Interstate matches in Australian rules football

Players contest a mark at the 1933 Australian Football Carnival, at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The teams are Victoria and Tasmania. (Photographer: Sam Hood.)

Australian rules football matches between teams representing Australian colonies/states and territories have been held since 1879. For most of the 20th century, the absence of a national club competition and international matches meant that football games between state representative teams were regarded with great importance. Football historian John Devaney has argued that: "some of the state of origin contests which took place during the 1980s constituted arguably the finest expositions of the game ever seen."^[1]

Description

Until 1976, interstate Australian rules football games were played by teams representing the major football leagues or organisations. From 1977 to 1999, players were generally selected under State of Origin selection rules and they were chosen mostly from the Australian Football League (AFL). Since 2000, all matches have been between teams representing the second-tier state or territorial leagues. Players from the AFL no longer take part in interstate matches.

The matches have mostly been held on a stand-alone basis. However, an Australian Football Carnival, a national championship series, held in either one or two cities, took place between 1908 and 1993, usually at three year intervals. Teams which have taken part have included a combined Australian Amateurs team, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales (NSW), NSW-ACT, New Zealand (NZ; 1908 carnival only), Northern Territory, Queensland (Qld), Qld-NT, South Australia (SA), Tasmania (Tas), Victoria (Vic), the Victorian Football League (VFL), the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and Western Australia (WA). The Allies, a combined team representing the states and territories other than the three major Australian rules states — South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia — also took part in State of Origin games during the 1990s.

Between 1937 and 1988 the player judged the best at each of these carnivals was awarded the Tassie Medal.

Between 1953 and 1988, the selection of All Australian Teams was based on players' performance during Australian Football Carnivals, and the team was named after each carnival concluded.

History

Inter-State competition, 1879–1976

1879–89

Victoria the birthplace of Australian rules, and with contributing factors such as population and finances, dominated the first hundred years of intercolonial and interstate football. This was the case in the first ever interstate game, held on Tuesday, 1 July 1879 (a public holiday), at East Melbourne Cricket Ground. The final score was Victoria (represented by the VFA) 7.14 to South Australia 0.3. The match was attended by more than 10,000 people.

The third and fourth teams to commence intercolonial competition were New South Wales and Queensland, playing each other in a two-game series in Brisbane in 1884; the result of the series was a one-all draw. Tasmania played its first game, against Victoria, in 1887. New Zealand entered the competition with a victory over NSW in Sydney, in 1889.

1890–1907

Victoria's long-term dominance briefly faltered in the 1890s, when other Colonies recorded their first ever wins over the Victoria: South Australia in Adelaide in 1890 and 1891 and Tasmania in Hobart in 1893 (twice). In 1897, the VFL split from the VFA and the two selected separate representative teams, further weakening Victoria in intercolonial competition, which became interstate competition following Federation of the six British colonies in Australia, in 1901.

Western Australia played its first two interstate games in 1904, including a win over SA in Adelaide.

1908–18

The VFL's dominance, at least within Victoria, was established by the time an interstate carnival was held for the first time — in Melbourne in 1908 — to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of "Australasian football" (as it was known at the time). The widening gap between the three major footballing States/leagues and the others was shown in the organisation of the competition: Victoria represented by the (VFL), SA and WA constituted "Section A", and Tasmania, NSW, Queensland and NZ were relegated to "Section B". The VFA did not take part and the carnival was New Zealand's last appearance in representative football. The Victorian team went through the competition undefeated.

This impression was reiterated by the 1911 Carnival, in Adelaide, which also set the pattern of a carnival every three years. Victoria only lost one game, against SA. At the Sydney carnival of 1914, Victoria was once again undefeated. Following the onset of World War I interstate matches went into a five-year hiatus.

1919–76

During this period interstate matches were held every year, and interstate carnivals were held usually every 3 years, with a few exceptions. Carnivals were contested by the full members of the Australian National Football Council: Victoria (VFL); South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania; Queensland; New South Wales; Canberra (from 1933 onwards); the Australian Amateur Football Council (from 1950 onwards); and the Victorian Football Association (from 1950–1966). In most carnivals, the stronger states competed separately from the minor states; and on many occasions the stronger states and minor states carnivals were held in separate locations or years. At the peak of its popularity, the carnival was known symbolically as "the Ashes" of Australian rules football.^[2][3]

Victoria (VFL) continued its dominance in interstate football by winning 15 of the 17 carnivals held during this time, and usually winning the individual matches held every year.

