all three others. The Carlton Football Club was formed in July 1864, in the early days, Carlton became particularly strong and having grown a large supporter base. It became a rival to the Melbourne Football Club in early competition, including the South Yarra Challenge Cup. Carlton won four premierships during the era in the 1870s. In 1877, Carlton became one of the clubs of the Victorian Football Association. He died of tuberculosis in 1883, aged 27, in spite of this, the club was invited to join the breakaway Victorian Football League competition in 1897. The club continued to struggle in early seasons of the new competition, Carltons fortunes improved significantly in 1902. The Board elected the highly respected former Fitzroy footballer and Australian test cricketer Jack Worrall, then the secretary of the Carlton Cricket Club, to the same position at the football club. As secretary, Worrall slowly took over the managing of the players, under Worralls guidance in the latter part of the 1902 season, Carltons on-field performances improved, and in 1903 he led Carlton to the finals for the first time. Carlton built a reputation and financial position, and was able to convince many great players to shift to the club from other clubs. Worrall led the club to its first three VFL premierships, won consecutively, in 1906,1907 and 1908, some players had become frustrated by low payments and hard training standards, and responded by refusing to train or even play matches. The club removed Worrall from the role, and after significant changes at board level after the 1909 season. Many players who had supported Worrall left the club at the end of the season, then, in 1910, several players were suspected of having taken bribes to fix matches, with two players both found guilty and suspended for 99 matches. Despite this backdrop, Carlton continued its strong form, reaching the 1909 and 1910 Grand Finals
9.
St Kilda Football Club
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The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club plays in the Australian Football League, the premier league. The clubs name originates from the bayside Melbourne suburb of St Kilda in which the club was established in 1873, St Kilda have only won a single premiership to date, a famous one-point win in the 1966 VFL Grand Final. St Kilda most recently won the premiership in the 2009 AFL season and were grand finalists in 2009 and 2010. The St Kilda Football Club was formed on 2 April 1873, soon after a decision was made to amalgamate St Kilda FC with nearby Prahran Football Club. St Kilda retained their colours, name and ground, as well as picking up a number of Prahran players. St Kilda competed as a club in the VFA from 1877 to 1879, 1881–1882. St Kilda were one of the eight clubs that took part in the inaugural VFL season in 1897 and they made their debut in an away game against Collingwood on 8 May 1897, which they lost 2.4. to 5.11. The clubs home ground in the new league was the Junction Oval in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, the score was St Kilda 3.8. to 10.6. St Kildas early years in the VFL were not successful and, in 1899, they had the lowest score recorded in a VFL/AFL match. In 1902, Charlie Baker became the first St Kilda player to be the leading goalkicker in a home. Six successive wins at the start of the 1907 season saw St Kilda make the finals for the first time, qualifying third with nine wins, St Kilda were beaten by Carlton in their first VFL final by 56 points. They qualified in third again in 1908 and were once again eliminated by Carlton in the semi-finals. The 1913 season saw improvement in which the team qualified fourth. St Kilda won its semi-final against South Melbourne and then defeated Fitzroy two weeks later 10.10. to 6.9. in what was a match between the two teams won the semi-finals.14. to 5.13. Colin Watson became the first St Kilda player to win the leagues highest individual award, the following years saw St Kilda establish itself as a more consistently competitive club. They made the finals in 1929 and were eliminated again by Carlton,12.9 to 11.7. In 1936, Bill Mohr became the second St Kilda player to be the leading goalkicker in a home
10.
