Resource The NMFC History thread

[Iva Bigun]

Whoops one final

2x 1974 members cards and a 1975 one as well

Some great history here of the club and as I said I’d like to see it with someone who has a vested interest in the club these days. As I said feel free to PM me if you’re interested in making an offer on any or all of the items

 

[kangaroo7]

1876

AMALGAMATION--- MK.1

After two years as a senior club, North Melbourne had certainly made an impression, but not always a good one. On the one hand, they had done comparatively well for a newly promoted senior team, winning seven of their eleven matches in 1874, and six out of eleven in 1875. On the other hand, they managed to upset Melbourne and Carlton--the colony's two strongest metropolitan sides. This led to a difficult position for the club and an unusual solution.

BACKGROUND

In 1874, the club had agreed to play two matches on Melbourne's home ground, which was then in the Richmond Paddock. After the first match, however, having seen the state of the ground, North declined to play the second match there. A writer described the ground, which was just next to the MCG as "far from inviting", "the gravel pit" and "hard and bare as a rock". In addition a raised gravel path ran diagonally across it. North wrote a letter to Melbourne which was considered offensive. Also, they arranged to play a match with Carlton on the day the Melbourne match was due to be played. Had Carlton known of the circumstances, they would not have agreed to the match. At their meeting at the start of 1875, when fixtures were being arranged, Melbourne asked North Melbourne to withdraw comments made in their letter. North refused, and Melbourne declared they would not play North again.

The Carlton match was an entertaining and exciting game which ended in a scoreless draw. However, their next meeting in September lasted just twenty minutes, with first the field umpire, then the Carlton team walking off the field. Both teams blamed each other for the row, but Carlton declared they would not play North again and would request other teams not to do so.

North's first match in 1875 was against newly promoted senior team Carlton Imperial. Imperial scored the opening goal, then North scored an equalising goal which was signalled as such by the Carlton Imperial goal umpire. However, Imperial's fans rushed onto the ground and bullied the goal umpire into reversing his decision, saying the ball had been touched. The secretary of Carlton, Mr T Power, who was officiating as field umpire protested against this calling it disgraceful, and the match went no further. Both teams declared they would not play each other again. By early 1877, Carlton Imperial had disbanded.

Carlton, who the previous season had threatened not to play North again, apparently settled their differences with them and three matches were arranged. The first was a draw, the second did not take place as North could not muster a team. The third was won by Carlton 2-1, a third goal by Carlton being disallowed as the ball hit some spectators standing in front of the goal posts. This and North's rough play upset Carlton and they again vetoed North.


ALBERT-PARK cum NORTH MELBOURNE

Meanwhile, another senior club was having its own issues. The performance of Albert-park had declined in 1875, with the club failing to win a match and suffering from the departure of some players and lack of interest from others. The club was on the verge of disbanding.

Entering 1876, North's situation was serious. With three senior clubs refusing to play them and their rowdy fans doing them no favours, as well as possible internal issues, the club disbanded in early May. The club had quite a few good players who now needed a new home, and Albert-park needed players to continue to exist. So the two clubs decided to solve each others problems by merging, causing quite a stir in the football world.

There was no formal amalgamation between the clubs, but most of North's senior players and many members went to Albert-park, which took on a strong North Melbourne character, fielding more North Melbourne players than Albert-park ones. The North players even retained their blue and white uniforms, and many fans openly cheered for North Melbourne rather than Albert-park. Some in the media came to describe the club as "Albert-park cum North Melbourne".

The new composite team began the season well with a win over Melbourne, followed by a draw with Carlton. Ten matches were played that produced six wins, two draws and two losses. The losses were to Barwon, the top provincial club at the time, and Carlton in their return match in August. The Carlton team had requested that this match be moved to their ground so that admission fees could be used to raise funds for ground improvements, even offering to play a third match at Albert-parks' ground. Albert-park refused.

After that Carlton match, on the 12th of August, the Albert-park 1st twenty did not play again in 1876, although matches were scheduled. "The Australasian" sports writer wondered what the club's members had been doing since 12th of August. He received a letter from their secretary saying that the "unsatisfactory condition" had been brought about by "a series of adverse circumstances" over which the committee had no control. Perhaps the North Melbourne players were getting homesick.

