Heartburnings and bickerings briskened

LAST SCENE OF ALL   By “Kicker” (1910)

The last day of the League Matches. Tomorrow will be the end of the season, and either the Carlton or Collingwood club will be the premiers.

It has been on the whole a rather dull year, for the play, generally speaking, has not been as good us that seen In past seasons. However, the premiership struggles have not been without their thrills and excitement. I have heard It said that the League’s declaration that it was determined to set its face against unduly rough play has had the effect of robbing the contests of a good deal that vim which makes for the excitement and interests the public, and that the absence of vim has been responsible for much of the poorness of quality in the football. Personally, I do not agree with such reasoning, for a game may be interesting and exciting without the brute force which by some is regarded as vim. The excuse is lame. For a long time there had been a tendency on the part of umpires and the League to pass unheeded unmanly acts on the field, and players too often displayed temper and did things that ought never to have been tolerated. The fact that they were not checked led them often, no doubt, to think that they were masters of the situation, and so the blemishing marks were left on the game, However, this season the League pulled up refractory players with a round turn which showed, perhaps tardily, that the time had arrived when football should be played as football. It Is not a part and parcel of the fighting ring, which is a very good place in its way, but that place is not the football green. The un-sportsmanlike players who when beaten by opponents went beyond the bounds of fairness to got even with their conquerors were taught the much needed lesson, with the result that the game has been played in better spirit and without the ugly spectacle of brawls and squabbles.

Well, the curtain will be lowered on 1910 League football tomorrow. The heartburnings and bickerings will cease, and Joy and happiness will take their places in either Collingwood or Carlton. These teams will play off in the grand final match. Collingwood has had a unique career, having won a place among the final four teams in each year, of its existence. The hope of the side is that tomorrow’s fight will leave them the winners of this season’s honours. The team has made exceedingly fine progress, Some few weeks back they were, as a whole, slow and rather without system, and very few at the time gave then a thought as probable premiers. Since then, however, they have dropped into methodical style. The individualism that was one of the weak spots in the team has given place to fine combination. The pace and dash have been briskened and they have won the right to dispute with Carlton by sheer merit.  Carlton has played in really fine form.

When the campaign was started the blues had to take the field without the services of some of the men who had carried the flag to victory many a time and oft. Since then through various causes the club has been hard hit with misfortune. But the side has won out and it may be confidently expected that it will put up a stubborn fight tomorrow.

FOOTBALL. (1910, September 30). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954)

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241967702

(Note: For the record, the match was the 13th VFL Grand Final and was attended by 42,790 spectators at the MCG. The game was won by Collingwood by a margin of 14 points, marking that club’s third premiership victory).

Collingwood: 4.3   5.3   8.5   9.7    (61)

Carlton:        1.2   2.6   4.9   6.11  (47)