History of Player Recruitment,
Transfer and Payment
Rules in the Victorian and
Australian Football League
Ross Booth
Department of Economics,
Faculty of Business and Economics
Monash University
The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was formed in 1877. In 1896,
eight of the original clubs broke away from the VFA to form the Victorian
Football League (VFL), with competition beginning in 1897. From 1990,
the competition became the Australian Football League (AFL). 1
Examination of this 100 year period of VFL/AFL history from 1897 to
1996 reveals five distinct periods of player recruitment and transfer rules.
Early VFL — Free Agency: 1897 to 1914
There was strong competition for the recruitment of new players, hence
my use of the term free agency. However, rules existed which were
designed to prevent a player playing for more than one club in a season
and also to prevent a player transferring to another club without a
clearance from his original club. These were rules to control the transfer
of players, though how strictly they were enforced is unclear
... the League’s Permit committee tried to implement more
strictly their own rule prohibiting a player appearing for
more than one club in any one season and requiring that a
player be cleared by his club before a transfer could be allowed.
They also moved in 1904 to block the practice of players
moving from Victoria to West Australia, playing for one
season with a Western Australian Club, and then transferring
back to another VFL club without benefit of clearance.2
Until 1911, players were entitled only to receive payment for expenses,
but payments to players were common.
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ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
As in the old Association, there were ... causes for complaint:
that promising players were offered improper inducements
in cash or kind to join a club or transfer from one club to
another; that players were paid money over and above the
out-of-pocket expenses which were allowed by League rules
... All the League clubs were guilty of ‘touting’ for recruits —
among country and interstate as well as amateur and junior
clubs — and of ‘poaching’ from other League and from
Association clubs, except for University ... 3
Not only were the payments common, but the practice was widely
known.
Everyone knew that players were paid ... The VFL clubs were
now enjoying considerable revenues ... except for Melbourne,
which did not pay its players ... and was not among the four
leading teams from 1903 to 1913. 4
The reference to ‘inducements in cash or kind to join a club or transfer
from one club to another’ and to ‘poaching’ is ambiguous with respect to
whether these payments were made to players, clubs or both. In any case,
eventually the VFL accepted the inevitable and permitted the payment of
players in 1911:
After years of shilly-shallying (sic), the VFL has ended the
sham of amateurism. Players have been entitled to receive
reimbursement for expenses, but the rule now deleted has
been that ‘any player receiving remuneration for playing,
either directly or indirectly, shall be disqualified’, and that
clubs paying their players ‘shall be dealt with’. The result of
this rule has been a situation where many players have been
paid ‘under the lap’ by clubs or by supporters of the club.
‘Follower’ in the Age says ‘what the ultimate result may be
remains to be seen, but it is at least gratifying to know that
secretaries, treasurers and committeemen will no longer have
to experience the degradation of cooking balance sheets in
order to disguise the fact that they have been wilfully
abrogating a rule of their own making and which they were
pretending to observe’. Payment of players can now be
conducted in the open, with the value a matter of negotiation
between player and Committee. Any player preferring to be
amateur — as many do — will be free to do so. 5
This period ends when metropolitan zoning was introduced in 1915. 6
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
15
In 1910 Collingwood supported a proposal to establish a
District Football League. Sufficient support was not
forthcoming from other VFL clubs and the proposition lapsed.
The idea reappeared at League level early in the war, but in
conjunction with the concept of metropolitan zoning.
Collingwood strongly opposed zoning, and with good reason.
Local players naturally gravitated toward the Club, and
Collingwood wanted to be able to continue to attract players
from all over the metropolitan area. But the Club was outvoted
and metropolitan zoning was introduced in 1915. The
formation of a District Football League, which was supposed
to be a concomitant measure, was postponed until the war
ended.7
Free Agency and Metropolitan Zoning: 1915 to 1929
This period was one where each club was allocated a geographical zone
of metropolitan Melbourne from which players could be recruited. For
example, an apparent stumbling block to Footscray’s admission to the
VFL from the VFA was the jealously guarded metropolitan zones of
existing VFL clubs. Footscray, despite its great VFA record, faced one key
obstacle — and it was a geographic one. The Footscray City Council area
took in recruiting districts already allotted to South Melbourne and
Essendon.
To stave off feuds between clubs, Charles Brownlow’s subcommittee
by-passed Footscray, preferring to assess Prahran and North Melbourne
as possible League clubs — since their inclusion would be less likely to
spark a recruiting vendetta with existing League clubs.
... No matter how completely Footscray fans blinded
themselves to the gap in standard between League and
Association, they could not get around the stumbling block
of recruiting. No League club was ready to give its territory
to a newcomer. When the VFL reviewed the candidates in
1920, zoning districts still kept Footscray out. 7
However, there was keen competition between VFL clubs for country,
interstate and VFA players. Indeed, the VFA was a source of competition
for VFL clubs for country, interstate and metropolitan recruits. The VFL
and the VFA had been at loggerheads since the split of 1896, the biggest
source of rivalry being the recruiting of players.