The Albert-park 2nd twenty, with its infusion of North players, managed to win the Challenge Cup, a competition held for the 2nd twenties of teams who wanted to enter. They went through their ten matches undefeated. A draw with Carlton Imperial in the last match played on 14th October was enough to win the Cup.

On 12 April 1877, at a meeting at Sutcliffe's Hotel, the North Melbourne football club was re-formed under the name Hotham. Many of the officials from 1875 were elected and at least fifteen senior players returned. Although the area was commonly known as North Melbourne since the 1840s, the official name of Hotham had been declared in 1859. So the new team called itself after its location, although the town and the team would revert to North Melbourne in 1887.

Albert-park were now once again in dire straits having lost a good number of players. In April 1877 they requested an amalgamation with South Melbourne, who were not yet a senior team. South refused. However, when the Carlton Imperial club disbanded in May, Albert-park got most of their players and were able to continue for another three seasons. Finally, in 1880, they amalgamated with South Melbourne, who were now a senior team. They kept the red and white colours. Ironically Albert-park had originally formed under the name South Melbourne in 1867, then changed to Emerald Hill in 1868, then Albert-park in 1869.

So the North Melbourne football club survived basically intact from this first of their mergers, whereas Albert-park would ultimately disappear in name.

 

[see see]

North wrote a letter to Melbourne which was considered offensive. Also, they arranged to play a match with Carlton on the day the Melbourne match was due to be played. Had Carlton known of the circumstances, they would not have agreed to the match. At their meeting at the start of 1875, when fixtures were being arranged, Melbourne asked North Melbourne to withdraw comments made in their letter. North refused, and Melbourne declared they would not play North again.

Even almost 150 years ago the GoDees were a bunch of precious sooks. Why doesn't that suprise me?

Great stuff kangaroo7, loving your work in this thread.

 

[kangaroo7]

1907- 08

AMALGAMATION --- Mk II



After two premierships and finals appearances every year from 1903, internal dissension sent North spiralling to the bottom of the ladder in 1907. They won only two matches for the season. Their former co-tenants, West Melbourne, on the other hand, had improved over the past few seasons, winning the premiership in 1906 and finishing runners-up in 1907. In 1907, West Melbourne had left Arden Street and begun using the East Melbourne Cricket Ground for their home matches, but were evicted at the end of the season as the University team would now be playing there.

In early October 1907, the VFL announced that they would admit the University team. This brought the number of teams in the VFL to nine. Ideally another team was required. Richmond applied for the tenth position. They were dissatisfied with the VFA, having had several run-ins over the past few years, including their forfeiture of the 1904 Grand Final against North Melbourne, and arranging a practice match in 1907 with VFL club Geelong, which was forbidden by the VFA. North Melbourne had always had ambitions of joining the VFL, being bitterly disappointed when they were overlooked in 1896.

North Melbourne and Richmond were in a similar situation. Both had won two premierships in the VFA and both had good centrally located ovals. North quickly arranged a merger with West Melbourne, who now had no ground and were as good as bankrupt, and applied to join the VFL. Besides these two, reigning premier Williamstown and Brighton, who weren't even in the VFA, also applied.

The VFL met on 18th October. Delegates from Richmond, North Melbourne and West Melbourne stated their cases and a long discussion followed. The Essendon delegate to the VFL, George Stuckey, who was a former North cricketer and footballer, strongly urged the claims of his old club. But the larger and more financial Richmond club was admitted. Naturally, the VFA were not happy with the actions of these clubs. They could do nothing about Richmond. But at a special meeting on 22nd of November, they voted to expel North Melbourne and West Melbourne.

In February 1908, North and West Melbourne renewed their application to join the VFL, pointing out that the VFA were attempting to form a "City Football Club", with the objective of securing the North Melbourne Recreation ground, and if their application was again refused, their position would be a serious one. Although much sympathy was shown by the VFL, it was pointed out that having an odd number of teams would make their present system of play unworkable.

In March, the club applied to be re-admitted to the VFA. This was rejected. Then at the VFA's Annual Meeting in April, a group of 15 leading residents of North Melbourne, led by local MLA George Prendergast, requested that North be again admitted to the VFA. The club would be reformed on an entirely new basis after a public meeting of local residents was held. The VFA replied that if these steps were taken by the following week, the club would be admitted. The timing was fortuitous as the VFL had just ordered that no VFA matches could be played on league grounds in the future, and the VFA realised that it was important to have a team in the North Melbourne district to retain their most valuable ground--North Melbourne Recreation Reserve.

