Between 1947 and 1955, 'Sporting Life' magazine selected 'teams of the year' in football, soccer and both rugby codes, a practice of which the ANFC would undoubtedly have been aware, and which it later emulated when it sanctioned the selection of an official All Australian team after the 1953 Adelaide carnival. (The so called 'All Australian' team of 1950, which is listed in various AFL publications, was, it emerges, actually the 'Sporting Life' selection for that year.)
This article, specially researched and compiled for Full Points Footy by freelance sports, wine and travel writer, Peter Argent, presents an overview of each of the 9 Australian football teams of the year selected in 'Sporting Life', and affords a tantalising glimpse at how the relative strengths of each of the major state leagues, and the players who adorned them, were assessed in the 1940s and '50s. These assessments often challenge the conventional, modern day beliefs, fostered and reinforced by the AFL, that (a) football played outside Victoria prior to the VFL's expansion in the 1980s was inevitably and essentially inferior, and (b) the relationship of the VFL to the other state competitions was fundamentally the same as the relationship between today's AFL and the 'feeder leagues' from which it draws the majority of its players.
This is not, of course, to suggest that the VFL during the 1940s and 1950s was not the strongest of the state competitions. However, as former Geelong player John Hyde stated in a 'Sporting Life' interview after taking the coaching reins at Claremont, the difference between the average VFL and WANFL team was not so much a matter of quality as of depth, with "the best players in WA........well up to the top Victorian standard" (see footnote 1). An analysis of the 162 positions allocated during the 9 year period when 'Sporting Life' Teams of the Year were selected reaffirms this view, with well over half (103) going to VFL players, with SANFL players obtaining 34 places, WANFL players 21, VFA players 3, and just a single place being allocated to a Tasmanian-based player, John Leedham of NTFA club North Launceston. The state of origin split was similar, with 101 Victorians, 33 South Australians, 24 Western Australians and 4 Tasmanians being selected. However, echoing John Hyde's point, some of the most frequently selected individuals came from outside the VFL, with Bob Hank (West Torrens), Merv McIntosh (Perth) and John Marriott (Norwood) all being picked on 5 occasions, a total exceeded only by Essendon rover Bill Hutchison, who was chosen in every team except one.
Essendon was the most frequently represented club, with a total of 20 places in the 9 teams. Then came Carlton and Collingwood (15 each), Richmond (13) and Footscray, Geelong and Melbourne (all 11). Norwood and Perth, with 8 selections each, were the best represented SANFL and WANFL clubs.
Of the VFL's 12 clubs, all bar Hawthorn and St Kilda achieved representation at least once, while Swan Districts was the only WANFL club not to have at least one player selected. All 8 SANFL clubs were represented on at least one occasion, with Brunswick and Port Melbourne from the VFA, and the NTFA's North Launceston the only other clubs to provide players for the teams.
In selecting the players to be included in each year's team, "teamwork and club spirit as well as ability (were) taken into consideration" (see footnote 2), with each player receiving an inscribed tankard as a memento.
Unlike the official, ANFC-endorsed All Australian teams, which included 19th and 20th men, the 'Sporting Life' combinations boasted only 18 members, with captains being only intermittently nominated.
Depending on your age, Peter Argent's trawl through each of the 9 'Sporting Life' Teams of the Year will either be a trip down memory lane, or a perhaps surprising insight into how some of the champion players of the past, from all the major football states, were viewed, evaluated and revered.
Of course, any team selection exercise is essentially subjective in nature; a player's inclusion in one of the 'Sporting Life' Teams of the Year cannot properly be said to 'prove' anything, other than that he was well thought of and admired. However, much the same can be said of Brownlow Medallists, AFL All Australians and Norwich Rising Star nominees; opinion is the lifeblood of football, and long may it continue to be so.
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1. 'Sporting Life', October 1955, page 39. Return to Main Text
2. 'Sporting Life', October 1954, page 19. Return to Main Text