Old Grand Finals

[Bornadog]

This is the oldest footage that has survived of a grand final.

1909 VFL Grand Final, South Melbourne vs Carlton

Don't worry, the Blues lost.

I thought it was interesting to watch and see how the game developed.

[Bornadog]

Re: Old Grand Finals

1954 Premiership

[Twodogs]

Re: Old Grand Finals

How's the way they handball in 1909? They flip the ball up and punch it while it's in the air like a volleyball serve. The first couple of times I saw it I wondered what they were doing

[Bornadog]

Re: Old Grand Finals

How's the way they handball in 1909? They flip the ball up and punch it while it's in the air like a volleyball serve. The first couple of times I saw it I wondered what they were doing

Yes I found that funny too. I wonder when they tightened that rule

[Greystache]

Re: Old Grand Finals

Look at all that congestion, rolling malls, and low scoring. If the VFL don't do something about it soccer is going to take over. They need to get football back to what it was like in the glory days of the 1890's.

[Twodogs]

Re: Old Grand Finals

Yes I found that funny too. I wonder when they tightened that rule

Funnily enough I am reading a book ATM about the history of tactics in Australian Rules and there's a short history of handball. They basically used the crow throw up until 1905 when they first legislated the proper handball. But the rule was a bit vague so they had different teams using different methods. Flick passes, the volleyball pass and all sorts. They rewrote the rule again in 1908 but teams still found loopholes. Then in 1910 they got it right and the proper handball came about.

Except in Adelaide where they kept the flick pass until 1923 and the VFA until 1934. And it kept cropping up in the VFL every now and then too.