State of Origin competition and results 1977–1999

Map of Australia with each state shaded in that state's main jumper colour

Western Australia Australian rules football team ("Sandgropers") 1995 State of Origin guernsey.

By the 1970s, VFL clubs were signing up an increasing number of the best players from other states and Victoria dominated state games. West Australians, led by the marketing manager of the Subiaco Football Club, Leon Larkin, began to campaign for players to be selected according to state-of-origin rules. The West Australian Football League (WAFL) negotiated with the VFL for two years before agreement was reached on the format.

In the first such game, at Subiaco Oval in Perth, on 8 October 1977, Western Australia defeated Victoria, 23.13 (151) to 8.9 (57), a huge reversal of the results in most previous games. In the words of one football historian:

"A Western Australian team composed entirely of home-based players had, on 25 June, taken on a Victorian team containing many of the same players who would return to Perth three and a half months later for the state of origin clash. The respective scores of the two matches offered a persuasive argument, if such were needed, of the extent to which the VFL had denuded the WAFL of its elite talent:

• On 25 June 1977 Victoria 23.16 (154) defeated Western Australia 13.13 (91) – a margin of 63 points
• On 8 October 1977 Western Australia 23.13 (151) defeated Victoria 8.9 (57) – a margin of 94 points, representing an overall turn around of 157 points

Western Australia's previous biggest winning margin against a Victorian state team had been a mere 38 points in 1948. Almost overnight, an inferiority complex was dismantled: Victoria, it seemed, was not intrinsically superior, only wealthier."^[4]

Games involving each of the other states soon followed. Western Australia and South Australia began to win more games against Victoria.

The State of Origin eligibility rules varied from game to game, and matches during the 1980s were sometimes played under partial, rather than full, State of Origin rules. This was in large part so that neutral leagues were not disrupted by a stand-alone game between two other states; e.g. VFL clubs would not lose access to interstate origin players on the weekend of a game between South Australia and Western Australia. For example, in the stand-alone 1982 match between South Australia and Victoria, a quota of up to six VFL players of South Australian origin, and no more than one from any VFL club, could play for South Australia; but otherwise, all SANFL and VFL players were eligible to play for South Australia and Victoria respectively – indeed Victoria fielded five VFL players of Western Australian origin in that match, including their captain, Mike Fitzpatrick.^[5][6] Jason Dunstall and Terry Daniher, who were born in and recruited from Queensland and New South Wales respectively, both played several partial-origin matches for Victoria; and in a partial-origin match against Victoria in 1990, New South Wales was allowed to be represented by players of New South Welsh origin and any player who had played for the Sydney Swans.

A full interstate carnival under state-of-origin selection was held with success in October 1979 in Perth. A second carnival was held the following October in Adelaide, but were a financial disaster for the organisers, with only 28,245 people attending the four games. Following this series, the VFL decided to not participate in any future carnivals which put the future of the carnival concept in doubt.^[7]

However, during the 1990s, following the emergence of a national club competition, the Australian Football League, state of origin games declined in importance. Due from clubs putting pressure on players to withdraw from games due to risk of injury there were an increasing number of withdrawals by AFL players.

Non-State of Origin games are marked with a *

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

1989

1988 Adelaide Bicentennial State of Origin Carnival

1987

1986

1985

The match between South Australia and Victoria was awarded to South Australia on protest, as a result of Victoria playing with four interchange players instead of the permitted three.^[10]

1984

1983

1982

1981

1980

1980 Adelaide State of Origin Carnival

1979

1979 Perth State of Origin Carnival

1978

1977

Australian National Football Carnival

For most of the 20th century there was a national football carnival usually held every three to five years. Some of the carnivals the format consisted of qualification matches at the start of the tournament, with the winners playing off in a final. In some other carnivals the format was a round-robin format, with a points system in which the team with most points at the end of the tournament was declared the winner.

