Bid to reclaim forgotten VFL history presented to AFL club chiefs
Club chiefs have been asked to reconsider the history of the VFL/AFL competition so that the years of football before the VFL competition began in 1897 are included into the AFL competition's official history.
Geelong president Colin Carter presented a paper to AFL club presidents and members of the AFL Commission and executive at a meeting on Tuesday arguing that premierships won from 1870-1897 should be included in official records as part of an initiative to acknowledge the Australian Football played in "the foundation years".
He also suggests that the competition starting date should be 1870, which would mean the AFL celebrates their 150th year next year.
In a letter to AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder, the Geelong president said it was time for the AFL to right an historical wrong arguing there was ample evidence to support the notion that premierships won before 1897 were recognised well into the 20th century.
He also indicated that if the AFL Commission accepts the proposal that the competition should be recognised from 1870 onwards the AFL would be celebrating 150 years of legitimate competition in 2020, which has lent urgency to the decision.
Carter argues that his proposal is not an attempt to revise history but that the current view is incorrect and says a panel of historians set up to consider the issue supported his view that the AFL should recognise premierships won between 1870 and 1897.
He said ample evidence existed that early participants in the league recognised flags won between 1870 and 1896 with a list of premierships won including pre-1897 flags in the VFL Record until 1918, before being broken up into a list of pre-1897 premierships and post-1897 premierships from 1919-1923 before only premierships won after 1897 were included from 1924.
In the paper presented Carter says three distinct eras of the code should be recognised with 'the foundation' era between 1870-1896, the 'VFL' era from 1897-1986, and the 'AFL' era from 1987-present.
Carter has asked the commission to embrace the forgotten era and settle on 1870 as the starting date for the competition.
Club chiefs have been given a copy of the paper with debate expected to continue on the issue although Carter is understood to be confident the argument will be accepted.