Single-elimination tournament
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Where more than two competitors can play in each match, such as in a shootout poker tournament, players are removed when they can no longer play until one player remains from the group. This player moves on to the next round, some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a final stage called playoffs. The round before the quarterfinals is sometimes called the round of sixteen, Last Sixteen, or pre-quarterfinals, earlier rounds are typically numbered counting forwards from the first round, or by the number of remaining competitors. If some competitors get a bye, the round at which they enter may be named the first round, with the matches called a preliminary round. Many Olympic single-elimination tournaments feature the bronze medal if they do not award bronze medals to both losing semifinalists. The FIFA World Cup has long featured the third place match, the number of distinct ways of arranging a single-elimination tournament is given by the Wedderburn–Etherington numbers. Brackets are set up so that the top two seeds could not possibly meet until the round, none of the top four can meet prior to the semifinals. If no seeding is used, the tournament is called a random knockout tournament. One version of seeding is where brackets are set up so that the quarterfinal pairings would be the 1 seed vs. the 8 seed,2 vs.7,3 vs.6 and 4 vs. This may be done after each round, or only at selected intervals, in American team sports, for example, the MLS, NFL and WNBA employ this tactic, but the NBA does not. MLB does not have teams in its playoff tournament where re-seeding would make a large difference in the matchups. In international fencing competitions, it is common to have a group stage, participants are divided in groups of 6–7 fencers who play a round-robin tournament, and a ranking is calculated from the consolidated group results. Single elimination is seeded from this ranking, the single-elimination format enables a relatively large number of competitors to participate. There are no dead matches, and no matches where one competitor has more to play for than the other, the format is less suited to games where draws are frequent. In chess, each fixture in a single-elimination tournament must be played multiple matches, because draws are common. In association football, games ending in a draw may be settled in extra time, another perceived disadvantage is that most competitors are eliminated after relatively few games. Variations such as the tournament allow competitors a single loss while remaining eligible for overall victory
11.
Round-robin tournament
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A round-robin tournament is a competition in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn. It contrasts with an elimination tournament, the term round-robin is derived from the French term ruban, meaning ribbon. Over a long period of time, the term was corrupted and idiomized to robin, in a single round-robin schedule, each participant plays every other participant once. If each participant plays all others twice, this is called a double round-robin. The term is used when all participants play one another more than twice. In the United Kingdom, a tournament is often called an American tournament in sports such as tennis or billiards which usually have knockout tournaments. In Italian it is called girone allitaliana, in Serbian it is called the Berger system, after chess player Johann Berger. A round-robin tournament with four players is sometimes called quad or foursome, in sports with a large number of competitive matches for season, double round-robins are common. Most association football leagues in the world are organized on a double round-robin basis, in every team plays all others in its league once at home. This system is used during qualification for major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup. There are also round-robin chess, draughts, go, curling, the World Chess Championship decided in 2005 and in 2007 on an eight-player double round-robin tournament where each player faces every other player once as white and once as black. Group tournaments rankings usually go by number of matches won and drawn, frequently, pool stages within a wider tournament are conducted on a round-robin basis. In theory, a tournament is the fairest way to determine the champion among a known. Each participant, player or team, has equal chances against all other opposites, the element of luck is seen to be reduced as compared to a knockout system since bad performances need not cripple a competitors chance of ultimate victory. Final records of participants are, thus, seen to be accurate as they represent the results over a longer period against equal competition. This can also be used to determine which teams are the poorest performers and this is also helpful to determine the final rank of all competitors from strongest to weakest for purposes of qualification for another stage or competition as well as for prize money. In team sport the major league champions is generally regarded as the best team in the land, the top one, two, or occasionally three teams in these groups then proceed to a straight knockout stage for the remainder of the tournament. The main disadvantage of a round robin tournament is the time needed to complete it, for instance, a tournament of 16 teams can be completed in just 4 rounds in a knockout format, a round-robin would require 15 rounds to finish
12.