• 1908 Melbourne Carnival
• 1911 Adelaide Carnival
• 1914 Sydney Carnival
• 1921 Perth Carnival
• 1927 Melbourne Carnival
• 1930 Adelaide Carnival
• 1933 Sydney Carnival
• 1937 Perth Carnival
• 1947 Hobart Carnival
• 1950 Brisbane Carnival
• 1953 Adelaide Carnival
• 1956 Perth Carnival
• 1958 Melbourne Carnival
• 1961 Brisbane Carnival
• 1966 Hobart Carnival
• 1969 Adelaide Carnival
• 1972 Perth Carnival
• 1975 Knockout Carnival
• 1979 Perth State of Origin Carnival
• 1980 Adelaide State of Origin Carnival
• 1988 Adelaide Bicentennial Carnival

State of Origin representative teams

Logo	Club	Nickname	Years	Matches	States Represented	Awards
	Australian Football Alliance	Allies	1995–1998	4	Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland Tasmania	Alex Jesaulenko Medal (1995–1998)
	Australian Amateurs Australian Amateurs	Amateurs	1988	2	All	?
	Australian Capital Territory Australian Capital Territory	?	1978–1988	5	Australian Capital Territory	?
	New South Wales	Blues	1988–1992	4	New South Wales	?
	New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Australian Capital Territory	Rams	1993	1	New South Wales Australian Capital Territory	?
	Northern Territory Northern Territory	Thunder	1988	3	Northern Territory	?
	Queensland	Maroons/ Scorpions	1979–1993	9	Queensland	?
	South Australia	Croweaters	1979–1999	24	South Australia	Fos Williams Medal (1981–1999)
	Tasmania	Devils	1978–1993	14	Tasmania	Lefroy Medal
	Victoria	Big V	1979–1999	53	Victoria	E. J. Whitten Medal (1985–1999)
	VFA VFA	?	1988	3	Victoria	?
	Western Australia	Sandgropers	1979–1998	28	Western Australia	Simpson Medal (1977–1991) Graham Moss Medal (1995–1998)

AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match, 2008

No official State of Origin matches were held between 1999 and 2008. In 2008, the concept made a return to celebrate 150 years of Australian football. In spite of lobbying for three or more games, involving at least six different teams or even an interstate carnival, one all-star game was played in 2008. The sides competing were Victoria and a "Dream Team", a composite team representing all other states, territories and countries.

Importance

At its peak, interstate matches were among the most important events on the annual football calendar in South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The crowds drawn to interstate matches in those states regularly dwarfed home-and-away crowds, and at times throughout history would match or exceed grand final attendances. In Perth, interstate matches at the 1921 carnival, during the 1929 season, and at the 1937 carnival successively set records as Western Australia's highest ever sports crowd; the crowd of 40,000 drawn to that 1937 match was more than 10,000 higher than any previous Western Australian crowd^[13] and almost double the record club grand final crowd at that time. Likewise in Tasmania, carnival fixtures in 1924,^[14] 1947^[15] and 1966 each set new Tasmanian state football attendance records,^[16] and the 1966 carnival crowd of 23,764 remains the third-highest football attendance in Tasmania's history. State of Origin matches in the 1980s in South Australia and Western Australia regularly drew crowds between 30,000 and 50,000, on par with grand finals in those states during that era; and interstate matches in Tasmania consistently drew crowds which either exceeded or were second only to the Tasmanian league's grand final attendances.^[17]

Interstate football was less popular in Victoria than it was in the other states. A match in Victoria in 1989 against South Australia set the national interstate football record crowd of 91,960, with 10,000 people turned away at the gate.^[17] Other large crowds at interstate games in Victoria were between 60,000 and 70,000,^[18] on par with some large home-and-away games but lower than a typical finals attendance. At its lowest, interstate games in Victoria during the 1930s could sometimes fail to draw 10,000 spectators – less than the average home-and-away crowd – at a time when state record crowds were drawn to the matches elsewhere.^[19] Eventually, due to these lower levels of public interest, less interstate football came to be played in Victoria: between 1981 and 1988, when State of Origin football was at its peak, the Victorian team did not play a single match at home.^[17] The primary reason for the difference in popularity between Victoria and the other states was the Victorian team's historical dominance in interstate football. Particularly during the pre-State of Origin era, the Victorian team was always expected to win and regularly won easily; therefore, Victorian spectators were disinclined to attend matches because there was little pride on offer for victory and a high chance of a one-sided contest.^[20][21] The record crowd of 91,960 in Melbourne in 1989 came after South Australia had beaten Victoria three years in a row, demonstrating that Victorian fans were willing to embrace interstate football when the rivalry and contests were closely fought.^[17] Additionally, differences in supporter culture between the states meant that club football and club parochialism had much greater importance in Victoria than in the other states.^[22]

