Rugby League Merchandise - A History of the Australian Football League
Cheap Designer Sunglasses Outlet
The origins of the Australian Football League (AFL) can be traced back to 1896 when 8 teams decided to split from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) to form the Victorian Football League (VFL). The VFA had been formed in 1877 but organised Australian Rules Football had been played in Victoria long before that with the first documented game taking place in August 1858 between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. In 1897 Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne contested the first VFL season with Essendon winning the first premiership.
St Kilda struggled in the new league losing their first 48 games before finally breaking through in the 1st round of the 1900 season defeating Melbourne by 1 point. The game finished with the scores deadlocked on 68 points apiece but St Kilda successfully argued that one of Melbourne points had been scored after the three-quarter time bell so the game was awarded to St Kilda. Success for the Saints was short-lived though with St Kilda losing their remaining 13 games in 1900 and their first 12 games in 1901 before posting another victory.
Round 1 of 1903 saw Geelong defeat St Kilda by 50 points meaning that St Kilda had managed to win only 2 of their first 100 League games. But by round 6 that same year something had changed. St Kilda started winning and finished the year in 5th position on the ladder with 6 wins just missing out on the Final Four.
In 1908 Richmond and University joined the VFL. Both teams were immediately competitive. Richmond winning their first League match against Melbourne then going on to complete the season with 6 victories. University had to wait until round 2 to record their first win when they defeated fellow newcomer Richmond. They finished the season in 6th place with 8 wins.
By 1912 University were in decline. They only won 1 game that year against St Kilda and were unable to record a victory in either of the following two seasons. Struggling to attract players, University disbanded before the start of the 1915 season having lost their final 51 games. University was the first VFL team to feel the pressure of players joining the forces fighting in WWI. The 1916 season saw Essendon, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne go into recess. With just four teams remaining in the League, Fitzroy achieved the unusual distinction of finishing last yet under the Final Four system they competed in the finals and won the premiership. Geelong and South Melbourne rejoined the League in 1917 with St Kilda and Essendon coming back the following season. Melbourne returned to the League in 1919 after the war had finished. The VFL expanded to 12 teams in 1925 when North Melbourne, Footscray and Hawthorn joined. The newcomers filled the bottom three spots on the 1925 ladder recording 5, 4 and 3 wins respectively. The late 1920s were dominated by Collingwood. Runners-up in 1925 and 1926, they won 4 premierships in a row from1927-30 losing just 10 games along the way. They were a machine, propelling their prolific full-forward Gordon Coventry to a 1,299 goal career.
Collingwood four premierships in a row remained unchallenged until the 1950s. Melbourne were runners-up in 1954, when Footscray won their first premiership, before a run of 3 premierships in 55, 56 and 57. Fate pitched them against Collingwood in the 1958 Grand Final. Collingwood won by 3 goals ensuring their record remained unequalled. Melbourne won the 1959 and 1960 premierships making it five flags from their seven consecutive Grand Final appearances.
------Collingwood again featured when St Kilda won the premiership in 1966 by a solitary point becoming the last of the original 8 VFL teams to win a flag. The 1972 season saw the number of teams playing in the finals increased from 4 to 5 with the introduction of the McIntyre Final Five system. This allowed an extra two matches to be played during the 4 week duration of the finals bringing additional gate receipts to the League. For the following decade, despite the extra money from finals, several VFL teams felt the pinch financially. The VFL various Jewelry were eyeing expansion into Sydney, Australia biggest city. But with a preference for Rugby League rather than Australian Rules Football breaking into the Sydney sports market would not be easy. With VFL encouragement, South Melbourne relocated to Sydney during the 1981 post-season and became the Sydney Swans starting and unparalleled period of change for the VFL.
The VFL expanded into Western Australian and Queensland with the inclusion of newly formed teams, the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears. These new teams both won their first games. Brisbane defeating North Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with West Coast beat Richmond at Subiaco. The Bears finished the year 13th with 6 wins while the Eagles were 8th with 11 wins.
