Australian Football

1919: Dawn of a new Dogs era

A VFA hiatus

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The Argus reported in February 1916 that there would be no VFA football played that year

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The impact of the First World War on football in Victoria was significant. After the Victorian Football League had expanded from its original eight to ten teams in 1908, the advent of the conflict saw the league's number of active teams shrink to nine in 1915, and then only four in the following year, producing a farcical 1916 season in which Fitzroy finished last on the ladder and went on to win the premiership.

It wasn't until 1919 that the number of VFL sides rose back up to nine. University, the first of the teams to withdraw from the league, never returned, their demise probably more a result of a refusal to join other clubs in allowing players to become professional players than of the Great War.¹

For the Victorian Football Association, the war's impact was greater still. After full complement of ten sides participated in 1915, on the eve of the 1916 season, club delegates (after lengthy discussions) unanimously voted to suspend competition for the remainder of the duration of the war. Neither 1916 nor 1917 saw the Association field any teams, but as the autumn of 1918 approach, though the war would continue to be waged until November, club delegates had a change of heart.

A return to the field

At a special meeting of the Association at the Orient Hotel on April 12, five clubs — Brunswick, Footscray, North Melbourne, Northcote and Prarhran — agreed in principle to resume playing,² Footscray on the proviso that Port Melbourne would also field a side, bringing the total number of teams to six. Port confirmed its willingness several days later, and a ten-round fixture, with each side playing each other twice, was drawn up.

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The matter of playing football during war-time remained a contentious one, but the VFA decision received broad approval when it was agreed that all revenue raised after expenses would go to the War Council Fund. In a letter to the Footscray Advertiser, club secretary Tom Clark informed locals that "all officers and players are to act in an honorary capacity and are to receive only their bare travelling expenses, a list of which has to be submitted to the War Council for their approval".³

Once the decision to play had been made, Footscray, along with the other five clubs, faced a challenging task in quickly putting together a team. For various reasons, previous players were now "scattered", and there was a certain amount of trepidation about the strength of the team that would be wearing the 'Scray colours. As 'Half Forward' in the Footscray Advertiser pointed out, "Most of the old players are scattered. Several are 'playing the game for the Empire, others have drifted away; some have got beyond the football stage."⁴

But in spite of those concerns, the Tricolours began their return to football with a win over Northcote, thanks mainly to the 'old guard':

These veterans, like the green bay tree, flourish in the football sense. Gregory, Samson, Cotton, Grierson, Crouch and McKenzie still remain the bone, the sinew and the brain of the combination. .Some of the new blood, of course, gave hint of bright performance, notably Laurence on the back line, a younger, sprightlier "Ching" Harris (this is not meant to discount the old veteran), Hardy. .Mitchell, Radley, Fitzgibbon and Edwards. McKenzie was elected captain of the team, and Gregory vice-captain.⁵

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Art Gregory

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Footscray's opening win proved to be a false dawn, however, and they came crashing down against North Melbourne in Round 2. The Shinboners would prove to be a thorn in the 'Scray side over the nexty two seasons, and the two sides would go on to contest some epic battles over the next five seasons. After the Round 2 loss, things went from bad to worse for the 'Scray, in a results sense at least, as they went on to endure a run of eight straight losses. The Tricolours could not even repeat their first-round effort when they met Northcote for a second time at Northcote Park in Round 6.

It took until the final round of the season before Footscray tasted victory once more, when Tricolours comfortably defeated Port Melbourne at Western Oval. This was a surprising result, as the 'Burrough' would be playing finals, albeit by a quirk of the VFA having adopted a 'top four' system in a six-team competition.

And so Footscray's season amounted to little, with just two wins bookending a run of eight consecutive losses. The 'Scray's 2-8 record condemned them to last place. This was unfamiliar territory for such a proud club. Not since 1889 had they ended a season at the foot of the table, and it would be more than 40 years before they did so again.

The Tricolours sound a warning

In the lead-up to the 1919 season, in which four more clubs came out of hiatus to return the VFA to a full 10-team competition, Footscray vowed to make a concerted effort to restore its powerhouse status, one which had seen the club win a hat-trick of flags from 1898 to 1900, and two further premierships in 1908 and 1913.

At the club's AGM in March 1919, outgoing secretary Tom Clark, talked up Footscray's chances, declaring the club's prospects to be "splendid" and that with several prominent League players joining the club, the team would "surprise the natives."

The local newspaper, the Footscray Independent, agreed, declaring, "This is no idle talk. Footscray is going to deliver the goods this year, and followers of the good old winter game will see that Mr. Clark did not exaggerate when the boys take the field."