Amongst the competing states, the rivalry with Victoria was the strongest. Victoria's long-term dominance of interstate football created a culture of disdain towards it and, as a result, the most popular games always involved Victoria and beating Victoria was considered the pinnacle of interstate football in South Australia and Western Australia.^[23] South Australia's rivalry towards Victoria was characterised during the 1980s with the slogan "Kick a Vic".^[24]

Players from all states, including Victoria, viewed selection and participation in interstate football with great importance. Ted Whitten, who was widely noted for his involvement in and passion for the Victorian team described how "the players would walk on broken glass to wear the Victorian jumper".^[25] Graham Cornes, well known for his involvement in the South Australian team, always spoke equally proudly of the experience of representing his state.^[23] John Platten, a highly decorated player, described a drought breaking victory playing for South Australia, over Victoria, as one of his proudest football moments.^[26]

In popular media

Greg Champion wrote a song, "Don't Let The Big V Down", about the traditional navy blue jumper with a large white "V" used to represent Victoria in state games. The song is about a young man who is about to play his first state game and is approached by another man who tells him to not let the Big V down.

Champion also wrote another song, "Came From Adelaide", about two people watching a game between South Australia and Victoria. One of them turns to the other and says that the Croweaters cannot play. The other replies that this is not true and that the South Australians are great.

Other interstate matches

E. J. Whitten Legends Game

Following the death of Ted Whitten — who is regarded as one of the finest ever players of Australian rules — from prostate cancer in 1995, his son Ted Whitten Jr organised an interstate charity match between teams of retired players, to raise money for research into the disease. The only two teams which have taken part in these games are Victoria and the All Stars (similar to the AFL's "Allies"), who represent the rest of Australia. The first E. J. Whitten Legends Game was played at Whitten Oval in 1996, and it has become an annual event. The games have often attracted crowds of over 10,000, and this has resulted in it being moved from the Whitten Oval to Optus Oval, to Adelaide Oval (South Australia) and finally to Etihad Stadium.

Games between state leagues, 1991 to present

With the advent of interstate teams into the expanding VFL and its eventual re-badging and change to a national league in 1990, the state leagues would undertake steps to ensure that representative football would not be reserved solely for those players in the Australian Football League. State League Representative matches would allow those players participating in competitions that would be, in later years, categorised as second-tier leagues, to be selected for interstate duties. While State of Origin would continue for several more years with pre-dominantly AFL-listed players, this format would for many players, become the pinnacle of their football careers outside of playing in a premiership. For the most part during the ensuing years between the inception of State League and the end of Origin, it was the South Australian and Western Australian leagues championing the concept with the two leagues facing off many times. The other state leagues did take part in the concept, but on a far more limited basis. The Queensland, ACT and Tasmanian competitions featured on several occasions, the New South Wales league made scattered appearances while the Northern Territory was far less featured on the interstate stage mainly due to their domestic league being played in a different part of the year. Meetings between those competitions and the SANFL or WAFL were a rare occurrence.

The Victorian Football Association eventually made some appearances of their own at state league level from 1994, but also did not have games against South Australia or Western Australia for a few years. Eventually, after a restructure of that competition in 1996 which saw them adopt the name of the VFL, they faced the SANFL on the MCG in the curtain raiser to what would be the swansong of State of Origin football in 1999. From this day onwards, interstate football would become the domain of the leagues that underpin the AFL. In the years following, the participation of the "non-traditional" football states was not as high as that of South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria. Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory continued to play a part, while Tasmania's football system was split in half between north and south, as well as the state team being replaced by a state team in the VFL in 2001. The "Big 3" in the SANFL, WAFL and VFL entered into an agreement in 2003 to adopt a program where they would play each other in a rotational system over three years, which saw one state either sit out interstate football for one season or require that league to find alternative opposition.

Towards the end of the 2000s, the AFL by this time had control of the football administrations across the eastern states and the Northern Territory. Tasmania withdrew from the VFL and relaunched the statewide Tasmanian State League competition in 2009, then in 2011 the AFL created the North East Australian Football League out of established state league teams from New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as reserves sides from the four AFL clubs in those regions. With this, the representative football calendar would virtually encompass all of Australia. At first the NEAFL's conference system would allow two representative sides with Queensland and the Northern Territory making up the Northern conference team and the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory combination forming the Eastern conference side. A couple of years later, the NEAFL would be represented by a single team. How this arrangement fits into the individual state league schedules is still being worked on, but it has largely not disrupted the existing arrangements undertaken by the traditional football states. In fact, what would normally have been a "bye" year for the SANFL, WAFL or VFL allows them to instead play the NEAFL or the TSL.

