MYTHBUSTING

Australian Football's pioneers were fantastic at developing the game, but not so great at recording and preserving its history. With the focus on today's action and tomorrow's prospects many significant achievements in our game have been recorded inaccurately or completely overlooked. Mistakes went unchecked; memories and vague recollections were allowed to become facts.

The purpose of this section of the site is not to name and shame but to identify discrepancies and correct any errors so that future generations will have the proper information to work with.

If you have a query about anything posted here, or if you have noted a possible error anywhere throughout this site, please contact me.

REPRESENTATIVE FOOTBALL


​1881 - VICTORIA vs SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Aug.20)

SCORE DISCREPANCIES:
The Argus has Victoria winning 8.24 to 1.8, The Australasian 9.22 to 1.8, The Advertiser 9.23 to 1.8, The Register 9.24 to 1.8.
The Advertiser (27-6-1908) subsequently amends the Victorian score to 9.22

1881 - VICTORIA vs SOUTH AUSTRALIA (Aug.24)

SCORE DISCREPANCIES:
The Argus has Victoria winning 4.12 to 1.4, The Australasian and The Register 4.13 to 1.5, The Age and The Advertiser 4.14 to 1.5

1886 - VICTORIA vs NEW SOUTH WALES

ERROR - the former FullPointsFooty website has this match being played in 1888.
FACT - it was actually played in 1886.

1889 - VICTORIA vs SOUTHERN TASMANIA

MYTH - many sources incorrectly label this as an intercolonial match against "Tasmania".
REALITY - Victoria's opponents were a representative team from the STFA, southern Tasmania's major league. The northern league (NTFA) had no involvement in the tour.

1889 - VICTORIA vs NORTHERN NSW

MYTH - many sources incorrectly label this as an intercolonial match against "New South Wales".
REALITY - Victoria's opponents were a representative team from the Newcastle-based Northern District Football Association (NDFA). The main NSW league, the Sydney-based NSWFA, had no involvement in the tour.

1893 - VICTORIA vs SOUTHERN TASMANIA (June 7)

MYTH - many sources incorrectly label this as an intercolonial match against "Tasmania".
REALITY - this was a scheduled tour match against the STFA played in the lead-up to the intercolonial match on June 10. The northern league (NTFA) had no involvement in the match.

1893 - VICTORIA vs SOUTHERN TASMANIA (June 10)

MYTH - many sources incorrectly label this as an intercolonial match against "Tasmania".
REALITY - this was meant to be an intercolonial match against a combined Tasmanian team but due to local football politics the NTFA refused to participate, making this game representative (Victoria vs Southern Tasmania) rather than intercolonial (Victoria vs Tasmania).

1902 - VFA vs VFL

SCORE DISCREPANCIES:
The Age has the VFA scoring 4.2 (26), The Football Record, The Argus and The Australasian have 4.3 (27), and some other sources have 4.5 (29)

1945 - COMBINED COBURG-WILLIAMSTOWN vs BROKEN HILL FL

ERROR - The Barrier Miner [22-10-1945] incorrectly refers to the Combined Coburg-Williamstown team as a VFA representative team.
FACT - Coburg and Williamstown toured Broken Hill in October, playing each other on Oct.20 then playing as a combined team on Oct.21 against the Broken Hill Football League. No other VFA teams or players took part in these matches. 

1976 - VFA vs OMFL

ERROR - an article in The Sun News Pictorial (13-5-1982) says Fred Cook captained the VFA representative team from 1976 to 1980.
FACT - the 1976 VFA team was led by Geelong West's Howard Smith. Cook was named as a reserve but played for Port Melbourne that day back in Melbourne.

1981 - VFA vs GNFL

ERROR - Gary Brice's Wikipedia page lists him as VFA representative coach from 1981 to 1985.
FACT - Brice coached the VFA team from 1982 to 1985 (Prahran's Mick Erwin was coach in 1981). 

1986 - SANDRINGHAM vs ESSENDON

ERROR - The Canberra Times [13-3-1986, p.20] reports this match as VFA versus Essendon
FACT - this was a pre-season practice match played at Windy Hill between the reigning VFA and VFL premiers. Although Sandringham was bolstered by a handful of players from other VFA clubs who were on loan for the day, this was not an official VFA representative team.

1990 - ACTAFL vs VFA-VFL

ERROR - due to a typo The Canberra Times [11-6-1990] lists the crowd as 500
FACT - match reports in The Age and The Sun News Pictorial confirm the crowd was actually 5,000

VFA – MYTHS & ERRORS


​VFA MEDAL & VFA RECORDER CUP - 1940-41
MYTH:
1940 VFA Medal - Davis 38.5, Collins 34, Morrison 31
1940 Recorder Cup - Davis 16, Collins 15, Morrison 13


1941 VFA Medal - not awarded due to WW2
1941 Recorder Cup - Fothergill 62, Fay 33, Collins 32
REALITY:
1940 VFA Medal - [information at left is correct]
1940 Recorder Cup - no votes cast, automatically presented to the VFA Medal winner

1941 VFA Medal - Fothergill 62, Fay 33, Collins 32
1941 Recorder Cup - no votes cast, automatically presented to the VFA Medal winner

VFA GRAND FINAL - 1921

ERROR - The Argus says this game was played at Junction Oval, St Kilda.
FACT - it was actually played at the Brunswick Street Oval (better known at that time as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground) 