On 16th April at a meeting of the VFA at Young & Jackson's Hotel, a delegation consisting of Messrs Prendergast, Doherty and Boyle made formal application for admission of the new North Melbourne club. This was approved, on the condition that no one from the old executive should serve on the club's new committee. The colours of the re-formed club would be blue and white halves with a red sash, the red sash representing the West Melbourne club. As the 1908 VFA fixture had a bye due to the odd amount of teams, North would play the team that had been allocated the bye each week. Apart from the red stripe concession, it appears that West Melbourne had little influence on the new club. Most of their players ended up at other clubs, ironically none at North. The merger appeared to have gone sour rather quickly and by next season the red sash had disappeared. Due to their lack of time to prepare, and loss of some players, North had a poor season winning four matches and narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon.

Then, at the end of the season, West Melbourne suddenly reappeared and applied to the VFA to be reinstated under the name "City of Melbourne club". It had promises of substantial support, arranged to use the North Melbourne ground and former players now at other clubs would return. Although the prospect of having a strong team in the inner city area was desirable, the problem of team numbers came up again with the VFA currently having 10 which was considered ideal. The only way the new team would be admitted was if it amalgamated with an existing team. North Melbourne was the obvious choice, but, as North delegate T. Doherty pointed out, the feeling was now too bitter for an amalgamation. Essendon Association delegate Cr. A Showers moved that the VFA executive committee arrange a conference between the backers of the new club and North Melbourne with a view to arranging a consolidation under the name "City of Melbourne", or "Melbourne A".

In December a lively meeting of North Melbourne members and representatives of the proposed new club was held, presided over by Cr Prendergast. Arguments were heard from both sides. One of North's newly appointed secretaries, J Holland, was in favour of the merger and name change. But Crs Prendergast and Gardiner wanted the North Melbourne name retained if the merger took place. North's other secretary, T. Doherty took a ballot of the members and the motion to merge under the name Melbourne City was defeated 37-18. The chairman then called for a show of hands to see if members favoured changing the name to North and West Melbourne Football Club, but the members wanted no change.

So North survived the very short-lived amalgamation hastily arranged in 1907. All traces of it quickly disappeared. It would take another year for the club to become a power once more. Ironically, the VFL again had the problem of having an odd number of clubs when University withdrew at the end of the 1914 season and could not continue after the war.

 

[kangaroo7]

1921-1922 AMALGAMATION Mk. III

At the end of the 1920 season, it was announced that the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was being taken over by the Railway Commissioners. The land was originally railway property, and was now required for necessary extension of the Flinders Street Railyards. The ground had hosted several tenants over the years, including North Melbourne, who used the ground in 1897 when Arden Street was undergoing a resurfacing. But its longest tenant was Essendon, which had moved there in 1882, having been refused permission to play on the Essendon Cricket Ground, the local mayor considering that it was suitable only for cricket. Many Essendon residents were upset that their team was not situated locally, and not easily accessible to attend matches. This resulted in the formation of the Essendon Town team in 1900, which ironically played on the E.C.G.

The VFL's Essendon now needed a new ground to play on, and eyed the centrally located, well surfaced North Melbourne ground. It was in Essendon's recruiting zone and the vast majority of its supporters lived in North Melbourne, West Melbourne and Kensington. The ground would draw larger crowds than the then outer suburb of Essendon.

North Melbourne had never given up on its ambition to join the VFL. After winning the premiership in 1914, they became the dominant team in the VFA, easily making it two flags in a row in 1915, going through the season undefeated. Then after a two year recess by the VFA due to the war, they picked up where they left off and were undefeated champions again in 1918. They looked set to do it again in 1919, but were surprisingly beaten in both of their finals matches. After this they came back to the field somewhat, but were still a team to be reckoned with.

When Essendon announced their intention to move to Arden Street in June 1921, North saw a chance to get into the VFL by amalgamating with Essendon. They realised that the Essendon identity could not be retained if based in North Melbourne, and that the team would eventually be taken over or re-branded "North Melbourne" when North Melbourne based members obtained the voting majority. So North welcomed the Essendon takeover of their ground. North's president, Cr Deveney saying:" North Melbourne has for years been anxious to get into the League, and this is the only way." On June 30th they disbanded as a senior club, thinking that the VFA would banish them anyway once they realised what they were up to. This gave their existing players the chance to transfer to other clubs before the July 1 deadline. Clearances were freely handed out, eighteen players leaving.

