[4] According to Mullen's 1950 almanac, the Champion of the Colony was an annual award was originally based on votes by club captains and later by Melbourne's leading football journalists, which was the accepted historical interpretation of the title for many decades.
More recent research has failed to uncover any contemporary evidence of any such award having ever existed,[5][6][7] and it is now generally accepted that the list was compiled entirely by Mullen, based on newspaper reports that he had collected over many years.
A fourth list that is claimed to be based on Mullen's work, finishing in 1945, has been used since 2003 in official Australian Football League (AFL) publications, with the 2017 and 2018 AFL Season Guide noting the newspapers that Mullen used in compiling his list.
1 While Tom Wills is listed as champion in 1856, he did not arrive in Victoria until 23 December 1856[11][12] after having spent the last seven years in England and Ireland.
In addition to his work as a football umpire, journalist and football historian,[17] he had a strong interest in (brass band) music,[18] and was responsible for the formation of the Richmond Amateur Boy's Club[19][20][21][22] — through which he was an early and significant influence on the cricket and the football of a number of prominent sportsmen, including George Bates, Syd Dineen, Neil Harvey, Tommy Lahiff, Jock McConchie, Bill Munn, Laurie Nash, Leo Opray, Ron Richards, Alby Pannam, George Smeaton, and Clarrie Vontom.