The Australian Football League is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway co
The final standing of the 1896 VFA ladder. Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne, Carlton and St Kilda would form the VFL the following year.
Essendon won the inaugural VFL premiership by finishing on top of the 1897 round robin finals ladder. A new finals system was implemented during the 1898 VFL season in order that a final match, or "grand final", should determine the premiers.
In 1924, Footscray, the premiers of the VFA, defeated Essendon, the VFL premiers, in the Championship of Victoria. The result played a large part in Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne gaining entry into the VFL the following year.
Luke Hodge, the first pick in the 2001 AFL draft. Hodge has played the most VFL/AFL games of any number-one draft pick (346 games played), is the only number-one draft pick to win a Norm Smith Medal, is one of just five number-one draft picks to have won a premiership, and has won the most premierships of any number-one draft pick (4)
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League, the
Australian Football League
…Ground each year. The grand final winners are termed the premiers, the most important team prizes for which are the premiership cup and flag. Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon are the joint-most successful clubs in the competition, having each won 16 premierships. The Brisbane Lions are the reigning premiers…
The Collingwood team that won the VFA premiership in 1896
Jock McHale coached the club to four consecutive Grand Final victories
Nathan Buckley captained Collingwood between 1999 and 2007, and served as the club's senior coach from 2012 to 2021
Collingwood player Tom Nelson wrote the lyrics to "Good Old Collingwood Forever" in 1906.