Rugby League Merchandise – A History of the Australian Football League
The origins of the Australian Football League (AFL) can be traced back to 1896 when 8 teams decided to split from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) to form the Victorian Football League (VFL). The VFA had been formed in 1877 but organised Australian Rules Football had been played in Victoria long before that with the first documented game taking place in August 1858 between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. In 1897 Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne contested the first VFL season with Essendon winning the first premiership.
St Kilda struggled in the new league losing their first 48 games before finally breaking through in the 1st round of the 1900 season defeating Melbourne by 1 point. The game finished with the scores deadlocked on 68 points apiece but St Kilda successfully argued that one of Melbourne’s points had been scored after the three-quarter time bell so the game was awarded to St Kilda. Success for the Saints was short-lived though with St Kilda losing their remaining 13 games in 1900 and their first 12 games in 1901 before posting another victory.
Round 1 of 1903 saw Geelong defeat St Kilda by 50 points meaning that St Kilda had managed to win only 2 of their first 100 League games. But by round 6 that same year something had changed. St Kilda started winning and finished the year in 5th position on the ladder with 6 wins just missing out on the Final Four.
