Micro Noises 156: As simple as ABC
The ABC of AFLW
After the completion of the third round of the inaugural season of AFLW, Fred on Twitter astutely observed that the top three teams were also the first three sides alphabetically and asked whether that had ever happened in the V/AFL mens' competition. Our friends at the Outer Sanctum very deftly handballed that question to us and of course, we couldn't resist the challenge and immediately reached for the record books.
Going reverse chronological order, it wasn't until we travelled back to 1981 that we found such a case. After round 19, 1981 (long before the days of Adelaide and Brisbane), the top three spots of the VFL ladder were occupied by—in order—Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon.
Women before men
Alphabetically speaking, men come before women of course, but alphabetically speaking in another way, the women have actually arrived before the men. It only took until the third round of the first AFLW for the first three sides alphabetically to become the top three sides on the ladder in order. It took the VFL, itself originally an eight-team competition, until its 14th season to achieve such alphabetical glory.
The league came close in round five of 1906 when the top four was Carlton, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Essendon but it was not to be until round 17, 1910 that we finally got to see 1. Carlton, 2. Collingwood, 3. Essendon in the newspapers.
Six years later saw the only two cases of the top four being placed alphabetically. In rounds four and seven of the 1916 season the top four in order was, 1. Carlton, 2. Collingwood, 3. Fitzroy, 4. Richmond. But those two cases came with a caveat. The 1916 season was in fact contested by only those four sides, with the other regular teams going into recess as a result of the ongoing First World War. That 1916 VFL season is infamous for the fact that Fitzroy finished fourth and last on the ladder, yet still won the flag because a top-four system was used and the Maroons won all three of their finals!
A rare event
The lining up of the top three sides alphabetically is a pretty rare event and has been seen in only six of the 120 V/AFL seasons since 1897. The full list of those occurrences is below.
YEAR | ROUND(S) | FIRST | SECOND | THIRD | FOURTH |
1910 | 17 | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | |
1916 | 4, 7 | Carlton | Collingwood | Fitzroy | Richmond |
1930 | 10 | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | |
1947 | 11, 12, 13 | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | |
1973 | 8, 9, 10 | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | |
1981 | 18, 19 | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon |
Drawn again
Our women footballers not only beat the men to the punch when it comes to putting sides in alphabetical order, they have done the same when it comes to drawn matches. It took until round seven in the inaugural VFL 1897 season before a draw was recorded, between Fitzroy and South Melbourne. In AFLW it has only taken until round three, with GWS and Fremantle finishing level at Blacktown last Saturday.
Incredibly the inaugural drawn matches in both competitions saw all sides finishing with a score of 43. In a further coincidence both away sides—South Melbourne in 1897 and Fremantle last week—were 1.3.9 at quarter time.
The lowdown on winning
When Erin Phillips goaled for the Crows early in the last quarter of Adelaide's match against Carlton last Sunday, the Crows achieved something that must surely not have been achieved very often before. Phillips' goal simultaneously put Adelaide ahead and enabled them to avoid kicking the lowest score in league history. The Crows eventually finished on 2.5.17, which is now the lowest winning score in AFLW history, surpassing Brisbane's 4.1.25 kicked in round one.
The Marginal Medal
Adelaide's win gave us the lowest winning margin in AFLW history—3 points—but not the lowest margin overall. That margin is of course 0, courtesy of the Giants drawn match with Fremantle the day before. Brisbane's win over Collingwood was by just four points, meaning that the three lowest margins in AFLW history so far all came in round three.
After three rounds and 12 matches, the most common AFLW margin remains 13 points, which has come up twice (both in round two), with the 10 other matches producing 10 different margins.
Score Wars
It hadn't been seen before round three but thanks to the Giants-Dockers draw and Melbourne's 14-point win over the Bulldogs, 43 is now the equal-most common score in AFLW history. It has been recorded three times, as has 23, which was registered twice in round two and by Collingwood against Brisbane last weekend. 43 and 23 have a narrow lead over 48, 44, 25 and 12, each of which has come up twice so far.
ZIP code of the week
Of course footy's not just a women's game. Men can play too and last week saw the AFL's pre-season matches kick off with Collingwood playing Essendon at Docklands. The WOODS ended up being a THORN in Essendon's side on the night, beating the Bombers 105-94. Fittingly, 10594 happens to be the ZIP code of THORNWOOD.
Anagrammatical postcode of the week
Melbourne had the better of the first half in its away AFLW match against the Western Bulldogs last Saturday and held a comfortable 14-point lead at half time. But the Demons were strongly challenged in the third quarter, the Dogs drawing to within three points midway through the term. Melbourne responded to the challenge, though, and two goals to Alyssa Mifsud saw it back out to a 15-point lead at the last change, 5.7 to 3.4. This mark of the Demons' ability to persist against the odds is neatly summed up by the fact that 5734 is the postcode of SIMPSON DESERT, which just happens to be an anagram of DEMONS PERSIST.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
After three rounds of AFLW, it comes as no surprise at all to us that BLUE DARCY VESCIO is Carlton's leading goalkicker by a long way. After all, they're an anagram of YE CLUB SCORE DIVA.
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
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