The move by North, however, was a bit premature. No agreement had been reached with Essendon regarding an amalgamation, nor had Essendon's committee considered one. At this stage they were only interested in North's ground. North's quick action also prevented any meeting with their own club members, many of whom were angry at not being consulted and that the club was not going to play all the matches they had paid for with their memberships. As expected, the VFA disqualified North, although technically the club was already defunct. It approved all transfers of North players to other VFA clubs, but rejected transfer permits to League clubs. North had encouraged their famous ruck trio of Barker, Hardy and Rawle to transfer to Essendon. Barker and Hardy did so, as the League did not recognise Association permits. Rawle went to the VFA's Essendon.

The opinions of members from both clubs were divided on the matter. Some thought that North should be admitted to the League in their own right, in view of their recent dominance in the Association. There had been an odd number of teams in the VFL since the end of the war when University did not return. Some at Essendon were prepared to accept the move to North Melbourne, but others wanted the club to play in its own suburb. But the move to Arden Street by Essendon and North's amalgamation plans were to be thwarted from two fronts.

1. The Arden Street ground was important to the VFA. It was the only inner city ground they had control over, having lost all other central clubs to the VFL. Gate takings were generally higher at inner city grounds, which were easy to access. The VFA had tried to establish new centrally located teams (e.g. Melbourne City) but had failed. They did not want to lose their last central ground to a VFL club. So the VFA lodged a protest to the Minister for Lands, asking that he veto Essendon's move to North Melbourne. The ground was owned by the Melbourne City Council, so the Minister for Lands had the final say on its use, and upheld the VFA's protest. Some North Melbourne residents and members protested, but this was rejected by the government, who upheld the minister's decision.

2. Soon after this, Essendon had reached an agreement with the Essendon council to use the Essendon Recreation Reserve. Cr A Showers led a "Back to Essendon" movement, and found a legal loophole saying that the North Melbourne ground was for the exclusive use of the North Melbourne citizens, and therefore Essendon could not use it. The council had been urging the club to return to their home suburb, and committed considerable funds to improving the ground. The ground's existing tenant since 1900, Essendon A, was unceremoniously evicted, and had no option but to disband, which they did in late December.

So North Melbourne were left without a senior club, and a good number of their players. However, the VFA realised the importance and necessity of having a team based at Arden Street, and was prepared to re admit the club on the condition that it had an entirely new committee--the same condition imposed on it in 1908. Club champions, Barker and Hardy, could not return as they remained disqualified by the VFA. However, fourteen players, including George Rawle, were obtained from the now defunct Essendon "A" team in time for the 1922 season. The Dreadnoughts reluctantly decided to amalgamate with North, should they be re-admitted to the VFA, as they now had no ground to play on and a loss of local support now that the Essendon League team had returned home.

Despite all the upheaval of 1921, the newly amalgamated club, under the guidance of Rawle, did quite well in 1922, making the finals and beating minor premier Footscray in the second semi-final. But the following week they lost to eventual premiers Port Melbourne in the final. Though they did not know at the time, their VFA days were close to an end, and their dream of entering the VFL was only two years away.

 

[Hojuman]

 

[Bertie22]

View attachment 1552835View attachment 1552839View attachment 1552840

OK Hoj, fess up. Which one are you?

 

[Hojuman]

OK Hoj, fess up. Which one are you?

None Bertie, but l recognise the " H " guy from 70's finals.

Like the boy in pic with one of those old North " corduroy " cricket hats.

 

[Bertie22]

None Bertie, but l recognise the " H " guy from 70's finals.

Like the boy in pic with one of those old North " corduroy " cricket hats.

Great memories, especially the boy in the corduroy headwear. Love how his jumper is neatly tucked into his pants. Looking forward to such Finals atmosphere returning soon...but perhaps without those fashions. By the way, I had you picked out as the sartorially elegant gentleman in the last picture...boater hat, rosette, DB jacket, tight white flares, platform shoes!

 

[LuvtheKangas]

None Bertie, but l recognise the " H " guy from 70's finals.

Like the boy in pic with one of those old North " corduroy " cricket hats.

