First Premiers

In doing research a while back I saw that the Essendon Bombers won the first premiership in the league that is now called the AFL, back in 1897. I love this sort of thing, so I thought I'd visit their site to see what sort of history page they had.

First, a brief overview. The team has played over 2400 games total, won 1350 of them, with a winning percentage of over 56%. All these statistics are third behind Collingwood and Carlton in the history of the AFL/VFL.

Anyhow I was looking for more of a year-to-year sort of thing on the Bomber website, similar to what I saw from some of the other clubs. What I did find was a page where each player is listed alphabetically. Not really what I was looking for, but it sure looks like every man who ever played for the Bombers has his own separate listing, which includes games played and a short bio. Very nice.

The Dons even have their own walk-in museum at their training facility in Essendon, which isn't too far from the Melbourne Airport.

The thing that wowed me was this museum is available via virtual tour, here. This is amazing stuff. It's where I learned that the Essendon Football Club was formed in 1872. They saw some success in winning VFA premierships in 1892-93-94 before leaving and joining the Victorian Football League for the 1897 season. There was no Grand Final that year-- Essendon won the premiership by virtue of beating Geelong, Collingwood, and Melbourne in round-robin play to finish 3-0.

screenshot of the Essendon Virtual Museum. A fantastic presentation
of their long and storied history. Great stuff.

The museum has displays of Bomber greats, a celebration of the back-to-back premiership sides of 1984 and 1985, and so much more. There is also homage paid to James Hird, who was a great player and coach for the team. His grandfather and father also have their place in team history.

However, James played a role in a doping scandal that has rocked the team for the last several years, costing him his place in the game. This scandal is part of the reason the 2016 Bombers took home their first wooden spoon (for finishing last on the ladder) since 1933.

However Hird's place in Dons history cannot be denied.

So much to see and absorb, so little time. This virtual museum demonstrates how history should be told, remembered, and celebrated. Well done, Essendon.

The Bombers open season 2017 on March 25 at the MCG against Hawthorn.

Opening Bounce

I've spent time on one of my other blogs talking about my affection for Australian Rules Football. I'm not a strategist or anything, I think it's interesting and exciting to watch. Admittedly, it looks a lot like a free for all most times, but I'm starting to see a little of the strategy and tactics that go into the game. I also like experiencing a different culture-- what their commentators say, how they say it, etc.

It stems from watching ESPN back in the early-mid 80s when they were showing things like Vic's Vacant Lot. They didn't have a lot of shows, they needed programming to fill time slots, and they didn't own the rights to as many events as they do now. Back in this day, ESPN was a little engine that could. And Aussie Rules Football was something they'd present. There was even a half-hour highlight show hosted by Stephen Quartermain that was a wrap of the week's VFL (Victorian Football League, at that time) matches.

When I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, we ported in Cairns, in Queensland on the far northeastern coast of Australia. I remember paying too much money for two AFL shirts-- West Coast Eagles and St. Kilda Saints. Both are long since gone to history, as is the annual preview mag I bought.

Fast forward about 20 years, when I've found AFL matches on Fox Sports. I record the games on the weekend and watch them during the week as time allows. I rarely watch a game front to back, and I never watch live (the wife does not share my interest). So it may take me a few days to recap the week that was in the AFL. Because of these delays, I don't follow the AFL on Facebook, and I stay off of Twitter when the matches are being played. Spoilers and everything.

So I hope to share my experiences with the game-- what I saw, how I interpret it, and such. Season 2016 is not quite to the halfway mark.

Off we go.