VFA GRAND FINAL - 1947

ERROR - a number of modern sources (The VFA by Marc Fiddian, www.australianfootball.com and Wikipedia) all list Port Melbourne's final score as 15.15 (105), a margin of 31 points. The source of this error appears to be a typo in the The Age match report (6-10-1947, p.8) which shows Port Melbourne's score as 15.15 (103).  It seems somewhere along the line the total was changed to match the typo, just as Wikipedia's 1947 season page has done, citing The Age match report as its source but altering the total to match the typo: so 15.15 (103) has become 15.15 (105).
FACT - the 1947 Grand Final scores were actually: Port Melbourne 15.13 (103) d. Sandringham 11.8 (74) - a margin of 29 points.
- The Argus (6-10-1947, p.18) match report has these scores, and the sub-heading for the article reads: "Port combine well for 29-Pt win". 
- Port Melbourne's local newspaper, The Record (11-10-1947, p.2) also confirms Port's score as 15.13 (103).


VFA GRAND FINAL - 1983 

ERROR - The Age newspaper match report (19-9-1983) shows Geelong West's halftime score as 2.10
FACT - Geelong West's score was actually 5.10 


VFA CENTENARY CUP - 2nd SEMI-FINAL

ERROR - sites such as www.vflfooty.com frequently say the Caulfield vs Dandenong 2nd Semi Final (Aug.10th) was played under lights at Toorak Park, Prahran.
FACT - newspaper previews and match reports confirm the match was actually played under lights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne. 

HARD BALL GET – CORRECTIONS


​One of the aims of Hard Ball Get is to serve as an accurate reference source for those wanting to discover the game's history. However, despite the content appearing on this site being thoroughly researched, it is an unfortunate reality that a small number of errors will occur. As soon as any such errors are discovered they will be amended and noted here:

VFA REPRESENTATIVE TEAM - 1961 COACH

ERROR - Gerry Callahan (Williamstown) incorrectly listed as coach of the representative team.
FACT - Jim Cleary (Dandenong) actually coached the team that year. Callahan led the team in 1960, was surprisingly overlooked in 1961, then returned as coach from 1962 to 1965.

VFA REPRESENTATIVE TEAM - 1982 CAPTAIN (Second Division)

ERROR - Jim Christou (Northcote) incorrectly listed as captain for both representative matches 2nd Division played that season.
FACT - Christou only captained the team in its first match (May 30 vs SAFA). He was named captain for the second match (June 13 vs VAFA 2nd XVIII) but was a late withdrawal due to injury. Russell Hodges of Kilsyth led the team in Christou's absence.

[Author's note - my thanks to Aspirex whose research revealed these two errors]

VFA GRAND FINAL SCORES

A number of typos in the quarter by quarter scores have been identified and corrected; further reminders that the author of this site needs to do less AMT (After Midnight Typing)! The years involved are:
 
1907 - West Melbourne's 3/4 time score shown as 2.9 (27), should read 2.9 (21)
1908 - Brunswick's 1/4 time score shown as 2.0 (16), should read 2.0 (12)
1911 - Brunswick's 3/4 time score shown as 1.10 (16), should read 1.4 (10)
1918 - Prahran's 1/2 time score shown as 1.6 (11), should read 1.6 (12)
1926 - Coburg's 1/4 time score shown as 5.8 (38), should read 5.3 (33)
1935 - Camberwell's final score shown as 8.13 (51), should read 8.13 (61)
1945 - Port Melbourne's half-time score appears to have been overwritten in my database by a score from another game,  other two errors are typos:
           Port Melbourne's 1/4 time score shown as 3.3 (21), should read 3.8 (26)
           Port Melbourne's 1/2 time score shown as 3.4 (22), should read 5.14 (44)
           Port Melbourne's 3/4 time score shown as 8.18 (64), should read 8.18 (66)
1946 - Camberwell's 3/4 time score shown as 11.12 (84), should read 11.12 (78)
1958 (Replay) - Williamstown's 1/4 time score shown as 3.13 (30), should read 3.12 (30)
1960 - Sandringham's final score shown as 8.15 (62), should read 8.14 (62)
1961 - Williamstown's 3/4 time score shown as 6.7 (49), should read 6.7 (43)
1974 - Oakleigh's 1/2 time score shown as 6.7 (49), should read 6.7 (43)
1977 - Port Melbourne's 3/4 time score shown as 18.14 (132), should read 18.14 (122)
1979 - Coburg's 1/4 time score shown as 1.6 (11), should read 1.6 (12)
1982 - Port Melbourne's 1/2 time score shown as 7.13 (54), should read 7.13 (55)

Two errors have been traced back to problems with my original source:

1983 - Geelong West's 1/2 time score shown as 2.10 (22), it was actually 5.10 (40)
This score was sourced from The Age newspaper (19-9-1983) whose match report incorrectly shows Geelong West's halftime score as 2.10 instead of 5.10 (the error can be seen here - enter "23" in the page search box).

1985 (2nd Division) - Oakleigh's final score shown as 22.22 (154), it was actually 22.12 (144)
This score was sourced from The VFA: A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877-1995 by Marc Fiddian (p.290). Match reports in The Age and The Sun News Pictorial on 23-9-1985 confirm the correct score of 22.12

[Author's note - my thanks to Richard Attard for bringing these errors to my attention and doing a thorough review of all VFA Grand Final scores on this site]