Coburg Leader (Vic. : 1890 - 1913), Friday 1 October 1909, page 3


SFOOViIALL. BRUNSWICK ..- V. PRAHRAN.IA FINAL -GREAT GANME. - A SPLENDID VICTORY. Thle Victorian Football Association t played its final game on Saturday. on North Melbourne Cricket ground. in. the presence. of about 2o,ooo people. who saw a hard fought contest, played in admirable spirit, and with. no little s skill. T'he match'on Saturday between Brunswick and Prahran was worthy of t the best traditions ofthegame. It was c an exhibition of manly sport, played by .r good exponents, without loss of temper. a It was, moreover, admirably umpired I by T.' Kendall, who controlled- the a players-with excellent judgment, .and, r while not unduly interfering with the t game, did not allow infringments of the t rules to pass unnoticed. It was altogetherva good afternoon's sport, with ihe better team on top, and the defeated I accepting their beating with good grace c and congratulations to their conquerors. There was dismay amongst Bruns- a wick supporters when they learned that c their captain, J. McKenzie, would be t unable to play owing to the injuries he I received the previous Saturday. He made satisfactory progress towards.re- g covery early in the week, but on-Friday t was so unwell that Dr. Gerald Sheahan i forbade him to' play, and on Saturday a McKenzie was at home in bed, instead of leading his team to victory. Prahran c though keen to win, were'sorry for Mc- t Kenzie's absence, and before the teams t entered the field, their captain (l. c \Voods) crossed over to the Brunswick 1 room expressed his and his club's re- t gret at McKenvie's-absence, and, also c the wish that thEy might have. a fair 1 game, with ithe best team: as .winners, i Brunswick c eerediaiis emarks and en., l dorsed his hopes. -At the end. of the t day'neither side bad any cause to com- -1 plain of these hopes not being realised. r .Brunswick filled l'Kenzie's place with -Allan Thompson, of. Oakleigh. ( Trhe newsman wore the absent captain's I uniform, and in more ways than, one t M'Kenzie's mantle decended upon him t for he-played an excellent game. In c the Prahran team the vacancies caused t by the recent action of the committee I were filled by Hall (one of 'the.old t players), and Kichner, .Ryan, and. Collison, three juinors with, good repu-. tations. Wilson who was out' of the I team owing to anjnjury played instead of Wright, It was a -big task to ask those juniors to come into a-final game and especially for new ruck men to fill the places of such'men as those who had gone ; and though' Ryan, Collison and Kirchner, justified. their inclusion, f it was- not to be expected, that. they would be r equal tot coping with such seasoned players as Stancliffe, Turnbull! Everett, and Co . 'Prahran had first use of the- wind which- blew keenly into the gasometer. corner and-favoured the railway goal. Dowsing was first, to work, and-in a moment White had scored first point. The wind was a great factor, -and though Gillespie, Johnson and O'Shea' got the ball up against it, :Stewart turned them back, and a long kick'sent it down again. Brilliant work by Dowsing, :in the centre, followed by Pannam, put Brunswick on the defensive; but the Prahran forwards were handling the. then,-and many -wellmeant rushes were spoilt by free-kicks to the .Brunswick backs. Just then Brunswick were hard-pressed, and -in their stress they played for the wings. Kendall was prompt to penalise them for kicking out of bounds, and -this early correction had the desired effect. It was up and down, with Brunswick -never able to pass Prahran's half-back line, Woods and Kirchner showing fine fo inm. Dowsing sent the ball out to Fa: mer, who shot for goal at long range. The kick was short, but White marked "it on his finger-tips, and punted first goal. From the bounce, Pannam dashed forward for Prabran, but Leeds stopped that rush, as he did many another during the day, and-Mills took it on. There was some fine open play, 'with both sides dashing into it in great style, but :Brunswick could not long hope to keep the.invaders off with that 'wind behind them. Wilson came out to hielp Prahran's ruck then, he passed to Farmer, whose shot again fell short. This-time it was Hall who- took the mark close in, and easily punted the goal. In answer to that, Chase and Heaphy almost reached the other goal but a . free-kick to Dowsing checked them. A rare dash by Mills and Watts was-won by the former, and when Chase carried it on, Everett snapped a behind against the wind. Dowsing's