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The list of players who crossed from the VFL to join the Red, White and Blue included a premiership Essendon player, Bill Sewart, who came on board as playing coach, Carlton's premiership centre-half back Paddy O'Brien and outstanding tap ruckman Jack "Chooka" Howell, who had played a large part in South Melbourne winning the VFL premiership in 1918.

Perhaps the most important addition of all to the squad was Harry Morgan (left). Originally from Subiaco, Morgan had been a renowned goalkicker over several seasons at South but unlike Howell, he had been overlooked by selectors when they chose the 1918 Grand Final side. Although he was nearing 30, Morgan would ultimately demonstrate that he had plenty of good football — and goals — left in him in 1919.

Footscray kicked off the 1919 season with an emphatic statement, thrashing 1918 Grand Finalists Prahran by 81 points in the opening match of the season at Western Oval. Prahran did not score a goal until the final quarter.

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DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Readers of The Argus could have been forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu when they opened the Monday June 9 edition. Another big win by the 'Scray allowed the paper to use the same headline as they had a week earlier.

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The 'Scray go south against North

The Tricolours' first real test came in Round 3 when they ventured up the road to Arden Street to take on neighbouring North Melbourne. A large crowd was present for the match between the undefeated sides, including invalid soldiers from Caulfield military hospital, invited by the Association, and the Lord Mayor, who addressed the soldiers in the pre-match formalities, wishing them a speedy recovery.⁶

Though the 'Scray matched the Shinboners for much of the day, indeed leading by five points at the final change of ends, North pulled away in the final term, opening up a 14-point lead before a late goal cut the final margin to seven points.

Footscray bounced back to win the next seven matches, all of them by hefty margins of eight goals on more. Harry Morgan was proving a revelation at full forward, kicking regular bags of goals, including seven against Essendon in Round 6, six against Brighton the following week, and eight against Prahran in Round 10.

Coming in to Round 11, the 'Scray were second on the ladder (North were still undefeated), with a huge percentage, and two games clear of third-placed Northcote. They were heavily favoured to win at home against Northcote, setting up a mouthwatering return clash with North in Round 11, but in a shock result, the visitors adapted better to the typically windy Western Oval conditions, defeating Footscray by 15 points.

The Tricolours badly missed Howell, who had missed the match with influenza,⁷ but perhaps they had gotten ahead of themselves and were focussing their thoughts on their Round 12 battle with the Shinboners. Whatever the case, the loss to Northcote took some of the air out of the build-up to the match against North.

Shinboners sneak home

Footscray had first use of a breeze blowing directly towards the railway end of Western Oval, but though they created many chances, they squandered most, and by quarter time led by only five points, despite having had five more scoring shots than the Shinboners. North narrowed the margin to four points at the long break, before the 'Scray made much better use of the wind in the third quarter, kicking four majors to one to open up a 14-point break heading into the final stanza.

The champion North Melbourne team, which had won 51 matches in a row since their last defeat in 1914 (when they were, coincidentally, beaten by Footscray at Whitten Oval), would need to bring out their best in the final quarter if they were to preserve their unbeaten run. 

North kicked the opening goal within two minutes but Fitzgibbon replied for Footscray, and the Tricolours were still 14 points to the good eight minutes into the term. As the conditions got darker Hawkins and Donnelly both scored for North to cut the margin to a solitary point. The Shinboners then added a behind to tie the scores with 10 minutes remaining.

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Walsh added another goal for North and a further behind put the Shinboners seven points clear. The visitors looked home, but there were to be further twists in the game's dying stages. Captain Johnny Craddock kicked a behind into the breeze before Morgan marked and kicked truly. Scores were level again. The 'Scray then went forward once more and a famous win appeared possible. But North's Waddington repelled the attack. 

With seconds remaining, North's Hawkins somehow managed to extricate himself and the ball from a mad scramble of a dozen players, snapping a goal to put the Shinboners six points clear. The bell sounded soon after, and Footscray had come up short — just — in an encounter worthy of a Grand Final.

As heartbreaking as the loss would have been, Footscray's men did not allow themselves to dwell on it, bouncing back to win another five games in a row, again all by big margins. The 'Scray came into the final home-and-away round with second place on the ladder sewn up, and perhaps that went some way towards explaining a last-round hiccup which saw them narrowly lose to Brunswick. Nevertheless, the Tricolours could go into the finals knowing that their best was good enough to match it with any opponent.

Footscray's finals fortune

Notwithstanding the confidence in their ability to mix it with the 'big guys', Footscray may have been slightly concerned that their four home-and-away losses had come against the three other sides to make the top four — North Melbourne, Northcote and Brunswick. They need not have worried about Northcote, whom they overcame in a canter in a scrappy First Semi-Final, with 'Chooka' Howell dominating in the ruck. Howell topped off his efforts with four goals, while Harry Morgan and Martin each kicked three. 

