A vintage photograph captioned 'Interstate - South Australia v. Victorian League. Played in Melbourne, July 1st, 1899'
Adelaide, Dimond Studio, Rundle St. 1899.
An original gelatin silver photograph (183 × 310 mm), on the original brown mount captioned in gilt, behind glass in a period-style wooden frame (external dimensions 415 × 505 mm).
The photograph is a little silvered-out around the edges, with a few tiny spots of surface loss; the mount has slight surface loss to silverfish, a crack across the top right-hand corner, and slight loss to the edges in two spots (these would disappear with judicious matting); overall, this is a very rare item in very presentable condition.
Football matches between clubs and state teams from South Australia and Victoria were a regular event from 1879 and 1894, 'but in 1894 the concept of representative intercolonial football was once more called into question as the Vics registered an all time record win in front of their home crowd, amassing no fewer than 14 goals, a phenomenal tally for the time, to South Australia's none. With Victoria now leading the series by 11 wins to two, and having scored 88 goals to 37 ... matches between the two colonies again fell into abeyance. When the fixtures resumed once more in 1899, the Victorian football landscape had altered irrevocably, with the recently established VFL replacing the VFA as the colony's, and indeed Australia's, premier football competition. The game itself had changed, too, most notably via the introduction of a new scoring system, whereby behinds, hitherto recorded but valueless, made a tangible contribution to a team's score. In South Australia, the main development had been the inception of electorate football, which it was hoped would lead to an evening up of a competition that had grown disconcertingly top heavy. This rule, which basically required that players represent their local clubs, had been introduced on a voluntary basis in 1897, but two years later it had become compulsory' (John Wood, australianfootball.com). The Adelaide 'Evening Journal' gave an account of the 1899 match on Monday, 3 July: it 'attracted a fairly large attendance to the Melbourne Cricket-ground, but the heavy rain that fell during the week had so saturated the ground that high-class play was impossible.... In the earlier stages of the game the play was fairly even, but. as the men floundered about in the mud it was obvious that luck was everything. As the result of the first quarter's play Victoria scored 1 goal 1 behind to South Australia's nil. In the subsequent play the visitors were driven back on the defensive. They were overmatched by the greater quickness and more combined play of their opponents. At half-time the score stood: Victoria, 5 goals 3 behinds 33 points, and South Australia, 1 behind. At three-quarter time Victoria had 6 goals 6 behinds 42 points, against South Australia's 2 behinds. In the final quarter the local men eased down, and the visitors forced the play into their opponents' territory, with the result that the final score stood: Victoria 8 goals 10 behinds 58 points. South Australia 3 goals 6 behinds 21 points'. Those featured in the photograph are (left to right, top to bottom) E.L. Renfrey, O. Hyman, J. Coates, R. Greenlees, N. Powell; A. Daly, P. McKenna, S. Malin, J. O'Dea, D.T. Lawes (Manager), A. Hosie, C. Barnes, W. Trembath; A. Grayson, H. Truss, M. Plunkett, F. Smithers, E. McKenzie (Captain), T. Munyard, N. Clark, J. Coppinger (Trainer); G. Webb, J. Fitzpatrick, J.F. Dawes, and W. Plunkett. Stan Malin won the second-ever Magarey Medal in 1899; he died of illness only four years later. 'Bert Renfrey's name is forever associated in the minds of South Australian football fans with arguably the greatest achievement in the state's entire football history: the emphatic 1911 Adelaide carnival win. Renfrey it was who captained the croweaters during that series, the highlight of a varied career that saw him involved in senior football in four states.' Anthony Daly 'was the SAFA's top goal kicker on a total of seven occasions with three different clubs between 1893 and 1912, and his record of 23 goals in a match, established while playing for Norwood against Adelaide in his debut season, has been equalled (by Ken Farmer) but never bettered. Daly also topped his various clubs' goal kicking lists on thirteen occasions, and tallied 556 goals in 213 games. He played 10 games for South Australia, kicking 9 goals. He was a premiership player with Norwood on four occasions' ... More of these wonderful potted biographies by John Devaney may be found at that superlative site, australianfootball.com.
Item #130416
Sold