Under this arrangement, the leagues of New South Wales (AFL Sydney), the Australian Capitol Territory (AFL Canberra) and Queensland (QAFL) were practically relegated to third-tier status behind the NEAFL and, as a result, any representative matches involving opposition outside of these territories have involved amateur-level leagues.

State league awards

The state league representative matches, like State of Origin matches, also have individual best on ground medals:

• Queensland and Northern Territory (NEAFL): Zane Taylor Medal
• South Australia (SANFL): Fos Williams Medal
• Victoria (VFA/VFL): Frank Johnson Medal
• Western Australia (WAFL): Simpson Medal

State league representative match results: 1991–present

Bold text indicates the home team.

Year	Result	Venue
1991	WAFL 17.20 (122) def. SANFL 11.12 (78)	Subiaco Oval
1992	SANFL 9.18 (72) def. WAFL 9.12 (66)	Football Park
1993	WAFL 15.20 (110) def. SANFL 13.8 (86)	WACA Ground
	TFL 11.8 (74) def. QLD 9.10 (64)	Bellerive Oval
1994	AFL-NT 15.13(103) def. VFA 12.8 (80)	Melbourne
	WAFL 10.14 (74) def. SANFL 7.18 (60)	Football Park
	QLD 18.18 (126) def. TFL 10.10 (70)	Brisbane
1995	AFL-NT 11.11 (77) def. ACT 9.16 (70)	Canberra
	TFL 14.15 (99) def. SANFL 12.12 (84)	North Hobart Oval
	WAFL 14.14 (98) def. QLD 8.17 (65)	Brisbane
	VFA 16.15 (111) def. NSW 2.7 (19)	Melbourne
1996	VFL 15.18 (108) def. TFL 13.8 (86)	Melbourne
	SANFL 15.20 (110) def. WAFL 6.9 (45)	Subiaco Oval
1997	SANFL 13.17 (95) def. ACT 8.5 (53)	Canberra
	VFL 11.25 (91) def. ACT 10.6 (66)	Canberra
	TFL 19.6 (120) def. WAFL 10.13 (73)	North Hobart Oval
1998	SANFL 17.13 (115) def. WAFL 10.10 (70)	Football Park
	TFL 13.10 (88) def. VFL 6.17 (53)	North Hobart Oval
1999	SANFL 12.11 (83) def. VFL 8.11 (59)	MCG
	ACT 9.11 (65) def. NSW 9.6 (60)	Sydney
	WAFL 20.12 (132) def. TSFL 10.14 (74)	Kalgoorlie
2000	SANFL 15.17 (107) def. WAFL 8.17 (65)	Adelaide Oval
2001	SANFL 20.14 (134) def. VFL 14.12 (96)	Adelaide Oval
2002	VFL 18.17 (125) def. SANFL 10.9 (69)	Adelaide Oval
	WAFL 24.15 (159) def. QLD 6.12 (48)	Fremantle Oval
2003	SANFL 17.16 (118) def. WAFL 8.10 (58)	Fremantle Oval
	QLD 10.9 (69) def. ACT 5.13 (43)	The Gabba
2004	VFL 10.9 (69) def. WAFL 8.10 (58)	Leederville Oval
	QLD 10.11 (71) def. ACT 8.9 (57)	Manuka Oval
2005	SANFL 20.8 (128) def. VFL 18.16 (124)	TEAC Oval
	WAFL 18.21 (129) def. QLD 11.5 (71)	Carrara Oval
	QLD 18.14 (122) def. ACT 12.12 (84)	Manuka Oval
2006	SANFL 14.14 (98) def. WAFL 12.9 (81)	Adelaide Oval
2007	VFL 25.11 (161) def. WAFL 5.12 (42)	TEAC Oval
	ACT 16.11 (107) def. NSW 14.9 (93)	Manuka Oval
	QLD 13.7 (85) def. TAS 10.14 (74)	York Park
2008	SANFL 25.11 (161) def. VFL 14.12 (96)	Adelaide Oval
	WAFL 24.20 (164) def. QLD 14.7 (97)	Tony Ireland Stadium
2009	WAFL 12.10 (82) def. SANFL 12.9 (81)	Leederville Oval
	TSL 20.9 (129) def. QLD 11.14 (80)	Bellerive Oval
2010	VFL 20.11 (131) def. WAFL 11.11 (77)	Leederville Oval
	QLD 23.26 (164) def. TSL 13.7 (85)	Fankhauser Reserve
2011	WAFL 16.17 (113) def. QLD/NT (NEAFL North) 16.11 (107)	Rushton Park
2012	SANFL 15.11 (101) def. WAFL 13.9 (87)	Glenelg Oval
	VFL 20.17 (137) def. TSL 3.11 (29)	Bellerive Oval
	QLD/NT (NEAFL North) 31.15 (201) def. NSW/ACT (NEAFL East) 8.8 (56)	Fankhauser Reserve
2013	SANFL 21.14 (140) def. QLD/NT (NEAFL North) 9.4 (58)	Richmond Oval
	WAFL 17.16 (118) def. VFL 15.11 (101)	Jubilee Oval
	TSL 15.11 (101) def. NSW/ACT (NEAFL East) 8.13 (61)	Skoda Stadium
2014	WAFL 19.18 (132) def. NEAFL 6.11 (47)	Blacktown ISP Oval
	SANFL 18.10 (118) def. VFL 14.12 (96)	North Port Oval
	TSL 18.12 (120) def. NEAFL 11.13 (79)	Bellerive Oval
2015	WAFL 18.13 (121) def. SANFL 11.10 (76)	Lathlain Park
	NEAFL 11.11 (77) def. TSL 8.9 (57)	Moreton Bay Sports Complex

