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While researching information for this website I often come across odd football stories. The stories vary from funny, to odd, to 'what the..?' moments.

I have seen many variations on a theme. There are many stories of stolen goal posts or of kicking a ball into a moving train. I have tried to include a list that is not repetative.

There are no colour photographs or colour slides made by Charles Boyles in his lifetime. For modern viewers, whose phones can readily take colour photos and video film, it can perhaps be difficult to view a work one can only see in black and white.



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Leonard Frank Reynolds (1897 - 1939) was not known as a football illustrator. But through his series of "Prominent Personalities" he drew a number of leading footballers of the late 1920's. These cartoons are a delight to the reader.

L.F. Reynolds also drew the Mr Melbourne cartoon strip, taking over from Jimmy Bancks in 1925.

Len Reynolds died tragically young in a motor car accident, but his cartoons continue his name.

The pictorial article below will afford a glimpse at Australian Rules football in the year of 1914. 1914 of course was the last football season before the full onset of the Great War and its catastrophic effects on the Australian population. The War interrupted sport and had a seriously disruptive impact on most football competitions. The War caused many Leagues to actually shut down altogether, and it created division in those that continued playing.

Thousands, indeed millions, of people were either killed, maimed, or mentally scarred, in the War. Those involved in football - players, officials and supporters - were hardly immune from the effects. Many managed to rebuild their lives after the War and were able to participate in, or contribute to, the dynamic 1920's. For football, the 1920's decade was very different from those that had preceded it. There were important changes in the rules, Leagues were restructured, and goal-kicking rates increased.

1914 will be remembered as the year the great Port Adelaide team, which had dominated the game in South Australia, defeated the VFL premiers Carlton in the very last Championship of Australia match. It will also be remembered for the demise of the University club in the VFL, and for the unfortunate timing of the Sydney (football) Carnival.