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ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
An agreement about players’ transfers had been made in
1923, but the rivals competed for recruits in the suburbs and
in the country, and even interstate. And in the ‘free-for-all’
approach to recruiting, the League, with its greater financial
resources, not only picked the eyes out of country teams but
continued to improve its standing and standard vis-a-vis the
Association. But to add insult to injury, the League was also
plundering VFA sides. VFL scouts believed that ‘readymades’ from the Association were a better buy than the raw
recruits from the country.9
But the notion of all players (other than ‘zoned’ metropolitan recruits)
being free agents needs to be tempered.
There wasn’t much sympathy for players from commentators
in those days. There wasn’t much pecuniary reward either,
despite the frequent outbursts in the press about the evils of
professionalism and too much money in the game. Most
players received a flat 3 pounds a week. A chosen few were
enticed from one club to another or from the country for
more money, but they seem to have been the exception. 10
The period ends with the introduction of the Coulter Law in 1930. From
the time player payments were made legal in 1911, there had been no
attempt to limit players wages.
Free Agency, Metropolitan Zoning and
The Coulter Law: 1930 to 1967
This period is one of metropolitan zoning, but with free agency for
country and interstate players. Signing-on fees and transfer fees, though
illegal, were not uncommon for country and interstate recruits. The
Coulter Law — a uniform maximum individual player wage — was
imposed.
The Depression affected football considerably. The VFL was
concerned about ‘excessive payments’ being offered to players
and in March 1930 introduced the Coulter Law, 11 which
restricted (individual) player payments to three pounds a
match.12
Not all VFL clubs were able to pay the maximum of £3 per player (which
increased in time with the cost of living), 13 but some clubs were able to
(and did) pay above the maximum.
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
17
Dyer received from Richmond supporters twice as much
again as he earned from the Coulter payment; Carlton paid a
bonus for finals matches; Essendon paid 2 pounds for a win,
30 shillings for a loss. South Melbourne could not pay its
players at all at the end of the 1930 season, but embarked on
a fund-raising drive and turned its finances around.
Melbourne continued its amateur tradition during the 1930s
(but continued to find jobs for its players), while St Kilda and
the new VFL clubs of 1925 were caught in the downward
spiral of insufficient finances and poor performance on field.
Collingwood still refused to pay its stars additional money. 14
North Melbourne, one of the three newcomers to the League in 1925, had
major financial problems during the 1930s.
Its recruiting area was small. It had little support from local
businessmen. In 1931 it could manage to pay its players only
£l 5s per match. North had chalked up only eleven wins in
116 matches in the VFL and the poor match performances
meant very low gate receipts, which meant that there was
little money to pay players, let alone to bid against the richer
clubs for star players or promising recruits from the country
or interstate.15
Only Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond were in strong financial
position during the 1930s.
They had the backing of generous local patrons (John Wren
was a well-known Collingwood patron and committee
member), they had the largest memberships of season ticket
holders, and they attracted the biggest crowds and therefore
benefited most from gate takings. They were rarely out of the
finals during this time. Other clubs were locked into a
downward spiral. St Kilda, Footscray, North Melbourne and
Hawthorn in particular, could not recruit good players
because of lack of finance. Attendances and support slumped
because of poor match performances, accentuating their
relative poverty.16
Early in the 1930s, South Melbourne embarked on a large recruiting
drive, particularly from interstate.17 However, there was no formal system
of compensation (transfer fees) to those clubs who lost players.
Country clubs and interstate clubs, unable to prevent the VFL
teams seducing away their players with offers of jobs and
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ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
good match payments, wanted a system of transfer fees
introduced. Weaker and poorer League clubs who lost their
players to the stronger clubs, or to more lucrative coaching
positions, wanted to stop this trafficking.l8
While breaches of the Coulter Law were common, most went unpunished.
One exception involved Fitzroy and Haydn Bunton who was found
guilty and reprimanded for having received £2 a week when disqualified
during 1930. The Haydn Bunton affair
... was a ticklish situation for the VPL as it was well-known
that all clubs had transgressed the Coulter Law which
restricted payments, but because the VFL had no access to
club payment records there was no way it could enforce the
rule.19
It is unlikely that excessive match payments were ever recorded in club
accounts.
Clubs obviously had ‘hidden revenues’ or ‘secret funds’ which
they accumulated from patrons’ donations and used at their
own discretion to ‘induce’ players to join the club from
interstate or the country, or to persuade a discontented player
to stay with them. Unofficial groups of club supporters
(industrialists and businessmen) had, in pre-war years, helped
clubs by finding jobs for players. When employment was
plentiful in the 1950s these groups turned their support in the
direction of recruitment. If the club wanted a player, they
would raise the money that would serve as an unofficial
‘transfer fee’. It’s not possible to be precise about this very
important, unofficial financing of the game because it was
never documented.20
When country, interstate and VFA recruits received extra money from
groups of influential patrons in some of the big clubs, it caused discontent.