Grand final
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A grand final is a game that decides a sports leagues championship winning team, i. e. the conclusive game of a finals series. Synonymous with a game in North American sports, grand finals have become a significant part of Australian culture. The earliest competitions to feature a final were Australias AFL. They influenced other competitions such as soccers A-League, the National Basketball League, netballs Suncorp Super Netball, most grand finals involve a prestigious award for the player voted best on field. The Anglo-Norman term grand to describe an event, documented in England as grand match in 1836, was used in Australia from the 1850s. A steeplechase in England has been called the Grand National Steeple Chase since at least 1839, use of the term in Australian Football dates back to the first organised and widely publicised match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College on 7 August 1858 at Yarra Park, Melbourne. The game was advertised as the football match in the Melbourne Morning Herald. In 1859, a football match was advertised in Richmond. The earliest known event described as grand in Sydney was a match in 1862. In the 1871 South Yarra Challenge Cup, Carlton and Melbourne drew their three matches, but also won their remaining matches. As head-to-head record was the tiebreaker at that time, the team captains. Carlton won by two goals to nil, the New South Wales Rugby Football League experimented with a finals system in 1908, its inaugural year, but abandoned it the following season. Finals were reintroduced in 1926, and the premiership decider appeared to only be called a grand final if it involved the minor premiers, by the 1930s, the NSWRFL adopted the term grand final to describe the premiership decider. Up until 1954 a grand final match was only if the minor premiers were beaten. The tradition is maintained by the present-day NRL National Rugby League, prior to 1898, the South Australian Football Association was awarded to the team that finished top of the end-of-season ladder placings. In 1889, Norwood and Port Adelaide finished equal first, meaning a play off match was required to determine the premiers, in promoting the decider match, local press dubbed the match a play-off or a deciding match rather than a grand final. This was played on October 5, and Norwood won the match 7.4 to 5.9, in 1894, Norwood and South Adelaide finished with a 13-5 record from their 18 matches. The SAFA fixed a replay for October 10, Labor Day Norwood won the replay 4.7 to South Adelaide 3.5 with a goal as the bell rang
13.
Tod Collins
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George Tod Collins was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League. Although his given name was George he was known as Tod Collins, Collins played mostly as a half back flanker and was a strong marker of the ball. He captained Essendon in 1901 and 1902, the former a premiership team, Collins had previously been a member of the inaugural VFL premiership side with Essendon in 1897. During his career he was chosen to represent the Victoria interstate team, in 1906 he became captain-coach of Victorian Football Association club Preston but retired five games into the season. Tod Collinss statistics from AFL Tables Tod Collinss profile from AustralianFootball. com Essendon Football Club profile
14.
Geelong
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Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia,75 kilometres south-west of the state capital, Melbourne. It is the second largest Victorian city, with an urban population of 191,440 as at June 2016. Geelong runs from the plains of Lara in the north to the hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with Corio Bay to the east. Geelong is the centre for the City of Greater Geelong municipality. Geelong was named in 1827, with the derived from the local Wathaurong Aboriginal name for the region, Jillong. The area was first surveyed in 1838, three weeks after Melbourne, the post office was open by June 1840. The first woolstore was erected in this period and it became the port for the industry of the Western District. During the gold rush, Geelong experienced a boom as the main port to the rich goldfields of the Ballarat district. The city then diversified into manufacturing, and during the 1860s, it one of the largest manufacturing centres in Australia with its wool mills, ropeworks. Population increases over the last decade were due to growth in service industries, redevelopment of the inner city has occurred since the 1990s, as well as gentrification of inner suburbs, and currently has a population growth rate higher than the national average. It is known for being home to the Geelong Football Club, today, Geelong stands as an emerging health, education and advanced manufacturing hub. The area of Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula was originally occupied by the Wathaurong Indigenous Australian tribe, the first nonindigenous person recorded as visiting the region was Lt. John Murray, who commanded the brig HMS Lady Nelson. After anchoring outside Port Phillip Heads, on 1 February 1802, led by John Bowen, they explored the immediate area, returning to the Lady Nelson on 4 February. On reporting favourable findings, the Lady Nelson entered Port Phillip on 14 February, during this time, Murray explored the Geelong area and, whilst on the far side of the bay, claimed the entire area for Britain. He named the bay Port King, after Philip Gidley King, Governor King later renamed the bay Port Phillip after the first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip. Arriving not long after Murray was Matthew Flinders, who entered Port Phillip on 27 April 1802, in October of the same year, the HMS Calcutta led by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins arrived in the bay to establish the Sullivan Bay penal colony. Collins was dissatisfied with the chosen, and sent a small party led by First Lieutenant J. H. Tuckey to investigate alternate sites. The party spent 22 October to 27 October on the shore of Corio Bay
15.
