Australian rules football was heavily affected by both World War I and World War II. Hundreds of leading players served their country abroad, and many lost their lives. On the

home front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin raids and endured food rations as part of what came t ...

, competitions like the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) went ahead during these wars, but faced many restrictions.

World War I

In March 1915, the VFL voted on whether or not to suspend the 1915 season, but voted in favour of playing by 13 votes to four. The season began on 24 April, the day before Australian troops landed at Gallipoli. Attendances were poor throughout the year. St Kilda changed their club colours because their traditional red, white and black colours were the same as the German Empire. Their new colours of black, red and yellow were chosen as support to Australia's ally Belgium, where a group of St Kilda players were serving. The 1916 season was heavily affected by the war. Only four clubs, Carlton, Collingwood,

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

and Richmond, competed in the league. The other clubs withdrew from the competition, both out of

Australian patriotism Australian patriotism is patriotism involving cultural attachment of Australians to Australia as their homeland. Australian patriotism has been identified by some as distinct from Australian nationalism because of the emphasis of Australian patr ...

and as a result of player shortage. Despite finishing the home and away season in last place, Fitzroy won the Grand Final that year. Both Geelong and

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

returned to the league in 1917, while St Kilda and

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington * Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport * Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United Ki ...

made their comeback in 1918.

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

spent the longest time out of the league, missing three seasons before rejoining the VFL in 1919. The

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

(WAFL) continued to play throughout the war; however due to a lack of players and very poor on-field records

North Fremantle North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

and

Midland Junction Midland is a suburb in the Perth metropolitan region, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of G ...

were forced to disband after the

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

and

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

seasons respectively. Neither was to return after the war, though attempts to revive Midland Junction were made in the 1920s. The

South Australian Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SAFL) suspended play in favour of a "patriotic competition" between 1916 and 1918.

"Pioneer Exhibition Game" in London (1916)

On Saturday 28 October 1916, the former Olympic champion swimmer and the later

Lord Mayor of Melbourne This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title of "Lord Mayor" was conferred on the position of mayor by Ki ...

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

Frank Beaurepaire, organized an Australian Rules football match between two teams of Australian servicemen in aid of the British and French

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

. The match was promoted as a "Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London". It was held at Queen's Club,

West Kensington West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includ ...

before an estimated crowd of 3,000, which included the (then)

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

(later

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

), and King Manuel II of Portugal. The members of the competing teams, ''Australian Training Units'' and ''The Third Australian Divisional Team'', were all highly skilled footballers, the majority of which had already played senior football in their respective states. A news film was taken at the match.

Other matches

Pick up games of Australian Rules football were popular amongst the Australian soldiers in World War 1. Private Victor Laidlaw describes one such match between his 2nd Field Ambulance and the Light Horse in Cairo in January 1915: Lieutenant Lionel Short gave a vivid and amusing account of another game played on a field pockmarked by shells. The game he wrote, was: Despite the difficulties of the game, Lieutenant Short ends with a poignant reminder of why these games were so important: Two men wrote that they had organised soldiers from Port Melbourne to take on all challengers noting “We hope to gain for the Port Melbourne Railway Union Football Club a name as renowned in France as the name is in Melbourne junior football circles"

World War II

Domestic competitions

Disputes over whether football should be played in wartime came up again in World War II. The VFL continued operation, but Geelong withdrew from the

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...

and

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

VFL seasons when rail and road transport restrictions made it too difficult for supporters to attend games in Melbourne. Because the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the

Lake Oval Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association football club Sout ...

were taken over by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

as bases, Melbourne and South Melbourne had to play their home games elsewhere, whilst the

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Jun ...

for two seasons and the

Western Oval Whitten Oval (also known as Victoria University Whitten Oval under a naming rights agreement) is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administ ...

for 1942 were also commandeered. The VFL's

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by t ...

for the "fairest and best" player was not awarded for four seasons - 1942 to 1945. The Western Australian National Football League restricted the competition to players under the age of 18 in 1942, and under 19 in 1943 and 1944; and the eight

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as t ...

clubs temporarily merged into four combined clubs for a reduced competition between 1942 and 1944. In 1940, both the SANFL and the VFL staged the first Australian football Lightning football, Lightning Carnivals as fundraising events. The carnivals featured every team in the league in a one-day knockout tournament, featuring shortened games. Several more of these carnivals were held by major and minor leagues as wartime fundraisers.

Libya

Australian rules football also played a significant part in the Australian forces during the war, with the first Australian assault in Libya commencing with the signal of a football being kicked into no-man's land.

Prisoners of War

Australian rules football was also played by Prisoners of War throughout World War II, with competitions held in Singapore and Germany. The Changi Football League, played at Changi Prison was held in 1942/43 and contested by teams called "Melbourne", "Richmond", "Essendon" and "Carlton",Shaw, p. 58 while a League was also set up at Stalag 383, near Nuremberg, contested by the "Kangaroos", "Emus", Kookaburras" and Wallabies".Shaw, p. 59 The Changi Football League, run by

ist Wilfred Smallhorn, awarded its only Changi Brownlow for Best and Fairest to Peter Chitty, a former St Kilda footballer.

VFL players who died in active service

Many VFL players served in the armed services, and a number lost their lives, including Ron Barassi, Sr., Ron Barassi Sr., Bruce Sloss and Len Thomas.

Commemorations

Since 1995 The ANZAC Day clash, a match between Collingwood and

has taken place on Anzac Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a tribute to those who died serving their country. Other games, including the ''Len Hall Game'' hosted by Fremantle Football Club, Fremantle at Subiaco Oval, and games in Wellington, New Zealand have also been held to commemorate past and present members of the armed forces. All games held on the weekend closest to ANZAC Day have a small memorial ceremony, and the Last Post, a minutes silence, and, then, The Rouse played before the game.

Footnotes

References

''Pioneer Exhibition Game Australian Football: in aid of British and French Red Cross Societies: 3rd Australian Division v. Australian Training Units at Queen's Club, West Kensington, on Saturday, October 28th, 1916, at 3pm'', Wightman & Co., (London), 1919.
* Anon., "Australian Football. Novel Match At Queen's Club", ''The Times'', Issue 41311, (Monday, 30 October 1916), p. 11, column C. * Anon., "News in Brief", ''The Times'', Issue 41309, (Friday, 27 October 1916), p. 15, column B. * Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. .
Brosnan, G., "Australian Football at Queen's Club, London; Exhibition Game by Anzacs Draws Large Crowd", ''The (Melbourne) Winner'', (Wednesday, 20 December 1916), p.7.
* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996. * Holmesby, R. & Main, J., ''This Football Century: "The Greatest Game of All"'', Wilkinson Books, (Melbourne), 1996. * Main, J. & Allen, D., ''Fallen — The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War'', Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002. * Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.
Minogue, D. & Millard, P.J., "Famous A.I.F. Match in London", ''The Sporting Globe'', (Saturday, 21 August 1937), p.8.
* Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. * Shaw, I. (2006) ''The Bloodbath'', Scribe, Melbourne. .

External links

Sport and War
ABC radio transcript (19 April 2002) * *
1940 VFL Patriotic Cup - Melbourne
– BoylesFootballPhotos
1942 Inter-Services Competition - Melbourne
– BoylesFootballPhotos
1943 RAAF Competition - Melbourne
– BoylesFootballPhotos {{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Rules Football During The World Wars Australian Football League, VFL History of Australia (1901–1945), VFL Australian people of World War I Australian people of World War II History of Australian rules football Articles containing video clips