Champion of the Colony

The Champion of the Colony award refers to a list that was compiled in the late 1940s by Australian rules football historian C. C. (Cecil Clarence) Mullen for the publications "Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac 1950",^[1] and 1951, plus a History of Australian rules football he wrote in 1958.^[2]

According to Mullen's almanac, the Champion of the Colony was an annual award was originally based on votes by club captains and later voting was by Melbourne's leading football journalists, and this was the accepted historical interpretation of the title for many decades. More recent research has failed to uncover any contemporary evidence of such an award having existed, and it is now believed that the list was compiled entirely by Mullen.^{[3] [4]}

The final year for each list used by Mullen varies throughout his works – the 1950 Almanac finishes with 1949, the 1951 edition 1950, and the history book ends with 1940. A fourth list ending with 1945 claimed to be based on Mullen's work has been used since 2003 in official Australian Football League (AFL) publications.

Notes

The list carries some factual errors:

• Tom Wills is listed as champion in 1856, even though he did not arrive back in Victoria until 23 December 1856,^[5][6] having spent several years in England.
• Hugh Gavin of Essendon is named as champion in 1903, however he played in the Goldfields of Western Australia that year, not in Victoria.^[7]

List of Champions of the Colony

* Player also won the Brownlow Medal that year.

See also

Australian rules football - Early years in Victoria

References