On 4 September 1886, an Australian rules football match was played between the South Melbourne Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground. The match was part of the 1886 season of the Victorian Football Association. It was considered the sport's most important match of the 19th century, and is sometimes referred to in modern times as the Match of the Century.
Played late in the 1886 season, South Melbourne and Geelong both entered the match undefeated, meaning that it was nearly certain to decide the premiership. The match drew unprecedented public interest, and a then-record crowd of around 30,000 attended. Although scores remained close until the final quarter, the match was an ultimately a one-sided encounter, and Geelong 4.19 comfortably defeated South Melbourne 1.5 by a margin of three goals.
Background
From the late 1870s until the 1880s, football in Victoria was dominated by two clubs: the South Melbourne Football Club, which had been the leading metropolitan club in Melbourne since its merger with Albert-park in 1880, and the Geelong Football Club, from the provincial city of Geelong. Between them, they had won the last eight VFA premierships: six by Geelong (1878, 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883 and 1884) and two by South Melbourne (1881 and 1885).
The 1886 VFA season saw both clubs near the peaks of their power, and when they met in their match on 4 September 1886, both clubs had amassed long unbeaten streaks: Geelong had not lost since 12 September 1885, and had an unbeaten streak of 26 matches. The club had a 13–0–2 record for the year thus far, and had also finished undefeated in a five-match tour of Adelaide in which it had faced all members of the SAFA. Across the season, it had scored more than four times as many goals as it had conceded and frequently dominated matches. South Melbourne's unbeaten run was even longer, having not lost since 20 September 1884, a streak of 48 matches, and South Melbourne's 1885 season had been as dominant as Geelong's 1886 season, with an undefeated premiership, an undefeated tour of South Australia, and four times as many goals scored as conceded. Its 1886 season was less dominant, as it had lost some champion players through defections to nearby rival club which entered the VFA in 1886, but it was still on track for a second undefeated season: its premiership record stood at 15–0–2, and it had scored twice as many goals as it had conceded.
At the time, the VFA premiership was an unofficial title conferred by the press, and by convention it went to the club which lost the fewest premiership matches. The 4 September match had been arranged between secretaries at the start of the year, and the season still had a month to run after the match Note that several modern references erroneusly describe the game as having been arranged at the end of the year to decide the premiership. Link. – but such was the two clubs' dominance over all others that it was considered a foregone conclusion that this match would decide the premiership. These combined circumstances meant that public interest in the match was unprecedented, and it was considered the most important match in Australian rules football history up to that point.
The two clubs had met once earlier in the season, on 26 June at Corio Oval in a drawn match; South Melbourne took the early lead, and Geelong kicked two goals in the final quarter to secure a draw. The home side, Geelong, finished with 3.5 to the visitors' 3.10. There was bad blood arising from the match: the South Melbourne team had arrived late after stopping in the town after their train arrived, resulting in the match being shortened by 20 minutes; in a dispute which played out as a series of letters to the editor of The Age newspaper over the following week, Geelong accused South Melbourne of doing this deliberately, since Geelong's small and speedy team was well known for dominating final quarters when its opponents were fatigued.
South Melbourne was a slight favourite with bettors, and a considerable amount of private wagering took place on the result.
Match arrangements Attendance and facilities A record crowd attended the match, estimated by contemporary news reports as between 25,000 and 30,000. Modern references put the crowd at 34,121, a figure which would stand as the 11th-highest known VFA crowd of all time (as well as being the third-highest known VFA crowd in the 1877-1896 period), and remained a record crowd at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground until round 18 of 1923 in the VFL.
The crowd strongly supported the home team, and an estimated 2,000 spectators travelled from Geelong to Melbourne by two special trains for the match. South Melbourne reported a gate of £780 12s., more than twice the previous record.
In anticipation of a record crowd, the South Melbourne committee made improvements to the ground ahead of the match. Encroachment of the crowd into the playing arena was a common problem in the 1880s, which the committee dealt with by strengthening the fence and having police patrol the boundary, both on foot and on horseback. Part of the eastern fence still collapsed under the weight of the crowd prior to the game, but the crowd did not encroach and was considered overall to have been very well behaved.
Nevertheless, the venue was ill-equipped to handle such a large crowd – The Argus sportswriter described the scene as "25,000 packed into a ground capable of holding half of that", with shallow embankments meaning that as much as a third of the crowd could not see any action. Spectators scaled roofs, trees, fences and the pavilion's verandah for a better vantage point, with police having to intervene to stop some of the more dangerous attempts, and the flower garden in front of the pavilion was trampled.
To reduce the rush at the ground's ticket offices, 10,000 entry tickets were pre-sold at Boyle & Scott's and the Sports Depot in central Melbourne.
