Rick Davies - SANFL Champion and AFL Hall of Fame inductee
source: www.australianfootball.com
Each year when the AFL Hall of
Fame inductees are announced, I face a paradox in my thoughts about how the AFL
treats its history. The general line of my thinking goes something like this.
If the AFL is so keen on recognising the contributions that people make to the
game of Australian Rules football, why does the AFL still state its records in
terms of VFL/AFL history?
Let’s take the highest number of
games coached by an individual as an example, Mick Malthouse (718 games) was
celebrated as this person when he beat Jock McHale’s (VFL/AFL) record of 714
games in 2015. However both John Todd (721 games WAFL, West Coast) and Jack
Oatey (777 games SANFL) have each coached more games than Malthouse in their
respective state leagues.
Another example, Port Adelaide
are allowed to recognise their 36 SANFL Premierships along with their sole AFL
Premiership, but if you asked any Victorian club supporter they would state that Port have only
won one premiership when they beat Brisbane in 2004 and the SANFL flags do not
count. They will also claim that Essendon have won 16 Premierships, however
only two flags (1993, 2000) are in the post 1990 AFL era.
As you can see in these two
examples, there is no consistency when discussing history. The dilemma for the
AFL is that by not recognising the contributions to the game made by people in
states outside of Victoria, it potentially alienates those supporters who
genuinely think that the AFL is too Victorian centric. Alternatively, by giving
the football history of states other than Victorian greater weight, it risks
distancing some Victorian supporters from the game.
When I have this discussion with
Victorians, the point is often raised that the VFL was a better standard than
other state leagues such as the SANFL and the WAFL in the past and therefore
the recognition of history should remain in its current form. (That is, history
should be VFL/AFL related in content and records should reflect this). While this
is true to an extent, it was often due to the ability of Victorian Clubs to
offer interstate players more money than their local club rather than relying
on local talent alone.
Which brings me back to the Hall
of Fame dilemma. In 2013 South Australian Rick Davies was inducted to the AFL
Hall of Fame. Rick had an illustrious career at Sturt and amongst his
achievements are two SANFL Premierships, four Sturt Best & Fairest medals
and a Ken Farmer medal with 151 goals in 1983. If we apply the logic that
history should be VFL/AFL related in content, then Rick Davies effectively
entered the Hall of Fame based on the 20 games he played at Hawthorn.
It is obvious that this is not
the reason, which makes the Victorian logic flawed.
Where does the solution lie? My
suggestion is that the AFL could make 1990 its base year for AFL records and history.
This would be a substantial
change for the AFL. To give an example, Tony Lockett’s VFL/AFL goal-kicking
record would be split as 530 VFL and 830 AFL goals. In terms of AFL records
this would be second behind Matthew Lloyd whose 926 goals were all kicked after
1990.
This change would allow the AFL to recognise all the State leagues' histories prior to and beyond 1990. Even then it does become somewhat tricky with Victoria as the VFL morphed into the AFL. But this should enable some consistency in how we as supporters discuss our game and refer to its history.
