A brief history of our finals matches

[Bornadog]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Was that when they were called the Mayblooms? That's got to mess with your head, surely!

Pretty sure Mayblooms was their nickname. Today's Hawthorn FC, was formed in 1902 and didn't enter the VFA till 1914.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Was that when they were called the Mayblooms? That's got to mess with your head, surely!

Yep. And the Mustard Pots.

It was Roy Cazaly who changed the emblem to the Hawks when he coached Hawthorn in the '40s.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

OUR FIRST EVER VFL FINAL

After entering the AFL in 1925, Footscray had to wait 13 years to make the finals. From 1925-1937 they never finished last, but most years were in the bottom third of the table.

By 1938, they had built a strong team, and finished the season in 3rd place; 18 games - 13 wins, 5 losses, 124.3%.

Under the old top 4 finals system, that meant we played 4th placed Collingwood in an Elimination Final - played at the MCG in front of 68,556.

Our team guns were champion CHF/Utility Arthur Olliver, dynamic midsize forward Alby Morrison and a powerful on-ball team comprising Ruckman Norm Ware, Ruck/Rover Ambrose Palmer, Rover Harry Hickey and Centreman and Captain Roy Evans.

Reading back over old reports, Footscray had worked itself into a frenzy of excitement pre-match, with a range of events held through the week - many attended by the entire team.

The reports of the match describe a furious pace for the day. Footscray were renowned as a fast, talented side, Collingwood tougher and more professional.

In the first qtr, Pies had a strong wind and kicked 6.1, whilst Dogs kicked 3.2.

In the 2nd qtr, Dogs dominated, creating chance after chance, but managed only 3.9 whilst a ruthless Pies created 3 chances for 3.0.

So at 1/2 time, Pie 9.1.55 (10 scoring shots) led Dogs 6.11.47 (17 scoring shots). (Sound familiar so far).

Collingwood broke the game open in the 3rd and ultimately went on to win 18.9.117 (27 scoring shots) to 10.16.76 (26).

Best players for Footscray were listed as wingman Bob Spargo (who had 2 sons play for Footscray and a grandson play for North), Full-Back Paul Standfield (a Fish Creek recruit whose grandson, Barry, also played for the club) and small forward Cliff MacRae (our only efficient forward on the day who kicked 5 goals).

For Collingwood, their stars Des Fothergill (6 goals as Rover), Alby Pannam (5 goals) and Ron Todd (4 goals) all produced as usual.

After the game it was revealed that Ruckman Norman Ware (who won the sportswriters award that year as best player in the competition, and later won a Brownlow) played the last month of the season with a broken bone in his foot, whilst gun forwards Olliver and Morrison were also carrying significant injuries.

One of the stars in our first finals team was Jim Miller who went onto become the Bulldogs President in the '60's.
Jim who is now 96 is in the Footscray Hospital following a fall. He and his wife of 75 years still live in their original home in West Footscray. A wonderful achievement.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

West Footscray is that sort of place.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Thanks for letting us know that NBP, certainly wish him all the best. It's good to know at least one of those guys is still with us.

For those curious, Jim Miller played on a wing in our first ever VFL finals team, and was actually the youngest Bulldog that day (at 19, the sole teenager). He had a great career with the Dogs, playing 132 games from 1938-48.

[Webby]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Pretty sure Mayblooms was their nickname. Today's Hawthorn FC, was formed in 1902 and didn't enter the VFA till 1914.

Yep, and they achieved sweet FA in the VFA, too. We bashed the door down by winning flag after flag. Hawthorn got in because the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was shut down due to the construction of the Jolimont Rail Yards. Thus the residents, Essendon FC and East Melbourne CC (then THE powerhouse of Victorian cricket) had to find new homes.

Essendon moved to Windy Hill and East Melbourne CC chose to move to the Glenferrie Oval (with money to develop the ground), thus meaning that minnows, the Hawthorn Footy Club suddenly had a gigantic co-tenant on whose coat-tails they could ride.

Double dumb luck on their part! The VFL then carried and nurtured them (as the first GWS-like project club of the league) for 35 years as they racked up spoon after spoon. Only then to finally gift them some of the most fertile recruiting zones in order to try to drag them out of the basket... Which obviously worked!!

So to hear their hierarchy now taking an anti-equalisation stance is quite galling to say the least! I used to like Hawthorn, but I've come to loathe them in recent times..