Arrangements James Shaw was appointed field umpire, and R. C. Randall and F. Franks were appointed goal umpires. The goal umpires were given flags to signal scores: a red flag for a South Melbourne goal, a blue flag for a Geelong goal, and a white flag for a behind; it was one of the first matches in Victoria (although not the very first) to adopt the innovation, which Victorian clubs had first encountered on their tours of Tasmania during the year. Boundary umpires, who in 1886 were not mandatory but could be used at the agreement of the clubs, were not appointed.
The game was otherwise played under the standard Laws of the Game in 1886. Teams played twenty men per side. The game was divided into four quarters of thirty minutes, with a change of ends after each. Goals and behinds were recorded as part of the match score, but the final result was based only on the number of goals scored, with behinds serving a primarily statistical function. Behind posts were twenty yards from the goal posts, and little marks were permissible over a distance of five yards.
Other On the night before the match, three men wrenched fishplates off the Melbourne-to-Geelong railway line at a culvert near Laverton, an act of vandalism which would have caused a train wreck had a passenger train traversed it at full speed; railway inspectors identified the damage in the early morning, and repaired the line with minimal disruption to services. News reporters speculated that the act may have been to disrupt the Geelong team's journey, but the perpetrators were never caught and the motive was unproven.
Match summary The match commenced at 3pm. Geelong won the coin toss and kicked to the southern end of the ground, taking first use of the strong northerly breeze which blew across the ground throughout the match and made conditions difficult. South Melbourne kicked off.
First quarter South Melbourne opened the match with a moment of trickery: as Roy lined up for the kick-off, Harper snuck in from the side and kicked off almost at right angles. Novel as this was, it was to little effect, as Geelong recovered and scored inside the first minute, Julien kicking a behind from the first shot at goal from a wide angle. South Melbourne rebounded the kick-off and managed two quick shots at goal, the first by Graves going out of bounds, and the second by Bushell from a set shot narrowly missing for a behind. Geelong attacked, and a 35yd set shot by Phil McShane was on target but touched through for a behind.
After these early chances, Geelong's speedy players dominated play for the remainder of the quarter with the wind, and most of the game being played on Geelong's eastern attacking forward pocket. However, Geelong was unable to convert the field position into a lead: behinds were kicked by Alec Boyd from an easy shot from 40 yards, McLean, Steedman, Boyd again from a free kick, Kerley after a kick to the goal square was fumbled by a team-mate, and Bailey from a set shot. Many other shots fell short, where they were marked and rebounded by the South Melbourne defenders, particularly Elms and Bodycomb. When the bell sounded for the first change of ends, scores were level: Geelong 0.8, South Melbourne 0.1.
Second quarter South Melbourne now had the advantage of the wind; but after early end-to-end play, Geelong again settled into a position of territorial dominance. Two more behinds followed to Geelong: to McLean, and then to Kerley after South Melbourne's ensuing kick-off was turned over. Another shot by Galbraith was marked in the goal face by Elms. Finally, after McLean and Jack McShane won the ball out of the centre, the ball ended with Alec Boyd, who kicked Geelong's first goal from 40 yards. This gave Geelong its first lead, 1.10 to 0.1.
South Melbourne took possession from the kick-off and attacked, Harper scoring a behind. Geelong kicked the next two behinds, by Julien and McLean. O'Connor launched an attack for South Melbourne, and Burns was infringed, but managed only a behind from the free kick. There was no further scoring in the quarter, but a lot of spirited play in the centre of the ground. When the quarter ended, Geelong had a one-goal advantage: Geelong 1.12, South Melbourne 0.3.
Third quarter Geelong had the wind advantage in the third quarter, and again was able to hold the ball at its end of the ground for long periods to start the quarter, and McLean scored the first behind. Then followed a series of attempts at goal by Phil McShane: his first, earned after Julien had won the ball from South Melbourne's Young, missed for a behind; his next two fell short and were marked by the South Melbourne defenders; and with his next, from a set shot directly in front after receiving a mark from Foote, he scored his first goal, giving Geelong a 2.14 to 0.3 advantage. Geelong won the ball on the wing after the next kick-off, and Bailey kicked a behind.
South Melbourne then attacked, Mat Minchin gaining ground through the middle and passing to Roy, whose shot was rushed through by Sam Boyd. Minchin regained possession from Geelong's kick-off, passing the ball with Graves to Bushell, who kicked his team's first goal of the game. The quarter finished evenly, Geelong securing one more behind by Steedman. At the final change of ends, Geelong held a one-goal advantage: Geelong 2.16, South Melbourne 1.4.
Final quarter