With three teams based outside Victoria the VFL was renamed the Australian Football League (AFL) in 1990. Towards the end of that year the most successful South Australian team, Port Adelaide, made a bold bid to join the AFL. Their bid was thwarted when the South Australian League (SANFL) formed the Adelaide Crows who were accepted into the AFL expanding the competition to all five Australian mainland States.
The Crows hit the competition with a bang in the first round of 1991 beating Hawthorn by 86 points at Football Park but finished the season in 9th place with 10 wins.
The 1991 season also saw the expansion of the Finals system to a Final Six. Also devised by McIntyre, the Final Six had it鈥檚 problems. It was tweaked in 1992 when West Coast became the first non-Victorian team to win the premiership although with the Brisbane Bears Reserves winning the premiership in the curtain-raiser it could be argued that Brisbane holds that honour. In any case, the Eagles were the first non-Victorian team to win a senior flag and by 1994 when they added a second one, the Final Six system had been replaced by a Final Eight. With only 15 teams in the League, a Final Eight meant more teams made the finals than missed out. That was rectified in 1995 the Fremantle Dockers became the second Western Australian team to join the AFL. Freo lost their first two games before breaking through in round 3 against Fitzroy at the Western Oval. They finished the year with 8 wins in 13th place.
1996 marked the 100th season of VFL/AFL football. The AFL celebrated the entire season as its centenary and scheduled a series of re-enactment games in round 7 where teams wore replica china uniforms from the 1890s. Over 75,000 people saw Essendon defeat Geelong in the first game of that round at the MCG on a Wednesday night. Two days later more than 70,000 fans again made there way to the MCG to watch St Kilda defeat Collingwood.
Cynics suggest the AFL celebrated the centenary a year early because Fitzroy, one of the foundation teams, were in such financial trouble that they would not see the season out. It was no surprise when in July 1996 it was announced that Fitzroy would merge with another team. The expected partner was North Melbourne but when the announcement Cheap Designer Sunglasses Outlet was made it was the Brisbane Bears who were the other team. Fitzroy and the Bears played out the 1996 season before forming the Brisbane Lions for the 1997 season. Melbourne would have merged with Hawthorn that same year it had not been rejected by the members of both clubs at emotion charged meetings. North Melbourne went on to win the Grand Final against Sydney earning a gold premiership cup to mark the Centenary. To maintain 16 teams, Port Adelaide Power were admitted to the AFL in 1997. The Power were separate from the powerful SANFL team the Port Adelaide Magpies but they claimed a shared history with both teams based a Alberton Oval. Port Adelaide lost their first two games in 1997 to Collingwood and Essendon before defeating Geelong in round 3 at Football Park in Adelaide. Brisbane Lions also lost in round 1 but rebounded in round 2 defeating St Kilda by 97 points in their first home game at the Gabba. Port and the Lions fought out 8th spot on the ladder each having 10 wins and a draw. Brisbane played in the finals due to their superior percentage. Perhaps inspired by the inclusion of their cross-town rivals, Adelaide won their first premiership in 1997. They went back-to-back winning again in 1998.
The finals system was changed again in 2000. The number of teams remained at 8 but the AFL did not want the match-ups from week one to be repeated in week 3. The changes brought more uncertainty and complexity to the finals match-ups but at this stage remains the AFL preferred system.
The early 21st century belonged to the non-Victorian clubs. Brisbane won 3 flags in a row in 2001, 02 and 03 before falling to Port Adelaide in 2004 leaving Collingwood 4-in-a-row untouched. The Sydney Swans won the premiership in 2005 breaking a 72 year drought since South Melbourne had won in 1933.
The future of the AFL looks as interesting as the past. Victorian teams with exciting squads such as St Kilda and Geelong are pushing for the premiership while Brisbane, Adelaide and West Coast continue to look strong. Fremantle remains the only team not to have won a flag but no doubt their time will come.
For more information visit Rugby League Merchandise
------various Jewelry Retrieved from "myarticlesbase bag show/sem-articles/rugby-league-merchandise-a-history-of-the-australian-football-league-1398214......."
没有评论:
发表评论