The H guy is Dennis, isn't it?

 

[Hojuman]

The H guy is Dennis, isn't it?

Pagan ?

I remember the " H " guy from the '75 finals. In those days you camped out in Fogarty st.for " series " finals tickets. So you virtually sat near the same people each game, except the G.F.
But " H " also featured in a 70's t.v.ad iirc abusing an ump from over the fence. Thought it was the " football, meat-pies, kangaroos & Holden cars " But not sure now.

 

[Passmore]

Great memories, especially the boy in the corduroy headwear. Love how his jumper is neatly tucked into his pants. Looking forward to such Finals atmosphere returning soon...but perhaps without those fashions. By the way, I had you picked out as the sartorially elegant gentleman in the last picture...boater hat, rosette, DB jacket, tight white flares, platform shoes!

I reckon we bring those fashions back when we’re next in.

 

[Hojuman]

I reckon we bring those fashions back when we’re next in.

Make a killing on those retro cricket hats in 18 club colours.

 

[Passmore]

Make a killing on those retro cricket hats in 18 club colours.

I did have one as a kid.

 

[CURVE]

It's a fascinating history, I'm surprised Hollywood haven't come knocking on our door wanting to make it into a TV Series or something, they could call it:

"The Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of the North Melbourne Football Club".

It would be epic.

 

[kangaroo7]

1925 -- THE BIG TIME AT LAST


North had always harboured the ambition to be a part of the top football competition in the country--the VFL. Two unsuccessful attempts to join in 1907 and 1921 did not deter them from wanting to try again when the opportunity arose.

During the 1924 football season, the VFL delegates had discussed admitting new clubs. At their meeting on 6 July, applications were received from the Brunswick, Prahran and Brighton municipalities, the Parks and Gardens committee of the Melbourne City Council controlling the North Melbourne Ground and the organisers of a proposed Public Service football club. Footscray and Camberwell had also previously lodged applications. The VFL deferred discussing which clubs would be admitted, realising that naming any VFA club would mean immediate disqualification of it from the VFA. Two weeks after the meeting, North Melbourne and Brunswick approached the Carlton committee seeking their support. Carlton listened but postponed any consideration of the subject.

At the end of the season, the VFL formed a sub-committee to examine "the advisability of the admission of a club or clubs" Since resuming after World War I, it had operated with nine teams, for the University team had been forced to withdraw during the war, and never returned. Another team was wanted to avoid the awkward situation of one team having a bye each week. Applications were received at various times from Camberwell, Caulfield, Brunswick, Brighton, Hawthorn, Footscray, North Melbourne, Prahran and a combined Ballarat Football League team.

The problem of admitting VFA teams was twofold. Firstly, there was an agreement between the VFA and the VFL that no player could cross from one competiton to the other without approval or clearance. Footscray had made more than one application over the past few years for admission to the League, but the VFA could refuse to clear all of their players and they would have to basically field a team of juniors. Secondly, any VFA team admitted would mean a loss of part of a League team's recruiting zone. A large part of Essendon's recruiting zone was in North Melbourne's and Footscray's zones. South Melbourne also stood to lose part of their zone if Footscray joined the League. Collingwood and Richmond would both lose territory if Hawthorn was admitted.

Around this time, a newly formed Public Service team applied for admission. They had been offered the use of the newly built Amateur Sports Ground, near where AAMI Stadium is today. They would create no issues with recruiting zones as their players would all be Public Servants. The VFL were keen to gain control of this new ground, but the Public Service team's application to join the VFL was rejected. A request by Geelong to play all their Melbourne -based matches there, and a proposal for Richmond to use the ground did not proceed.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

 

[Groucho]

1925 -- THE BIG TIME AT LAST


North had always harboured the ambition to be a part of the top football competition in the country--the VFL. Two unsuccessful attempts to join in 1907 and 1921 did not deter them from wanting to try again when the opportunity arose.

During the 1924 football season, the VFL delegates had discussed admitting new clubs. At their meeting on 6 July, applications were received from the Brunswick, Prahran and Brighton municipalities, the Parks and Gardens committee of the Melbourne City Council controlling the North Melbourne Ground and the organisers of a proposed Public Service football club. Footscray and Camberwell had also previously lodged applications. The VFL deferred discussing which clubs would be admitted, realising that naming any VFA club would mean immediate disqualification of it from the VFA. Two weeks after the meeting, North Melbourne and Brunswick approached the Carlton committee seeking their support. Carlton listened but postponed any consideration of the subject.