References

1. "Interstate Football". AustralianFootball.com.
2. "Carnival champions – presentation of the Ashes". Daily Herald (Adelaide, SA). p. 9.
3. "Victoria's football ashes". Barrier Daily Truth (Broken Hill, NSW). 11 August 1947. p. 6.
4. "WestCoast – Part One: 1881 to 1985".
5. Carter, Ron (17 May 1982). "Flower in Doubt". The Age. p. 26. In addition to Fitzpatrick, the other Western Australians named to play for Victoria were Ross Glendinning, Ken Hunter, Robert Wiley and Tony Buhagiar.
6. Dunn, Jack (11 May 1982). "Eight new boys get the Big V". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.) (Melbourne, VIC). p. 74.
7. Poat, Peter (1981). Football Register (19th ed.). Morley, Western Australia: Westralian Publishers and Associates. pp. 212–213.
8. "Victory highlights superiority of SA". The Canberra Times. 26 May 1988. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
9. "Whitten fires warning shot at SA after WA win". The Canberra Times. 6 July 1988. p. 48. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
10. "League sacks Victoria". The Canberra Times (Canberra, ACT). 17 June 1985. p. 28.
11. "Tasmania loses by 47 points". The Canberra Times. 11 June 1978. p. 41. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
12. "Victoria humiliates WA by 100 points". The Canberra Times. 11 June 1978. p. 41. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
13. "Football carnival". The West Australian (Perth, WA). 16 August 1937. p. 15.
14. "Large Hobart crowd". The West Australian (Perth, WA). 1 October 1946. p. 5.
15. "Victoria wins carnival premiership". The Mercury (Hobart, TAS). 11 August 1947. p. 17.
16. Kevin Hogan (13 June 1966). "Battle for VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, VIC). p. 31.
17. Greg Baum (3 July 1989). "Fans united on Big V day". The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, VIC). p. 85.
18. Tony de Bolfo; Justin Brasier (1 July 1989). "Blockbuster". The Sun News=Pictorial (Melbourne, VIC). p. 84.
19. J. M. Rohan (7 August 1935). "A big football problem". The Sporting Globe (Melbourne, VIC). pp. 1, 8.
20. Kevin Hogan (7 July 1958). "Good meat – but no salt". The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, VIC). p. 44.
21. P. J. Millard (22 April 1936). "Thankful for no Interstate Match". The Sporting Globe (Melbourne, VIC). p. 8.
22. "Is break in League programme justified?". The Sporting Globe (Melbourne, VIC). 22 August 1934. p. 8.

External links

• AustralianFootball.com, "Interstate Football"
• Convict Creations State of Origin
• AFL Statistics