1924 VFL Season - Notable Events

Notable Events

• Charles Brownlow dies on 23 January 1924; the Charles Brownlow Trophy, more commonly known as the "Brownlow Medal", is instituted in his memory. The trophy is to be awarded to "the fairest and best player" in the VFL as determined by the votes of each field umpire at the end of each home-and-away match. In 1924, there was a single vote cast per match (Greeves won the inaugural medal with a total of 7 votes).
• Bill Twomey, Sr. who played for Collingwood (1918-1922) and would play for Hawthorn (1933-1934), the father of Collingwood's Bill Twomey, Jr. (1945-1958), Pat Twomey (1947-1949; 1952-1953), and Mick Twomey (1951-1961), and the grandfather of Collingwood's David Twomey (1987-1995) — wins the 1924, 130-yard Stawell Gift in 12.1 seconds, off a handicap of 8½ yards.
• The Fitzroy versus Carlton match in the opening round was the first VFL match in which both teams scored 100 points.
• The VFL adopts the convention of "home" teams wearing black shorts and "away" teams wearing white shorts.
• Because the 1924 Premiership was determined by a round-robin system, Essendon won the premiership despite being beaten by runners-up Richmond 9.13 (67) to 6.11 (47) in the last round-robin match; this is the only time in VFL/AFL history that the premiers lost their last match of the season. Richmond would have needed to win by 43 points to challenge Essendon to a Grand Final.
• Many of the Essendon players were unhappy at the poor performances of some of their team-mates in the final round robin match against Richmond and there were heated arguments and fist-fights in the rooms after the match, as well as after a post-match function later that evening, related to accusations of match fixing and receiving bribes.
• On the Saturday after the VFL Grand Final, Essendon (in its role as 1924 VFL Premiers) was challenged by 1924 VFA Premiers, Footscray, to a match in aid of Dame Nellie Melba's Disabled Soldiers' Fund, purportedly (but not officially) for the championship of Victoria. Footscray unexpectedly thrashed Essendon 9.10 (64) to 4.12 (36). Again there were accusations of match fixing and bribery and fist-fights in the change-rooms, and the Essendon team almost did not take the field for the second half of the match. Champion centre half-back Tom Fitzmaurice was so disgusted with many of his team-mates having, in his view, deliberately lost the match, he never played again for Essendon; he went to Geelong the next year and played in his third consecutive premiership.