At the end of the season, the VFL formed a sub-committee to examine "the advisability of the admission of a club or clubs" Since resuming after World War I, it had operated with nine teams, for the University team had been forced to withdraw during the war, and never returned. Another team was wanted to avoid the awkward situation of one team having a bye each week. Applications were received at various times from Camberwell, Caulfield, Brunswick, Brighton, Hawthorn, Footscray, North Melbourne, Prahran and a combined Ballarat Football League team.

The problem of admitting VFA teams was twofold. Firstly, there was an agreement between the VFA and the VFL that no player could cross from one competiton to the other without approval or clearance. Footscray had made more than one application over the past few years for admission to the League, but the VFA could refuse to clear all of their players and they would have to basically field a team of juniors. Secondly, any VFA team admitted would mean a loss of part of a League team's recruiting zone. A large part of Essendon's recruiting zone was in North Melbourne's and Footscray's zones. South Melbourne also stood to lose part of their zone if Footscray joined the League. Collingwood and Richmond would both lose territory if Hawthorn was admitted.

Around this time, a newly formed Public Service team applied for admission. They had been offered the use of the newly built Amateur Sports Ground, near where AAMI Stadium is today. They would create no issues with recruiting zones as their players would all be Public Servants. The VFL were keen to gain control of this new ground, but the Public Service team's application to join the VFL was rejected. A request by Geelong to play all their Melbourne -based matches there, and a proposal for Richmond to use the ground did not proceed.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Love the idea of a Public Service team. Parma and a pot before training.

 

[Hojuman]

Love the idea of a Public Service team. Parma and a pot before training.

And loooooooong lunches.

 

[kangaroo7]

1925 (Cont.)

By the beginning of 1925, the idea of the VFL admitting three clubs was taking hold. This would make the loss of recruiting districts more evenly spread among the existing VFL clubs, and also greatly strengthen the VFL's position. By the 9th January, the choices had been narrowed down to four clubs.

Footscray and Hawthorn were favoured to fill two positions. Footscray were now the best and strongest team in the VFA, having taken over from North Melbourne after the war. They further enhanced their chances by defeating VFL premiers Essendon in a charity "Championship of Victoria" match in October 1924, although many believed the game was "fixed".

The VFL wanted representation in the ever-growing eastern suburban area where Hawthorn was situated. Hawthorn's ground needed to be improved to meet VFL standards, but it had the full backing of the local council.

The clear favourite for the third vacancy was Prahran. It also occupied an area where there was no VFL presence, and had solid backing from the wealthy suburb of Toorak, giving it plenty of financial clout. This is how things stood after the VFL Meeting on 9 January, with four clubs shortlisted. But a final decision was deferred until the following week as the meeting, which lasted two and half hours, was largely taken up by discussion of the controversial new "out of bounds free kick" rule.

It was at this point that North Melbourne's Johnny Meere came in to the picture. Meere had become friends with the Geelong VFL delegate over the years. He lived near the North Melbourne railway station where the train to Geelong departed. During and after the war, train schedules were at times disrupted, which often resulted in the late train to Geelong not running. Often Meere would invite the stranded Geelong delegate to stay overnight at his place before catching the train the following morning.
Meere was not an office bearer for North at that stage, although he was on the ground management committee and also no doubt part of the local citizens committee, which was pushing for North to be admitted to the VFL. He was also a skilled debater and an outspoken and persuasive speaker and would have used these skills to convince his Geelong friend to support North's bid for admission. It was not until the club's December 1928 elections that the Welfare Party, of which he was a supporter, was swept into office and he was elected Secretary - his first official position at the club.

At the crucial meeting on 16 January, the delegates took a break for a meal of fish and chips. Meere approached his Geelong friend and asked for his help to gather support for North's admission.

During the ensuing discussion after the meeting resumed, there was no objection raised to Footscay's admission, but there was considerable discussion regarding Hawthorn and North Melbourne. The Carlton delegate of the VFL proposed a scheme where Footscray, Hawthorn and Prahran would be admitted, but restricted to their own municipalities for recruiting to begin with. Prahran's strong financial position backfired at this stage, as the Geelong delegate allegedly stated that the amount of money Prahran had behind it made other clubs nervous. This no doubt swayed the vote of some of the delegates. It was agreed, by 14 votes to 3 that Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne be admitted. Prahran fell short of claiming twelfth spot by just one vote.