[Bornadog]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

One of the stars in our first finals team was Jim Miller who went onto become the Bulldogs President in the '60's.
Jim who is now 96 is in the Footscray Hospital following a fall. He and his wife of 75 years still live in their original home in West Footscray. A wonderful achievement.

Thank you for that information and hopefully Jim's fall is not too painful for him and he recovers quickly.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

VFL/AFL FINAL NO.6

Alrighty, so we're up to 1951. It's Charlie Sutton's first year as Captain Coach, he's taken over a team that has finished 9th and 10th of 12 the previous 2 seasons.

The composition of the R1 team is interesting. We only have 2 players older than 25, being Charlie (the eldest at 27) and full forward Bill Wood. On the other hand, we had future Brownlow medallist Peter Box debuting at 19, champion full-back Herb Henderson playing his 2nd game at 20 and a 17 year old Ted Whitten also debutting (amongst many other quality youngsters - the great backman Wally Donald was almost a team veteran as a 77 game 23 yo and Jack Collins was playing his 18th game as a 21 yo).

Sutton (who won the club b&f in 1950 and was given a new kitchen sink as his trophy) could see the quality that had left in the post war years and knew a strong emphasis on youth was the way forward. The first test of the new young Dogs was a tough one, Richmond at Punt Road, but against all expectations the youngsters dug deep in a bruising encounter the best way possible; prevailing 15.10.100 to 15.9.99.

Amazingly in R2 we met Carlton at the Western Oval and again got up by a solitary point (5.11.41 to 4.16.40 - must've been a lovely day).

The early signs were good. The young team had a roller coaster season and spent most of it outside the 4, but won the late games to finish 4th.

They ended the season 12-6 (113%), resulting in an Elimination Final against Essendon, played at the MCG in front of 66,135.

By finals time, Whitten was no longer the youngster of the team, with Arthur Edwards playing the final, his 2nd game, as a just turned 17 year old ruckman/forward. He had been at the club since playing in the 5ths as a 14 year old.

There was a lot of drama in the week leading up to the final. Our seasons best player, and 2nd most experienced, Dick Wearmouth was ruled out through injury. It looked like gun youngster Ted Whitten (who had kicked 22 season goals at 17) would have to miss through National Service, the Army Minister refused Ted's application for Service to be delayed, but was overturned by PM Robert Menzies.

Of all our finals, this one is a doozy.

Once again, there is a lot of talk of the finals millstone and we fly out at Essendon, establishing an early margin. Our early play was quite brilliant, kicking 3 goals before Essendon score.

In fact we lead at every change; 6.1 to 3.2 at 1/4 time, 7.1 to 4.4 at 1/2 time, 7.5 to 6.7 at 3/4 time.

As can be seen from the scoreline, Dogs started with great energy and the game had a bright 9 goal opening quarter. As previous though, our experienced opponents closed the game down and ground away our lead by kicking 3 goals to 1 over the next 2 quarters.

The grind wore us down and a flat 8 scoring shot to 1 final quarter saw Essendon sneak away as 8 point victors; 8.13.61 to 8.5.53.

For the Dogs, Collins and Laffey kicked 2 each. Best were listed as Donald, Henderson, Bryden, Collins and Sutton.

Although another finals loss stung, the post match press was very upbeat about the Dogs. This young team had outdone itself all season, stretched a powerhouse, and surely had big things coming.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

VFL/AFL FINAL NO.6

Alrighty, so we're up to 1951. It's Charlie Sutton's first year as Captain Coach, he's taken over a team that has finished 9th and 10th of 12 the previous 2 seasons.

The composition of the R1 team is interesting. We only have 2 players older than 25, being Charlie (the eldest at 27) and full forward Bill Wood. On the other hand, we had future Brownlow medallist Peter Box debuting at 19, champion full-back Herb Henderson playing his 2nd game at 20 and a 17 year old Ted Whitten also debutting (amongst many other quality youngsters - the great backman Wally Donald was almost a team veteran as a 77 game 23 yo and Jack Collins was playing his 18th game as a 21 yo).

Sutton (who won the club b&f in 1950 and was given a new kitchen sink as his trophy) could see the quality that had left in the post war years and knew a strong emphasis on youth was the way forward. The first test of the new young Dogs was a tough one, Richmond at Punt Road, but against all expectations the youngsters dug deep in a bruising encounter the best way possible; prevailing 15.10.100 to 15.9.99.

Amazingly in R2 we met Carlton at the Western Oval and again got up by a solitary point (5.11.41 to 4.16.40 - must've been a lovely day).

