1.
Australian rules football
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The main way to score points is by kicking the oval-shaped ball between the two tall goal posts. The team with the score by the end of the match wins unless a draw is declared. During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field, the primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled, for example, throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick are awarded possession, possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their body to obstruct opponents. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of players and the ball and high scoring. The sports origins can be traced to matches played in Melbourne, Victoria in 1858. Its annual Grand Final is the highest attended club championship event in the world, the sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. The games rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFLs Laws of the Game Committee, there is evidence of football being played sporadically in the Australian colonies in the first half of the 19th century. The earliest such match, held in St Kilda on 15 June, was between Melbourne Grammar and St Kilda Grammar. Born in Australia, Wills played a nascent form of rugby football whilst a pupil at Rugby School in England and his letter is regarded by many historians as giving impetus for the development of a new code of football today known as Australian football. Two weeks later, Wills friend, cricketer Jerry Bryant, posted an advertisement for a match at the Richmond Paddock adjoining the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was the first of several kickabouts held that year involving members of the Melbourne Cricket Club, including Wills, Bryant, W. J. Hammersley, trees were used as goalposts and play typically lasted an entire afternoon. Without an agreed code of laws, some players were guided by rules they had learned in the British Isles. Another significant milestone in 1858 was a match played under experimental rules between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College, held at the Richmond Paddock. This 40-a-side contest, umpired by Wills and Scotch College teacher John Macadam, began on 7 August and it is commemorated with a statue outside the MCG, and the two schools have competed annually ever since in the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, the worlds oldest continuous football competition. Since the early 20th century, it has suggested that Australian football was derived from the Irish sport of Gaelic football
2.
1909
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As of the start of 1909, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. January 5 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama, january 16 – Ernest Shackletons expedition claims to have found the magnetic South Pole. January 24 – The White Star Liner RMS Republic sinks the day after a collision with SS Florida, in the first recorded use of the CQD emergency radio signal for a large passenger vessel, one person, a male passenger, is lost on the Republic. January 28 – The last United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish–American War of 1898, february 5 – Leo Baekeland announces the creation of bakelite hard thermosetting plastic. March 4 – William Howard Taft is sworn in as President of the United States, march 10 – The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 is signed in Bangkok. March 18 – Einar Dessau uses a radio transmitter, becoming the first radio broadcaster. March 21 – The remains of the Báb are placed in the Baháí Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, march 31 – Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina. April 4 – The association football team Sport Club Internacional is founded in Porto Alegre, april 6 – Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and four Inuit explorers, Ootah, Ooqueah, Seegloo, and Egigingwah, come within a few miles of the North Pole. April 11 – The city of Tel Aviv is founded by the Jewish community on the outskirts of Jaffa, april 13 – Ottoman countercoup begins in the Ottoman Empire. April 14 – Adana massacre, Ottoman Turks kill 15, 000–30,000 Armenian Christians in the Adana Vilayet, april 18 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome. April 19 – The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, modern-day BP, is incorporated, april 27 – Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown and succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V. He is sent to the Ottoman port city of Thessaloniki the next day, may 13–30 – First Giro dItalia bicycle race, starting and finishing in Milan, Luigi Ganna is the winner. June 2 – French forces capture Abéché, capital of the Wadai Empire in central Africa, june 15 – Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lords Cricket Ground and form the Imperial Cricket Conference. July 16 – A revolution forces Mohammad Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty to abdicate in favor of his son Ahmad Shah Qajar and he proceeds to leave Persia for Imperial Russia, reportedly seeking the assistance of Nicholas II of Russia in regaining the throne. July 25 – Louis Blériot is the first man to fly across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft, july 25–August 2 – Tragic Week, The city of Barcelona experiences a workers uprising. August 2 – The United States Army Signal Corp Division purchases the worlds first military airplane, august 8 – Max Heindel formally founds the Rosicrucian Fellowship in Seattle, United States. August 12 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens in the United States, september 4 – Japan and China sign the Jiandao/Gando Treaty, which gives Japan a way to receive railroad concessions in Manchuria. October 8 – An earthquake in the Zagreb area leads Andrija Mohorovičić to identify the Mohorovičić discontinuity, october 12 - The association football team Coritiba is founded in Curitiba, Brazil
3.