kick-in with the -,breeze sent all the players tearing back..- Two more kicks, and/it was in the Brunswick 'trenches where Wilson, swinging across the goal front, scored, and just. before the first change Sykes got his toe on to the ball as it dropped in front after ashoit by Watts, and fourth goal resulted. - Prahran were satisfied with the result of the quarter. : 4--2 to o-- -The: second term 'began with a Brunsivick rush, headed by - Stancliffe and O'Shea, - Woods relieved the pressure, and in doing so kicked out of bounds. The penalty was prompt, and Marsh, who took the free kick;, coredwith a lovely place-shot. At once there was a, ilanging of clayhole bells, arid a pigeon, was thrown aloft to! carry the news. to M'Kenzie... It took, a lot of pigeons to tell the tale of Brunswick's goals before the game was over. Another. ruish in which O'Shea, Chase, Thompson and L. Braid(who had gone oct to help the attacking party with the wind),, were prominent, sent the ball I through again, but it had been touched. For a while Briinswick prevailed; but E they were wild in front: of the goal, where,Woods, Carlson, and Dowsing t were playing grandly. The Prahran ' defence was getting rattled though, and i there were plenty of free-kicks, and all e of them deserved.. One onslaught came by successive free kicks to Mills H. -Braid gndMarsh,, and the: lastnamed I scored frorit his penalty kick. :Again t the clay bells clanged;, nd-a'?'pigeoncircled round ihe - grourid.". Prabran r then rallied,-and there'was some fine t play, in.. which Conquest..Pannan, Dwwsing, and White were.to the fore. As a result; Farmer-got the ball on an angle against the wind, and kicked an t extraordinary goal, tlie ball circling through the goal and round the post. They came to the attack again, but Pears and Abbot saved anything more " than a behind.' Still nnbeaten, Conquest, Watts, and Sykes pressed forward by the other wing, in the teeth of the breeze, and got the ball Farmer, who t dashed in and scored :sixth goal with a: running shot. It was a grand rally, and Brunswiwck stocks fell with a run. Pannam looked like dashing into goal again, but lost the ball at a critical mo- t ment, and gradually Brunswick drove l themioff. It had been a bad ten min i utes for the black and- white. The clayhole bells had been silent, and the-I pigeons were impatient in their boxes a Bad shooting: prevented- Brunswick e making up, their leeway.- and . it was nearly half time before Dowsing from. a wretched kick-in gave- O'Shea' a chance and a goal, and the scores .at the rest-were.-Prahran, 6 goals 4 behind;; Brunswick, 3 goals 7.behinds. Brunswick are great believers in oxygen, and they attribute all their dash in r the third quarter against Essendon to its revivifying qualities. They took it n again. 6n Saturday,; with a' nice little -" pick-me-up" prepared by their medi cal adviser, Dr. Gerald Sheahan, and t they came out looking fresh and better than wh-.i they went in. The third f quarter- was a splendid contest, and n Brunswick against the wind quite held c their.own, It was dash and counter- c dash, here, there, and everywhere, with both sides playing grand football,:lack- f ings-nothing in .fdire. :- but eall :'fair--, 'Brunswiik'7 bad -Chate iefedimg,- but- -c they soon pressed forward, and after f 'Heaphy had shot for goal H. Braid marked between the posts and scored. t Prahran pulled themselver togetner and t clever handball by Stewart enabled I White to score again, but in a moment the ball went fram Everett to Heaphy, to Marsh and back to Everett, and an.other Brunswick goal went up.- Before the quarter ended Farmer, with one of his dashes scored, for Prahran, but on the whole Brunswick had as much to say as their opponents., At the final change it was -Prabran 8 goals 4 behinds; Brunswick, 5 goals Io behinds. When 'they 'began the final' term Prahran attacked; but the faithful Leeds turned them; and Stancliffe to Thompson to H. Braid was the story;of the sixth Brunswick goal. 'It had taken less than - three ,minutes- to doi but: iPrahran were not beaten yet:' Conquest, Ryan, Watts,.Farieri, and Sykes got it up against the wind by sheer determination, and i the latter's shot struck the post. - It was hard luck for they wanted that. goal badly." It was a desperate tenminutes then;. The priemiership hung in the balance; and Prahran, who had led all through the season, were clinging to the:lead they had got with great tenacity. Woods was playing for his life, and Wilson; Garlson, - Conquest, Dowsing, and Hall; who had gone out- on to the wing, were backing him up all they knew, but gradually the strain began to tell, and :Birunswick : prevailed. . With half the quarter gone Heaphy got a goal,:which left Prahran only a point ahead;' and--Turnbull got another soon afterwards, and for the first time Bruns:vick led. "Then there was a tremendotis scene of enthuisasm, and then the crowd-in their joy looked as- if they woufld -encroach on the ground. Prahran made one more expiring effort, and in it Woods was magnificent White, Farmer, and Sykes helped him, and Dowsing rushed forward to help, and had a shot, but Prahrans luck was out. The ball hit the post again. It was cruel to go so near at such a time and to miss .by so little. Though Prahran made one or two spasmodic efforts, it was all over, O'Shea with a lovely place. and Chase with a running shot, scoring for the black and white. Prahran made ancther and final effort without success,' then Chase hit the post for Brunswick.The foin'al result was:--Brunswick- o 'goals cc behinds72 pointsPrabran,- Prabran,- 8 goals 7 behinds- 55 points. At the conclusion of the game the Brunswick men werecarried shoulder high and chaired to their dressing room, where they were congratulated by friends and opponents. There were official congratulations and return visits of presidents and captains, and Bruns , wick- went home to enjoy] itselftnd

celebrate its viCtory.:' As for the players it is hard to leave anyone out, but Johnson, Leeds, Stancliffe, Mills, O'Shea; Abbbt, Thompson and Everett, may be mentioned speci. ally mentioned for Brunswick. On the Prahran side Woods, Conqucst, Dowsing, Pannom, Hall, White, Dowding, Carlson, and Kirchner, may be mentioned also, but as a team Prabran did not.play as well as Brunswick