The early signs were good. The young team had a roller coaster season and spent most of it outside the 4, but won the late games to finish 4th.

They ended the season 12-6 (113%), resulting in an Elimination Final against Essendon, played at the MCG in front of 66,135.

By finals time, Whitten was no longer the youngster of the team, with Arthur Edwards playing the final, his 2nd game, as a just turned 17 year old ruckman/forward. He had been at the club since playing in the 5ths as a 14 year old.

There was a lot of drama in the week leading up to the final. Our seasons best player, and 2nd most experienced, Dick Wearmouth was ruled out through injury. It looked like gun youngster Ted Whitten (who had kicked 22 season goals at 17) would have to miss through National Service, the Army Minister refused Ted's application for Service to be delayed, but was overturned by PM Robert Menzies.

Of all our finals, this one is a doozy.

Once again, there is a lot of talk of the finals millstone and we fly out at Essendon, establishing an early margin. Our early play was quite brilliant, kicking 3 goals before Essendon score.

In fact we lead at every change; 6.1 to 3.2 at 1/4 time, 7.1 to 4.4 at 1/2 time, 7.5 to 6.7 at 3/4 time.

As can be seen from the scoreline, Dogs started with great energy and the game had a bright 9 goal opening quarter. As previous though, our experienced opponents closed the game down and ground away our lead by kicking 3 goals to 1 over the next 2 quarters.

The grind wore us down and a flat 8 scoring shot to 1 final quarter saw Essendon sneak away as 8 point victors; 8.13.61 to 8.5.53.

For the Dogs, Collins and Laffey kicked 2 each. Best were listed as Donald, Henderson, Bryden, Collins and Sutton.

Although, another finals loss stung, the post match press was very upbeat about the Dogs. This young team had outdone itself all season, stretched a powerhouse, and surely had big things coming.

That sounds just like us now. A season where we outdid ecpectations and made the finals under a new coach but ended up losing a close elimination final. Lots of really promising kids who seem to bleed red, white and blue with a couple in particular, a kid who could be anything and can play anywhere and a lairy forward who can walk the walk and a wise old leader adored by all.

Tell me what happened to that team? Did it end up winning anything?

[Bornadog]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Only kicked two goals after the first quarter.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

That sounds just like us now. A season where we outdid ecpectations and made the finals under a new coach but ended up losing a close elimination final. Lots of really promising kids who seem to bleed red, white and blue with a couple in particular, a kid who could be anything and can play anywhere and a lairy forward who can walk the walk and a wise old leader adored by all.

Tell me what happened to that team? Did it end up winning anything?

I was kind of hinting at comparisons

They went on to do ok

Reckon this current lot may even do a little more

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Only kicked two goals after the first quarter.

Yep. Essendon were really tough old pros, once we jumped them they just shut everything down and turned the screws. With the benefit of hindsight, it would've been a great learning experience for that group.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

OUR 7TH VFL/AFL FINAL

In 1952, for the 6th time out of 6, we failed to capitalise on our finals showing, with our young team managing only 5 wins and 10th spot. However, for the 4th time we immediately bounced back and returned to the finals in 1953.

The 1953 home and away season was quite spectacular. We finished with a 13-5 record and a 136.5 percentage, our best ever %by plenty and the only time in our history we finished with a % over 130 (next best were 1955 (129.96), then 1954 (129.95), then 1992 (129.85)).

It was also the wettest Melbourne winter on record, with many games played on mudheaps. The Dogs had gathered a reputation as a superior wet weather team. We were even accused of doctoring our home ground, with Ted Whitten reportedly seen blocking a Gordon Street stormwater drain with a mophead the day before one match (very different times!).

The h&a season did end disappointingly however. Entering the final round in 2nd place, we had the opportunity to grab the all important double chance for the first time ever. Tough match though, we faced 3rd placed Collingwood at Victoria Park, and got rolled by 19 points - a flattering scoreline as we trailled by 44 at 3QT.

This left us in 3rd place and entering our 7th Elimination Final in 15 years.

Our opponent was Essendon, in front of 69,467 at the MCG.

Our team at this stage was still quite raw. The only 100 game+ players were Charlie Sutton (29), Dave Bryden (26) and Wally Donald (26) - Sutton's leadership must've been enormous. Other key young players getting up to the 50-80 game range included Champion Utility Ted Whitten (20) - on windy days he played CHF with the wind and CHB into the wind, Ruckman Harvey Stevens (23) and Full-Back Herb Henderson (22).