1909 VFL Grand Final
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It was the 12th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1909 VFL season. The match, attended by 37,759 spectators, was won by South Melbourne by two points, marking that clubs first premiership victory, Carlton and South Melbourne finished in the top two during the minor round of the 1909 season, each finishing with a 14–4 record. South Melbourne was the premier, with a higher percentage than Carlton. During the season, the Carlton Football Club had been split by infighting within the committee, captain Fred Pompey Elliott took over the coaching duties in Round 14, and Carlton won its last four matches. As premiers in 1906,1907, and 1908, Carlton was attempting to win its fourth consecutive premiership, the finals were played under the amended Argus system. Both teams won their semi-finals, and Carlton defeated South Melbourne in the final 10.9 to 7.5, South Melbourne, as minor premiers, was then entitled to a Grand Final challenge match to decide the premiership. The South Melbourne side was missing full-back Bill Dolphin, who was injured, and winger Jim Caldwell, norm Clark was available for Carlton. The match, played in a rather unsettling wind, was closely contested. In the first quarter, South Melbourne’s back-flanker Tom Grimshaw was felled, but eventually recovered consciousness, in the second quarter, Carlton’s Jack Baquie badly injured his ankle and left the field, but eventually returned in the third quarter to stand in the forward-pocket. In the last quarter, Carlton had several chances to win, with five minutes to go, Mallee Johnson and Charlie Hammond got the ball to centre half-forward Harvey Kelly, who kicked a goal, bringing Carlton to two points behind. Carlton lost the ensuing centre-bounce at the restart of play, the ball got to South Melbournes forward Len Mortimer, but his kick did not make the distance. South Melbourne 4.14 defeated Carlton 4.12, the 1909 Grand Final was filmed by Charles Cozens Spencers Sydney-based film company, and is the oldest known surviving footage of Australian rules football in action. The near-complete silent film can be viewed on the National Film, Carlton Blueseum Article, Grand Final,19091909 VFL Grand Final, South Melbourne vs Carlton on YouTube
4.
1909 VFL season
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The 1909 Victorian Football League season was the 13th season of the elite Australian rules football competition. Each team played each other twice in a season of 18 rounds. Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1909 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and this was South Melbournes first premiership after finishing runner up twice previously. The 1909 VFL Premiership team was South Melbourne, the VFLs leading goalkicker was Dick Lee of Collingwood with 58 goals. St Kilda took the spoon in 1909. Later in 1909, Burns was suspended for life after being found guilty of a charge, however. This is the only such forfeiture to have lasted in senior VFL/AFL history, in Round 7 against Geelong, Harry Brereton of Melbourne, in only his seventh game, became the first player to kick nine or more goals in a match since Jim McShane in 1899. A Round 8 match between Fitzroy and Melbourne was marred by incidents of foul play. Spectators were involved in a brawl at the end of the game. The Round 13 match between Carlton and Geelong saw the score an aggregate of 29.26, the highest in VFL history to that time. There were riots in the crowd after the Round 13 match between South Melbourne and Fitzroy, an imminent on-field brawl between players from Collingwood and South Melbourne in their Round 14 match was averted when the appearance of a policeman on the ground calmed both teams down. The Round 15 match between St Kilda and Geelong is the last VFL/AFL game as of 2012 in which no goals were scored in the second half, on a flooded Junction Oval, St Kilda kicked 0.7 to Geelongs 0.5 after half time. Universitys draw with Collingwood in Round 16 was the closest that the Students got to defeating the Magpies in a League match, a Collingwood spectator jumped the fence at the Round 18 match against Melbourne and punched a Melbourne player. Harper, ran onto the field and made a citizens arrest, the Argus newspaper published the height, weight and occupation of each player in the finals for the first time. 1909 VFL Grand Final Hogan, P, the Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club,1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1 Maplestone, M. Flying Higher, History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996, ISBN 0-9591740-2-8 Rogers, S. & Brown, A. Every Game Ever Played, VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997, Viking Books,1998, ISBN 0-670-86814-01909 Season - AFL Tables
