GF glory, from 1909
Film from the 1909 VFL Grand Final between the Swans and Blues has been released
SYDNEY Swans fans whose thirst for glory is yet to be quenched can now take in the Swans' first premiership triumph by watching Australian football's oldest surviving moving picture.
The National Film and Sound Archive has released treasured footage from the 1909 VFL Grand Final between the then South Melbourne and Carlton before 37,759 at the MCG.
The film lasts for 10 minutes and features storied champions such as South Melbourne ruck pair Vic Belcher and Bert Franks and Carlton's on-ball dynamos Alex 'Bongo' Lang and Rod 'Wee' McGregor.
The captains are Charlie Ricketts from South Melbourne and Fred 'Pompey' Elliott from Carlton, who later earned fame as a World War II hero.
Watch the clip here
The film begins by panning across a crowd filled almost entirely by men in hats, with the policemen wearing bishop-style bobby hats. The ground features the famous white picket fence, sections of which would remain around the oval's perimeter for a century.
When the teams walk on to the field, Lang wears Carlton's navy blue guernsey with the white CFC monogram but most of his teammates wear the old jumper of a lighter blue with white shoulder patches.
While most South Melbourne players wear white guernseys with a red sash from left to right, others wear the sash the other way around. No players have numbers on the backs.
Players struggle to bounce the bulbous ball, and instead of handballing they push the ball up and swiped at it. This was known as a slap pass.
Players kick for goal using the place kick and tumble the ball forward in general play. Despite the fact that the match was considered a model of fair play, several players roll around after being injured.
Carlton reportedly finished the game with only 16 fit players.
Carlton defeated South Melbourne by 22 points in the preliminary final but the Bloods, as they were known, had the right of challenge because they had finished the home and away rounds on top of the ladder.
South Melbourne won the rematch, which was the Grand Final, by two points after a hectic final quarter. The final score was 4.14 (38) to 4.12 (36).
The film shows South Melbourne players being chaired off the ground after the final bell.
In 2009, in celebration of the film’s centenary, the film and sound archive created a new digital master from the film’s best surviving film component. From this master, it produced a three-minute highlights package that was shown at Melbourne’s Federation Square.??When the Swans made the 2012 Grand Final, the film and sound archive released the extended version of the film, which also was screened at Federation Square.
After 1909, South Melbourne went on to win the 1918 and 1933 premierships before waiting until the Sydney Swans' triumph in 2005 for the club's next triumph.
Carlton was engulfed in scandal in 1910 when the club sacked three players, including Bongo Lang, for taking bribes to lie down.
The club nevertheless went on to make the 1910 Grand Final only to lose to Collingwood in one of the most violent matches on record. It was the match that is considered the genesis of the game's most famous rivalry.
The Blues were back on the premiership list when they won the 1914 and '15 Grand Finals.