There was a sensation the following week when North Melbourne, who had added six wins to their unbeaten run since the match at the Western Oval, were defeated by Brunswick in the other semi-final. This meant that Footscray would take on Brunswick in the Final, with the Shinboners having the right to challenge the winner in a Grand Final.

Ahead of the match, the local Footscray paper thought the Tricolours were capable of overcoming the Magpies, but only if they played the right way:

"If the Footscray players play as they did against North Melbourne victory seems certain; but if they conltinue that idiotic, suicidal policy of holding on and running with the ball when they should kick down the centre, Brunswick's clever team work will conquer."⁸

Whether the 'Scray played idiotic or suicidal football in the first quarter is not recorded, but they found themselves a long way behind Brunswick at the first break of the Final, the Magpies having scored 4.3 to nothing. Brunswick had had the use of the wind in that first quarter, but 'Old Boy' of The Argus, suggested that the Tricolours poor start may also have been influenced by the fact that they had arrived at the East Melbourne ground "minus their training kit".⁹

Whatever the cause, the Red, White and Blue settled in the second term, and then outscored Brunswick into the wind in third quarter. Footscray went into the final quarter with a one-goal lead and the breeze at their back. They used it well to run out comfortable 13-point winners. Morgan was a star for the victors, the Footscray Independent lavish in their praise of him:

"Harry Morgan played one of his very best games. The Magpies watched him very narrowly, but he beat them all and notched four goals. His marking was great."¹⁰

Footscray's win set the scene for the premiership playoff that most Association fans had been looking forward to for months. The question that remained was, could the 'Scray go the extra step and knock off champions?

Third time lucky

Somewhat surprisingly, despite having lost to North in both their home-and-away matches, Footscray were favoured to win the Grand Final. The Australasian's football writer declared, "With both teams at their best, there is little between them, and on paper Footscray, who are in rare form, should hold their own." The writer turned out to be a good judge.

THE TEAMS

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A strong wind was blowing towards the grandstand end of the East Melbourne Cricket Ground on Grand Final day and Footscray's captain Johnny Craddock chose to kick with it when he called correctly at the coin toss. 'Scray fans might have become a little nervous when Irwin of North kicked the first goal of the match kicked the game's first goal into the stiff breeze, but the Tricolours took control from there, kicking four goals, two to skipper Craddock, to set up a 22-point lead at the first break.

The Shinboners used the wind advantage well in the second term, narrowing the gap to just two points at the long break, leaving the match very much in the balance.

In a third quarter script that might sound very familiar to Bulldogs fans of a century later, Footscray dominated but were plagued by poor kicking for goal. The Tricolours kicked two goals to nil, one each to Craddock and Howell, but also missed the target many times, registering eight behinds. That gave them a 21-point lead at the last change, but with North coming home with the wind, the door was ajar for the Shinboners.

The importance of that last quarter cannot be understated. Even in 1919, the stronger VFA clubs were eyeing entry into the Victorian Football League, and premiership success was the key. 'Old Boy' in The Argus wrote:

"A premiership hung in the balance, and with it the right to battle at the doors of the League on the ground of performance, and both sides went into the final term determined and eager if not anxious."

Footscray got the important first goal of the quarter but North responded with two, cutting the margin to 16 points, before captain Craddock's fourth major sealed the match, and the 1919 premiership, for the 'Scray, exactly a year after they had finished last on the ladder.

Grand beginnings

The 1919 triumph was no fluke. The 'Scray won 16 of 18 home-and-away games in 1920 and defeated Brunswick in a Grand Final thriller to make it back-to-back flags. Despite again topping the table in the next two seasons, the Tricolours faltered narrowly in both of the 1921 and 1922 Grand Finals, beating Port Melbourne to win the 1923 premiership and crushing Williamstown in the 1924 Grand Final.

To stamp their credentials as a team worthy of joining the VFL, the Bulldogs (as they were now known) then defeated the League premiers Essendon in a post-season charity match to be declared Champions of the Colony.¹¹

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Footscray, along with the team they beat in the 1919 Grand Final, North Melbourne, and Hawthorn were accepted into the League for the 1925 season, starting a new era for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs would have to wait some time for premiership success, but they were clearly the best-performed of three 'newcomers' for the first three and half decades after gaining entry into the VFL. In that period, Hawthorn collected the wooden spoon ten times, while North Melbourne finished last nine times. 

By the time the Dogs collected their first VFL wooden spoon, in 1959, they had already won a premiership, in 1954. Hawthorn's first premiership did not come until 1961 and it wasn't until 1975 that the Shinboners won their first VFL flag.

The 1919 season is now a century in the past, but it remains one of the most significant in the history of the Footscray Football Club. The seeds for the 'Scray's greatest era were were sown during that season, and they sprouted with the Tricolours' Grand Final win over North Melbourne