As often happened previously, the young Dogs entered the game frenetically and flogged Essendon in the 1st qtr, generating 10 scoring shots to 1. Disturbingly, these shots resulted in a familiar scoreline - 3.7 to 1.0.

The 2nd and 3rd quarters also followed familiar patterns, with Essendon steadying, stopping the Dogs scoring and grinding their way back into the match. Dogs managed only 1 goal in 2 quarters, with the 3 quarter time scoreline being Dogs 4.11.35 to 4.7.31.

With Essendon kicking to the scoring end in Q4, the outcome looked bleakly predictable, but this group was different. When it mattered, they found extra and pulled away again to prevail 6.13.49 to 5.11.41.

The game was reportedly an ugly affair, with 50mph winds resulting in sloppy passages. Our defenders drew high praise, especially full back Henderson who held champion full forward to John Coleman to 1 goal (Henderson regularly bettered Coleman, who regarded HH as his toughest opponent - high praise from arguably the greatest ever full forward). Abbey, Donald and Sutton were reportedly especially desperate in their defensive efforts, whilst Whitten's defensive dashes and penetrating drop kicks into the wind also drew particular comment.

Our only multiple goalscorer was Roy Harper with 2 (hats off to Roy).

Best players were listed as Centreman Peter Box, Whitten, Henderson and Back Pocket Angus Abbey.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

OUR 7TH VFL/AFL FINAL

In 1952, for the 6th time out of 6, we failed to capitalise on our finals showing, with our young team managing only 5 wins and 10th spot. However, for the 4th time we immediately bounced back and returned to the finals in 1953.

The 1953 home and away season was quite spectacular. We finished with a 13-5 record and a 136.5 percentage, our best ever %by plenty and the only time in our history we finished with a % over 130 (next best were 1955 (129.96), then 1954 (129.95), then 1992 (129.85)).

It was also the wettest Melbourne winter on record, with many games played on mudheaps. The Dogs had gathered a reputation as a superior wet weather team. We were even accused of doctoring our home ground, with Ted Whitten reportedly seen blocking a Gordon Street stormwater drain with a mophead the day before one match (very different times!).

The h&a season did end disappointingly however. Entering the final round in 2nd place, we had the opportunity to grab the all important double chance for the first time ever. Tough match though, we faced 3rd placed Collingwood at Victoria Park, and got rolled by 19 points - a flattering scoreline as we trailled by 44 at 3QT.

This left us in 3rd place and entering our 7th Elimination Final in 15 years.

Our opponent was Essendon, in front of 69,467 at the MCG.

Our team at this stage was still quite raw. The only 100 game+ players were Charlie Sutton (29), Dave Bryden (26) and Wally Donald (26) - Sutton's leadership must've been enormous. Other key young players getting up to the 50-80 game range included Champion Utility Ted Whitten (20) - on windy days he played CHF with the wind and CHB into the wind, Ruckman Harvey Stevens (23) and Full-Back Herb Henderson (22).

As often happened previously, the young Dogs entered the game frenetically and flogged Essendon in the 1st qtr, generating 10 scoring shots to 1. Disturbingly, these shots resulted in a familiar scoreline - 3.7 to 1.0.

The 2nd and 3rd quarters also followed familiar patterns, with Essendon steadying, stopping the Dogs scoring and grinding their way back into the match. Dogs managed only 1 goal in 2 quarters, with the 3 quarter time scoreline being Dogs 4.11.35 to 4.7.31.

With Essendon kicking to the scoring end in Q4, the outcome looked bleakly predictable, but this group was different. When it mattered, they found extra and pulled away again to prevail 6.13.49 to 5.11.41.

The game was reportedly an ugly affair, with 50mph winds resulting in sloppy passages. Our defenders drew high praise, especially full back Henderson who held champion full forward to John Coleman to 1 goal (Henderson regularly bettered Coleman, who regarded HH as his toughest opponent - high praise from arguably the greatest ever full forward). Abbey, Donald and Sutton were reportedly especially desperate in their defensive efforts, whilst Whitten's defensive dashes and penetrating drop kicks into the wind also drew particular comment.

Our only multiple goalscorer was Roy Harper with 2 (hats off to Roy).

Best players were listed as Centreman Peter Box, Whitten, Henderson and Back Pocket Angus Abbey.

This is brilliant posting. Great thing.

Some of the information you are sharing is simply quite magnificent.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

I think Jack Collins missed this one due to suspension?