The birth of the Brownlow Medal
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Charles Brownlow's standing in the football community by the time of his death was nothing short of exceptional. Having captained his Geelong side to a premiership in 1883, he took up the role of club secretary two years later while still finding time to pull on the boots up until the conclusion of the 1891 VFA season.
More than just his 38 years as Geelong secretary, Brownlow also served throughout his administration as vice president and caretaker president of the VFL, chairman of the Permit and Umpires Committee, and president of the Australasian Football Council.
Therefore it was no surprise that alongside an outpouring of grief over Brownlow’s death – through a period of illness, aged 62 – that the decision was made just five weeks later to strike a medal in his honour for the league’s best and fairest player.
At an ordinary meeting of the Victorian Football League on February 29, 1924, another renowned administrative figure, E. W. Copeland, recommended that such a medal be introduced “in order to perpetuate the name of the late Mr. Brownlow”. The committee unanimously agreed.
The field umpire would award one vote to the player he deemed to be best-on-ground, and the player that finished with the most votes would be awarded the Brownlow Medal. Anyone found guilty of committing a reportable offence (and therefore suspended) would become ineligible for the medal.
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While the sentiment of the medal was appreciated by most, queries around the efficiency and operation of the voting process were raised before a ball had even been bounced. That Monday ahead of the opening round of the 1924 season, ‘Old Boy’ in The Argus argued the same points of contention that are commonly brought up by fans and media alike nearly 100 years later. “The premium on fair play is an excellent idea, but should it be necessary?” ‘Old Boy’ asked in relation to the ‘fairest’ component of the award.
He also questioned whether the umpire – “the hardest worked official in the game” – had the capacity to select a best-on-ground while still keeping play under control. “…the umpire already has plenty to do… it is casting an extra burden on him to have to watch for good play,” he wrote.
“Those of us who know the game and can watch it in the comparative comfort of the press box frequently find it most difficult to say who was the best man on the side. We have notes to help us… yet we find that it is often impossible to separate several men in the game. How is the umpire going to do it?”
In The Australasian, journalist ‘J.W.’ was even more scathing, believing that the memory of Brownlow could be perpetuated “in a nobler and better manner than agreed on”. His concerns centred around the competency of umpires acting as judges, describing it as “a retrograde movement and a decided sign of weakness”. J.W. could find only one positive in the medal’s initiation, that it may encourage players to show more respect to umpires and their decisions so as to favour their votes, ultimately resulting in cleaner play.
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The Age’s ‘Forward’ outlined the process of the voting system in its April 24 edition. Forms or “coupons” would be issued for each match and after being filled out by the officiating umpire, sent to the secretary of the league – at the time, E. L. Wilson (right) – and after collation, the sealed envelopes would be opened at the conclusion of the season.
Interestingly, the article mentions that “if a tie occurred the umpires would be called together to decide the player.” No countback system was in place at the time. According to The Herald, umpires were told not to discuss medal voting between themselves throughout the season and all votes were to remain strictly confidential. Not until the home-and-away fixtures had been completed would the attention turn to the Brownlow Medal.
This didn’t stop the media from speculating over the winner, although given the award’s infancy, such talk was contained until the business end of the season. The Football Record’s chief writer ‘Chatterer’ earmarked St Kilda champion Colin Watson as a favourite for the medal, remarking that his versatility allowed him to play any position on the field “bar following”.
Wednesday, September 17, following the first week of finals matches, would become the night where the first ever Brownlow Medal was awarded. By polling in seven matches, Geelong midfielder Edward ‘Carji’ Greeves was adjudged winner of the inaugural prize, taking honours at the tender age of 20 years in just his second season of league football.
Greeves’ win was made all the more remarkable by the fact he missed four matches throughout the first half of the season, thereby gaining a best-on-ground vote in every second game he played. It was perhaps serendipitous that the Brownlow Medal should first go to a Geelong player given the impact its namesake had on the club.
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The aptly named five-foot-four dynamo George “Tich” Shorten of Essendon finished in equal second position with six votes alongside Melbourne captain, defender Albert Chadwick. Highly favoured Saint Colin Watson would poll in just two matches, which led the Record’s ‘Chatterer’ to criticise the accuracy of the voting. “That the umpires are certainly not the best judges of the ‘best and fairest players’ will be readily seen when it is stated that two of those to whom the distinction might have been awarded, viz., Colin Watson, of St. Kilda, and Maurie Beasey, of Carlton, only received two votes each”.
While Geelong players garnered the most votes throughout the season with 11 in total, its side could not secure a finals berth, finishing two games short in fifth place. 72 votes in total were cast for 37 players, with one vote described as “informal” as the umpire could not split the feats of Essendon’s Tom Fitzmaurice and Justin McCarthy.
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‘Carji’ would prove that his win was no fluke by finishing runner-up in 1925, 1926, and 1928 (and fourth in 1927), while the following season's winner – none other than Colin Watson – may have got his just desserts in the opinion of one scribe. Around the same time, Greeves would finally be presented with his gold medal¹ and illuminated address by Umpire and Permit Committee chairman Reg Hunt at a club entertainment function; by that stage it had been won more than 12 months earlier.
The legacy and prestige of the Brownlow Medal would grow in the years to come, but its very first winner has remained in the minds of football followers nearly a century later.
Footnotes
1. Greeves’ original medal went up for auction in 2011, selling for $170,000 – supposedly well below market expectations, despite the enormity of the figure.
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