Seekers after truth are now challenging the VFL on this date and today we were privileged to hear from Colin Carpenter, AM FAICD on this vexed topic of the “start” date. Among many of Colin’s achievements has been his role as a former AFL commissioner and President of the Geelong Football Club and who has now turned his mind to what he terms “Football’s Forgotten Years” in his book bearing that title. There is no argument that the VFA started in 1870 with 13 Clubs which in 1897 when 8 clubs seceded led to the formation of the VFL. The argument is about the relevance of the missing 27 years and what should be the baseline for official footy statistics.
Mike Fitzpatrick, AFL Commission Chair 2007 to 2016 saw it this way when he wrote “Carter’s research is forensic, working through contemporary reporting, commentary and data to establish the view – which he claims is irrefutable – that the AFL’s starting season was not 1897, but 1870”.
To further hammer the point when reviewing the book Mike Sheahan, journalist and media commentator said “The Carter argument is compelling. Clearly the AFL was born of the VFA. The defection of eight clubs didn’t erase their histories pre-1897. Colin’s push may be unpalatable with clubs whose place in premiership tallies will be adjusted negatively but a true history of the game’s origins is more important. Clearly 1870 is the AFL competition’s birthdate”.
Let’s be hard-nosed about this. Currently Carlton and Essendon share top spot with 16 premierships each with Collingwood only one behind at 15 and if the starting date reverts to 1870, Carlton would now be well clear on 22 wins with Essendon now in second place at 20, Geelong third with 17 and Collingwood trailing at 16.
Your correspondent is bound to declare his affections are with Essendon and any statistical driven demotion on the ladder would be unpalatable. Or, to paraphrase Colin’s words, any change is up against the entrenched footy tribal politics.
His compelling talk was peppered with the names of famous players and their deeds, formidable and sometimes dodgy administrators and amusing anecdotes that have coloured the game over the last 150 or so years.
To allay concerns that people 
may have about the history of the game Colin foreshadowed the formation by the AFL of a Heritage Committee to review in a more official way the history and genuine milestones of Australian Rules Football.
The address finished with questions from the floor (if Zoom has a floor) from members, including David Rush, polished chairman of the day, who unashamedly wearing the black and white strip showing his passion for that tattooed and toothless Collingwood mob.
Colin Carter is a former AFL Commissioner (1993-2007), and Geelong President (2011-2020). Before he joined the AFL Commission he was a strategic planning consultant to the VFL, responsible for such seminal issues as the structure of the national competition, the draft and salary cap, and the restoration of relations between the League and the Melbourne Cricket Club which saw the development of the Great Southern Stand. In 2021, he was commissioned by the AFL to write a position paper on the potential of a Tasmanian-based AFL club. Although born in Western Australia, he is a true-blue Geelong supporter.