HALL OF FAME
In keeping with the philosophy of this web site the focus of this section is unabashedly trans-Australian. As an alternative to the AFL's essentially Victorian-orientated 'Hall of Fame' [see footnote1] this version takes in all of Australia's states and territories - and, for good measure, the rest of the world as well. A total of ten 'Teams of the Century' have therefore been selected, one for each Australian state and territory, one consisting of players from the nineteenth century, and one which is representative of the surprisingly high number of top quality players born in countries other than Australia. The selections, which are based primarily on achievements rather than reputation, are purely personal, and are sure to provoke disagreement. However, hopefully they will also give rise to a sense of pride at the richness, breadth and diversity of Australian football's heritage. With the AFL to all intents and purposes endeavouring to appropriate the sport's history for itself, re-defining it from an essentially Victorian perspective and, in the process, denuding it of much of its variety and character, reminders, like this, that Australian football has impacted, and continues to impact, on numerous lives throughout Australia are both timely and desirable.
Finally, as a kind of backdrop or appendix to the Hall of Fame selections, an assortment of recently nominated 'Teams of the Century', 'Teams of the Decade' and other 'Best Of' combinations is included in the All Star Teams page.
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Footnotes
1. Although the AFL's Hall of Fame does include some token inductees who never played in the VFL there is a very definite sense in which these individuals are accorded less respect and credibility (by the AFL itself at any rate) than the 'genuine articles' who spent most of their careers in Victoria. For example, the AFL's description of quintessentially one-sided triple Magarey Medallist Lindsay Head, who developed a trademark use of the check-side punt as a means of compensating for his non-existent left foot, refers to to his "magnificent skills on both sides of his body", an ostensible accolade sullied by ignorance. Numerous other examples exist. Peter Hudson, for instance, chosen as a 'Legend' by the AFL, is described as having 'played' between 1967 and 1974 and in 1977, his panoply of achievements in Tasmanian football thereby regarded as completely irrelevant. Even the laudable elevation to 'Legend' status of South Australian superstar Barrie Robran in 2001 smacked of tokenism rather than a genuine overhaul of perspective; evidence for this is afforded by the fact that Stephen Kernahan, inducted to the Hall of Fame at the same time as Robran officially became 'legendary', was described by the AFL solely as a Carlton player, his numerous achievements in a Glenelg jumper and as a South Australian state of origin player (including selection in the 1985 All Australian team) presumably deemed to be of negligible worth by comparison with his (admittedly even greater) achievements at Princes Park/Optus Oval. Return to Main Text