Jack Leith
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John G. Jack Leith was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the early years of the Victorian Football League. Leith was a forward and prior to joining Melbourne in the inaugural VFL season played with Geelong in the Victorian Football Association and he was a centre half forward in Melbournes 1900 premiership team and topped the clubs goalkicking on four occasions,1897,1899,1902 and 1907. When having a set shot at goal he used the kick and once, in a game against St Kilda. He retired at the end of the 1908 season but returned to the league in 1911, Jack Leiths statistics from AFL Tables Jack Leiths profile from AustralianFootball. com
16.
Melbourne Cricket Ground
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The Melbourne Cricket Ground, also known simply as The G, is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. The MCG is within walking distance of the city centre and is served by the Richmond railway station, Richmond, and it is part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct. Since it was built in 1853, the MCG has been in a state of almost constant renewal and it served as the centrepiece stadium of the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and two Cricket World Cups,1992 and 2015. The annual Boxing Day Test is one of the MCGs most popular events, the stadium fills to capacity for the AFL Grand Final. Concerts and other events are also held at the venue. The MCG is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and was included on the Australian National Heritage List in 2005, journalist Greg Baum called it a shrine, a citadel, a landmark, a totem that symbolises Melbourne to the world. Founded in November 1838 the Melbourne Cricket Club selected the current MCG site in 1853 after previously playing at several grounds around Melbourne, the club’s first game was against a military team at the Old Mint site, at the corner of William and Latrobe Streets. The area was subject to flooding, forcing the club to move again and it was not long before the club was forced out again, this time because of the expansion of the railway. The South Melbourne ground was in the path of Victoria’s first steam railway line from Melbourne to Sandridge and this last option, which is now Yarra Park, had been used by Aborigines until 1835. Between 1835 and 1853 it was an agistment area for colonial troopers’ horses, in 1850 it was part of a 200-acre stretch set aside for public recreation extending from Governor La Trobe’s Jolimont Estate to the Yarra River. By 1853 it had become a busy promenade for Melbourne residents, an MCC sub-committee chose the Richmond Park option because it was level enough for cricket but sloped enough to prevent inundation. That ground was located where the Richmond, or outer, end of the current MCG is now, at the same time the Richmond Cricket Club was given occupancy rights to six acres for another cricket ground on the eastern side of the Government Paddock. At the time of the grant the Government stipulated that the ground was to be used for cricket and cricket only. This condition remained until 1933 when the State Government allowed the MCG’s uses to be broadened to other purposes when not being used for cricket. In 1863 a corridor of land running diagonally across Yarra Park was granted to the Hobson’s Bay Railway, the area closest to the river was also developed for sporting purposes in later years including Olympic venues in 1956. The first grandstand at the MCG was the original wooden stand built in 1854. It was during this tour that the MCG hosted the worlds first Test match, in 1881 the original members stand was sold to the Richmond Cricket Club for £55. A new brick stand, considered at the time to be the world’s finest cricket facility, was built in its place, the foundation stone was laid by Prince George of Wales and Prince Albert Victor on 4 July and the stand opened in December that year
17.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
18.
Charlie Pannam (footballer, born 1874)
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He then played for the Richmond Football Club in the VFA in 1907 then in the VFL in 1908. He was senior coach of Richmond in 1907 and 1912 and it was when he had just immigrated to Australia that he shortened is surname from Pannamopoulos. In 1996 Pannam was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, charlie Pannams statistics from AFL Tables Hogan P, The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996 AFL, Hall of Fame
19.
