I was in at Santo's a couple of weeks back. He has the range of VFA books, Camberwell History, Dandenong's Team of the Century etc. Plus has a good chunk of backdated Footy Records.
Let us know what this new books like.
I picked up my copy at the Melbourne Sports Book in Flinders St.
It's good read. Even lists 2nds and 3rds premiers and b&f winners, together with history on some of the early clubs such as Melbourne City.
Interesting looking at the 1930's when Northcote, Coburg, Oakleigh and Brunswick were dominant.
Grand Final crowds are interesting too. 23272 saw Cob v Willy in '89 and 20847 saw Sandy v Willy in '92. Where are all those followers now ?
Marc Fiddian comments that 1985 GF between Sandy & Willy was one of the finest he's seen. I remember that well, as Ron James made his debut for Willy at 14 years old. Disappointing result from my perspective, but great game. I got to the Junction Oval at 3/4 time in the 2nd GF (which was the curtain raiser) and watched Rino Pretto kick 7 goals in the last term in a vain attempt to win the game for Oakleigh.
jb i was actually at the 92 final and despite the big crowd it was fairly quiet as 80-90% were willy ppl.. a bit of an anti-climax i thought.
The 94 final had a vocal 13k watch at vic park, a day id rather forget!
I have a book by Marc Fiddian called "The Pioneers - 100 Years of Association Football" published in 1977. It sounds like the forerunner to this volume.
This is a new book, only out a week or so ago. The Roar of the Crowd just covered Grand Finals.
I also have the Pioneers but this current one providesladders and finals scores, as well as bringin club history up to date since 1977.
Paceman77, the only life I recall at the 92 GF was when Willy got 2 late goals in the 3rd qtr - which was extremely optimistic given it merely reduced the margin at the time to about 9 or 10 goals.
VFA History book.
The new VFA History book costs about $35 and is a good read.
The Pioneers which was produced in 1977 is a bit different to the nw VFA book.
Melbourne Sports Book has the Camberwell Reunion book with shorts from its History book East Side Story.
The Dandenong History Redlegs is availabale.
There is also history books on Williamstown, North Ballarat, Mordialloc, Brunswick and Yarraville available.
Bullants History (Preston FC) has 2 volumes on its history.
Other VFA History books that are out of print include of Lions and Liniment (History of Coburg), Bullants at Play (History of Preston), Two Blues (History of Prahran FC), East Side Story (History of Camberwell FC) and the Roar of the Crowd (History of VFA Finals).
Great talk on all the history of the once famous VFA. I know where you can order the Dandenong History book if you require it at a pretty low cost. Also there are old vidoes as well of past Grand Finals and I am sure he would be able to look after your needs. I also think we should have a VFA hall of fame.
past finals