Australian Rules Football: Personalities of the 1920s and 1930s

This silent promo film for the Victorian Football League (VFL) was made for cinemas in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Things may look a little different – the hand-stitched emblems on the guernseys, the baggy shorts, the complete absence of mullets – but the intensity on the spectators’ faces and the cheeky camaraderie among the players feel as fresh as today. 

The full film features several of the teams from what was then the VFL (now the AFL), but this excerpt focuses on the players from Essendon, a club formed in the late 19th century and at first colloquially known as the Sash Wearers or the Same Olds. The Dons, the nickname current at the time of this film, is still in use today; the Bombers was a 1940s innovation.   

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