Brunswick Street Oval
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Fitzroy then moved to Princes Park sharing the ground with Carlton Football Club between 1967 and 1969 before playing its home games at the Junction Oval in St Kilda from 1970. The venues original tenants, the Fitzroy Cricket Club, left the venue in 1986 when they merged with the Doncaster Cricket Club, the venue hosted one first-class cricket match, between Victoria and Western Australia in 1925/26. The ground was unused for Australian rules football for 27 years, the main grandstand is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. During the 1975 and 1976 Victorian State League seasons, the venue was used by the football club Heidelberg United. In the 1980s the venue was used intermittently by several lower-league soccer clubs up until 1990, the venue had previously hosted several showpiece soccer matches in the 1910s and 1920s, including Dockerty Cup finals. VFL games,612 between 1897 and 1966, including 609 which Fitzroy played in, VFL finals games,4 Highest attendance,34765 Austadiums
20.
Fitzroy, Victoria
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Fitzroy is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia,3 km north-east of Melbournes Central Business District in the local government area of the City of Yarra. At the 2011 Census, Fitzroy had a population of 9,430, planned as Melbournes first suburb, it was later also one of the citys first areas to gain municipal status. It occupies Melbournes smallest and most densely populated area, just 100 ha. Fitzroy has long associations with the class and is currently inhabited by a wide variety of socio-economic groups. It is known throughout Australia for its art and music scene and culture of bohemianism and its commercial heart is Brunswick Street, which is one of Melbournes major retail, eating, and nightlife strips. It has undergone waves of urban renewal and gentrification since the 1950s. In response to past planning practices, much of the suburb is now a historic precinct, with many individual buildings. Its built environment is diverse and features some of the finest examples of Victorian era architecture in Melbourne and it was named after Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, the Governor of New South Wales from 1846 to 1855. It is bordered by Alexandra Parade, Victoria Parade, Smith Street, Fitzroy was Melbournes first suburb, created in 1839 when the area between Melbourne and Alexandra Parade was subdivided into vacant lots and offered for sale. Newtown was later renamed Collingwood, and the now called Fitzroy was made a ward of the Melbourne City Council. On 9 September 1858, Fitzroy became a municipality in its own right, the council election took place two days later and the first councilors were, Thomas Rae, George Symons, Edward Langton, Henry Groom, Benjamin Bell, Edwin Bennett and Thomas Hargreave. The first council meeting, held after the declaration of election, was at the Exchange Hotel, George Street, a notable local entrepreneur was Macpherson Robertson, whose confectionery factories engulfed several blocks and stand as heritage landmarks today. The establishment of the Housing Commission of Victoria in 1938 saw swathes of new residences being constructed in Melbournes outer suburbs, the Housing Commission would build two public housing estates in Fitzroy in the 1960s, one in Hanover Street and one at the southern end of Brunswick Street. Before World War I, Fitzroy was a neighbourhood, with a concentration of political radicals already living there. Postwar immigration into the suburb resulted in the area becoming socially diverse, many working-class Chinese immigrants settled in Fitzroy due to its proximity to Chinatown. Like other inner-city suburbs of Melbourne, Fitzroy underwent a process of gentrification during the 1980s and 1990s, the areas manufacturing and warehouse sites were converted into apartments, and the corresponding rising rents in Fitzroy saw many of the areas residents move to Northcote and Brunswick. In June 1994, the City of Yarra was created, by combining the Cities of Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond. It is laid out in grid plan and is characterised by a tightly spaced rectangular grid of medium-sized streets, with many of its narrow streets
21.
Fred McGinis
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Fred McGinis was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association and the Victorian Football League. McGinis began his career with Melbourne at the age of seventeen in 1894 in the VFA, a rover, he starred for Melbourne in its debut season in the VFL in 1897. He was a player with Melbourne in 1900. Vision difficulties forced him out of the game by 1902 and he returned to Tasmania. As he neared total blindness, a match was played for his benefit between combined teams from the VFA and VFL on 4 September 1902, the match, won by the VFL, raised £200. The match was the first time that the two rival football competitions had ever played against each other. McGinis was regarded as one of the best players of his era, with contemporaries, including Mick Grace, Jack Leith and George Cathie. Although primarily a rover, he could play and succeed at any position on the ground, McGinis is the first listed inductee in the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame, his citation describing him as Tasmanias first true football superstar. Fred McGiniss statistics from AFL Tables Fred McGiniss profile from AustralianFootball. com
