1924 Championship of Victoria

These were:[1] In 1924, it was proposed to stage a match between the VFL and VFA for the benefit of the Limbless Soldiers' Appeal, organised by Dame Nellie Melba.

Richmond made itself available to replace Footscray, should the VFL and VFA have been unable to reach mutually satisfactory arrangements for the game.

At the time, the VFA and VFL played under mostly the same rules, including each fielding eighteen players per side, with only a few technical differences, so Footscray was not put at any significant disadvantage as a result of this.

[9][10] Footscray, which had dominated the VFA by winning the previous five minor premierships, had recruited heavily from the League over the previous few years, and fielded a total of nine former senior VFL players for the game – including five who had played with Essendon – and considered itself a strong chance to cause an upset.

In the curtain raiser, VFL wooden spooners St Kilda 19.16 (130) defeated NSWAFA runners-up Newtown 8.11 (59) by 71 points.

Thereafter, Footscray did most of the attacking for the quarter, but finished with only two goals, and were repeatedly repelled by the Essendon defenders, particularly Watt, Fitzmaurice, Donaldson and Maher.

Roy Laing (Essendon) was off the ground with a leg injury for much of the second quarter, eventually finishing the game in the forward line, but was too injured to have any impact.

In particular, Footscray was able to move the ball with the extensive use of handpassing – their technique was close to a throw, and was considered borderline illegal by reporters at the time, but was allowed by both umpires.

The VFL's decision was not based entirely on on-field merit, with strategic drivers and off-field strength also taken into consideration, so whether or not Footscray's win in this match had any direct bearing on its admission is a matter which divides football historians.

[14] In an interview with the Sporting Globe newspaper in 1935, Essendon defender Tom Fitzmaurice made allegations that some of his teammates had taken bribes to play stiff during the game, fixing the result in Footscray's favour, and told the newspaper that his disgust at this conduct had prompted him to leave the Essendon Football Club after the season; rover Charlie Hardy made the same allegations of match-fixing to the newspaper the following week, alleging that he believed Essendon's last finals match against Richmond the previous week had also been fixed.