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The Centenary
of the AFL and beyond |
The
Centenary Season
1996, the 100th season of the VFL/AFL, saw
many notable celebrations. One of these was the release by Australia Post of the
Centenary of the
AFL Stamps Series on the 23rd April 1996, the largest stamp issue
in Australia's history. Another was the setting up and the induction into of
players to the Hall of
Fame. It is proposed that this will be housed in an Australian
Football Museum in Melbourne. The centenary season also saw the successful
merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions to become the Brisbane Lions. It
also saw the failure of a merger between Hawthorn and Melbourne. |
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This cover is the official
Australia Post AFL Centenary Cover. It shows four of the Peel and stick stamps
representing North Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Carlton. It is stamped with
the Complementary National First Day of Issue Postmark (PMCF 372) and
overprinted with the Centenary cachet. |
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100 years &
beyond
The AFL continues to go from strength to
strength with the 2000 season commencing early due to the Olympic games being
held in Sydney in September. This led to a longer break over the summer with
people withdrawing from their football fix by the start of the Ansett Cup
preseason competition.
The VFL competition continues to be transformed
with the abolition of reserve matches before the senior games. Some clubs
continued to play in the VFL in their own right while others joined with
existing VFL teams. In 2001 they were joined by a team from Tasmania after the
collapse of its state wide competition.
The VFL teams are Bendigo (joined 1998), Box Hill Hawks (joined 1951,
affiliated with Hawthorn), Carlton (joined 2000), Coburg Tigers (joined 1925,
affiliated with Richmond), Essendon (joined 2000), Frankston (joined 1966),
Geelong (joined 2000), Murray Kangaroos (joined 2000, affiliated with North
Melbourne), North Ballarat (joined 1996), Northern Bullants (joined 1903), Port
Melbourne (joined 1886, affiliated with the Sydney Swans), Sandringham (joined
1929, affiliated with Melbourne), Springvale (joined 1982, affiliated with St
Kilda), Tasmania (joined 2001), Werribee (joined 1965, affiliated with the
Western Bulldogs) and Williamstown (joined 1884, affiliated with Collingwood).
Heritage Weekend 2003
The weekend of Round 19 was used to celebrate Australian Football's rich
heritage by 14 of the 16 Clubs wearing throwback jumpers to earlier stages in
their history.
First Class Collectables issued
a series of Commemorative Covers. |
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