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1910 Season of Scandal.Odt 16/05/19 in January the League Was Working on a System of Metropolitan Zones Which Would Tie Residents of Each Zone to Specific Clubs

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1910 Season of Scandal.Odt 16/05/19 in January the League Was Working on a System of Metropolitan Zones Which Would Tie Residents of Each Zone to Specific Clubs Episode No: 14 Title: Episode 14 1910 Season of Scandal Date Written: 27/1/21 Length Words: 9678 Date Recorded: TBD Length Time est at 125 WPM: 77 min Date Uploaded: TBD Length Time when recorded: Intro Music Welcome Hello and welcome to Grand Final History. I am Kieran Magee and in this episode we go back to 1910, a season that is arguably the most controversial in the entire history of the VFL/AFL. Committee room coups, on field violence, umpires threatened after the game and assaulted after a tribunal hearing, players charged by police and convicted in court for on field violence, a violent brawl in the Grand Final that threatened to become a riot and on top of all this, a bribery and match fixing scandal that erupted in the finals. And the club at the centre of most of the controversy was Carlton. The old dark navy blues will be front and centre in this episode. It will be a longer episode than normal there was just so much happening in 1910, the Season of Scandal. Background Outside of football the big events of 1910 were Harry Houdini visiting Australia and. conducting one of the first flights in an airplane in Australia at Diggers Rest1 in March. In early May, King Edward VII died. The news reached Melbourne at Mid day on Saturday the 7th of May and, as reported in the Argus on the following Monday, “It was perceived by everybody as a matter of course that there would be no amusements in the city that afternoon and evening. Race goers on their way to Caulfield stopped and turned homeward, those who had engagements for Football matches at once began to cancel the engagements”3. This meant Round Two was pushed back a week. It is interesting to contemplate whose death today would lead to such a spontaneous cancellation of activity? Also in 1910 Haley's comet was visible from earth on one of its regular visits. There were some people afraid that when the earth moved through the trail of the comet death and disaster would ensue. It might also be the only time that a comet was blamed by a VFL player when they were reported by the umpire. 1 of 19 1910 Season of Scandal.odt 16/05/19 In January the league was working on a system of metropolitan zones which would tie residents of each zone to specific clubs. This would stop players from being able to move from club to club. It was yet another way of dealing with the faux amateurism with mentioning the word professional. In January it was “generally approved”4 by the league according the press but this was to prove optimistic. At a League meeting in January where the proposal was discussed the President Alex MacCracken said “I would like to see the teams levelled up some more” 5 an early example of the many efforts to equalise clubs that eventually resulted in Salary Caps and Drafts many years later. The scheme was voted down in early February. One of the main opponents was South Melbourne’s president Henry Skinner who said the best footballers in the country should play league football if they can be secured. He also had a shot at Geelong declaring they should be in a country league not the VFL. He saw Geelong as a parasite on the league. Harsh words indeed6. In March, South Melbourne held their AGM, which was largely a celebration of last season’s premiership. However, the Argus had published a review of the club’s balance sheet the day before that raised questions about the “expenses” that were required to get an “amateur” club onto the field. Henry Skinner was not a man to take a backward step. Invoking an “us against them” attitude that many clubs followed in subsequent years. He praised the players for their efforts despite the attacks of the press and poured scorn on the Argus article, saying the “I’m told it will be published in the Times of London tomorrow” 7 While South Melbourne were happy being premiers, up the other end of town things were going badly at Carlton. Jack Worral had stood down as coach in the middle of the previous season however, he was still the club secretary. But a core of players wanted him out of the club. Even the 1909 end of season trip to Gippsland had been an issue when 14 players signed a petition against Jack Worral joining as team manager. In February 1910 over 1,000 members gathered for an unofficial “Indignation Meeting” There were calls for a spill of the committee including Jack Worral as secretary. Fifteen players who supported the call, including Captain coach Fred Pompey Elliot. The double irony is that committees are normally only challenged when a club has been unsuccessful for a period of time and a new faction believes it has the people to achieve success. And it cannot be forgotten that in early 1904 Jack Worral was sacked after two years in the role of Secretary and Coach by the then Carlton Committee and it was a revolt led by the players that saw that committee replaced and Worral returned as Secretary/Coach. Now 6 years later with the club having been in five of the last six grand finals and won three premierships the knives were out for Worral, this time led by the players. In March, the situation worsened. A circular was distributed with 15 players’ signatures saying they would not play if Worrall remained at the club. Jack Worrall then wrote a letter to the Age where he let rip at the 15 players. Questioning their loyalty, implying some had stood down for the first three games of the last season looking of more money. 2 of 19 1910 Season of Scandal.odt 16/05/19 The AGM was on Friday 18th of Marc and the Melbourne Town Hall was too small to contain the crowd. It was described as one of the most tumultuous meetings ever held in the Town Hall.8 The President left the meeting, the lights went out for two minutes, there were moves to close the meeting and a new chairman was appointed and a new ballot was declared The votes were taken and tallied all through the night and the results declared on Saturday morning. The Reform party had won. There was a new president and new Secretary and Frank Worral was out. The new Secretary and delegate to the league was defender and centreman Arthur Ford. A player taking up the role of Secretary and delegate, what could go wrong with that? While there was a cohort of players that wanted Worrall gone, there were other players loyal to their old coach. The dissension meant that a number decided to leave or retire. George Mallee Johnston, Frank Silver Cain, Fred Jinks and Charlie Hammond representing 14 premierships between them, all transferred to North Melbourne in the VFA. Triple premiership player Les Beck left for Port Melbourne and skilful wingman and veteran Ted Kennedy retired at 32 taking his triple premiership experience with him. Although his decision might have been more driven by age than support of Worral as he would stay involved n the club having won a seat on the committee and, when Reform President John McInerny had to take a break due to ill health, Ted Kennedy became the acting president, a year after he stopped playing. Carlton would be starting the season with the absence of seven star players representing 19 premierships between them and the departure of Worrall, the strongman of the club for the past seven years. How would it impact their performance? But Frank Worral would still be involved in the game. At the League AGM in April Worrall was appointed as Coach of the umpires. It is worth noting that Carlton voted against this appointment but it was carried by an overwhelming majority.10 The AGM also decided to raise the pay of umpires. There was some discussion about the strain put upon umpires though it was noted they get paid for their services and then Mr Fayle from Richmond said the players do not get paid and there was laughter around the table.11 Everyone knew about player payments but nobody could say it. South Melbourne also had a new coach in 1910, Their premiership Captain Coach Charles Rickets was in poor health at the start of the season and he told the players that he did not think it fair that he take the captaincy and then not play for a month or more.10 Bill “Son” Thomas would take his place as captain coach for the season. So for two years in a row the reigning premiership coach would not see out the following season. Albeit for very different reasons. One final point before we get into the season proper that demonstrates both the unbounded optimism for the expansion of the Australian game overseas and the unvarnished racism that was common in this era. In April there was a short article describing how the VFL has received a letter from the British embassy in Tokyo where a Mr McLean had introduced Australian Football to Tokyo that winter. It was claimed there is a probability of it becoming popular in the middle schools in Tokyo. Within the near future their could be exchanges of schools for games to promote the code further. This would seem to have been an optimistic assessment. 3 of 19 1910 Season of Scandal.odt 16/05/19 But the headline for the article shows how times have thankfully changed.
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