(TO BE CONT.)

 

[kangaroo7]

1925 (CONCLUDED.)

This decision immediately caused consternation within the VFA. It had expected it might lose one team, but not three. The delegates of the three new VFL teams were at the VFA meeting three days later. Each one denied any knowledge of receiving any official notification of his team being admitted to the VFL saying that their local councils had conducted all negotiations. VFA delegate Mr W Warbey said "it was inconceivable that men of University standing would break the honourable agreement entered into between the League and the Association. Such men should be the soul of honour. The great World war of 1914 had commenced over the breaking of such an agreement." It was moved by the VFA to write to the VFL asking if news of the three clubs admission was correct and whether it was in accord with the existing agreement.

But the VFL claimed that the VFA had broken the agreement by admitting the Coburg and Public Service teams. At the time, Coburg was affiliated with the VFL, albeit only in the Reserve grade. (The Public service team had had the offer of the use of the Amateur Sports Ground withdrawn, and withdrew from the VFA without playing a match.) Besides, having taken three of the their strongest clubs, the VFL could now afford to thumb their nose at the weakened VFA.

There was also an issue with the use of North Melbourne's ground. Back in 1921, when North had attempted to get into the VFL by encouraging Essendon to play at Arden St and attempting a merger, the VFA put a stop to this by appealing to the State Government Minister for Lands. He decreed that the North Melbourne ground could only be used, the VFA claimed, for VFA football only by North Melbourne. This was not quite true. The Minister did not say anything about League or Association football. Only that Essendon could not use the ground and that the North Melbourne ground was for the North Melbourne people and their club. The VFL had enquired into this ruling before admitting North, and obtained permission from the Minister to use the ground. Had this not been granted, Prahran would have been admitted.

The VFA were desperate to retain control of their last "metropolitan" ground. NMRR was the showpiece of the VFA, and all finals matches had been played there since 1922. But in reality it could do little. Another venue had to be found for its finals matches, as it was felt it would be a conflict of interest for VFA teams to play at a now VFL ground. For the next three years their finals matches were played at the Amateur Sports Ground that the Public Service team were hoping to use.

There were two conditions North had to meet for the VFL. The first one was that Essendon retained the Kensington and Flemington division of North's recruiting zone. This would be regained by the club in 1927.

The other condition was to come up with a suitable uniform. Their traditional blue and white stripes, which many wanted, were too similar to Collingwood's strip, while the current navy blue jumper with a white monogram which they had adopted in 1922 looked too much like Carlton's. The club opted for a royal blue jumper with a white neck-V at the back and front. The back V would be removed in 1929. Stripes would be adopted once more in 1933 despite Collingwood's protests.

Most of North's players from 1924 were available, with twenty of them appearing during North's first VFL season. Notable additions were Harry Clapson, Leo Dwyer, Charles Healey and Clarrie Nolan. A captain-coach with VFL experience was sought. Twenty applications, including one from former champion Charlie Hardy, were received. Former Fitzroy captain and Melbourne coach, Gordon Rattray, was appointed. But after accepting the position, Rattray resigned to take up a better offer from Brighton. North took it on the chin and quickly approached experienced St Kilda captain, Wells Eicke, who was cleared by his club in view of his long service.

North had finally made it. But there were hard times ahead when the club would struggle to be competitive or even to exist.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Fascinating stuff kangaroo7. As always, your input here is greatly appreciated.

 

[Luke72]

Yeah, absolute legend K7. I love reading the stories and it’s even better in chapters. They must’ve been real Dallas Brookes Hall moments at the time. Good old Johnny Meere!

 

[kangaroo7]

Yeah, absolute legend K7. I love reading the stories and it’s even better in chapters. They must’ve been real Dallas Brookes Hall moments at the time. Good old Johnny Meere!

Yes, Johnny should be in the club's Hall of Fame.

 

[Luke72]

Yes, Johnny should be in the club's Hall of Fame.

I’d like to see some kind of hall of fame or room dedicated to the club’s history with these kind of stories and photos etc. A few banners, and other memorabilia it could be awesome.

 

[Gumble Frankieton]