The Coulter Law was clearly being flouted when VFL clubs
thought it was in their interest to do so, in order to attract or
hold on to a star player, but it was also being used as a control
over the wage demands of the majority of the players. 21
A celebrated case of a player being miffed at what he perceived was
unfair treatment was South Melbourne full-forward Bob Pratt, who walked
out of his club after Round 8 in 1937.
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
19
Pratt had taken enough. Joining the club as a 17-year-old in
1930, he now suffered from being seen as part of the furniture.
When Crofts threw around his money in 1932 and 1933, the
young forward had been ignored. Like other metropolitan
recruits, Pratt had sat back and wondered over the expense
that was lavished on the interstate recruits — their travel,
accommodation and employment and assorted side benefits.
And like other locals, namely Matthews, Brain, Hillis,
Robertson and Austin, Pratt’s complaints were always met
with the argument that the Coulter Law prohibited payments
greater than the fixed maximum. By 1936, the Coulter Law
had become a farce. Critics of the scheme suggested that club
officials and supporters should also be subject to penalties for
breaching the spirit of the legislation, particularly those
providing ‘nominal’ employment.22
In the late 1930s, open competition between the VFL and VFA for players
returned.
The VFA had turned its back on the 1931 clearance agreement
with the VFL in 1938 ... In this situation players could leave
their VFL team and take up a contract with the VFA. Several
VFA clubs made good offers and secured some League stars
as coaches and players Laurie Nash went to Camberwell in
1938, and in 1940 the star Collingwood full forward Ron
Todd went to Williamstown.23
Country and interstate clubs complained about their lack of compensation
when losing players, and advocated a system of transfer fees which were
not forthcoming.
Ever since the 1920s animosity had been growing between
the country and the city over the dominating tendencies of
the metropolis, specifically the VFL clubs. As the game grew
more popular and club revenues and patrons’ support
increased there was a corresponding increase in recruiting
activities by League clubs in country areas. The various
Country Leagues began to feel that the city was bleeding
them dry of their football talent and giving them little in
return, in the way of coaching and financial assistance. During
the 1950s a sort of cold war developed between the VFL and
the Victorian Country Football League.24
In spite of the rise over time in the maximum payment allowable, VFL
20
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
clubs faced stiff competition from interstate clubs and were sometimes
forced to break the Coulter Law to secure interstate players.
The Coulter Law has come under sustained criticism over the
Denis Marshall affair. South Melbourne great Laurie Nash
says every club breaks it and Bendigo League President Noel
Murphy says the Coulter Law ‘is a joke’. Given the way it is
ignored, its days are surely numbered. In the VFL no payments
directly or indirectly are permitted to induce a transfer. It’s
alleged that Geelong or someone close paid £4,000 for
Marshall’s transfer from Claremont. 25
The VFA was also unhappy about the lack of compensation to VFA clubs
through transfer fees. By the end of the 1966 season
The whole question of player recruitment was one which
caused ongoing concern in the VFL boardroom. The VFA and
the country leagues were tired of losing their best players
without compensation in most cases. The VFA demanded the
introduction of transfer fees for players going to League
clubs and the VFL responded by scrapping the clearance
agreement that had been in force since 1951. 26
Country football officials were just as upset. Until 1968
... VFL clubs competed for the services of country players via
signing-on fees and the offer of employment in the city; and
where they were playing for a country club the VFL club had
to pay a transfer fee to secure the services of the player. It
should be noted that both signing-on and transfer fees were
prohibited by the VFL, but, despite this, ‘cheque-book warfare’
had been the rule of the game, and generally speaking the
VFL clubs who were prepared to spend the most money,
were able to secure the services of the best country players. 27
The VFL’s view was obvious in the Football Record which described the
situation as '... fast becoming chaotic, with country players, who are
really hardly more than novices, asking fantastic sums of money to join
VFL clubs’.28 Some thought the country clubs were powerless.
There was nothing the country clubs could do about the
frantic auction sales. The free market favoured the richer VFL
clubs, but the competition between clubs forced up the price
of players. Country clubs were drained of their best talent
and got nothing in return. 29
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
21
However, in the 1960s prior to country zoning, inter-VFL club transfers
and interstate recruiting needs to be put into perspective. Club loyalty
was held up as an important value. There was consequently little
movement of players between clubs.
Since there was no country zoning, there was frequent
competition for the top country players. The use of lucrative
signing-on fees and gifts such as motor cars were the usual
methods by which players were recruited. Interstate recruiting
was not prevalent, although from time to time senior interstate
players were enticed to come to Australia’s premier league. 30
In 1967, the VFL introduced a system of zones for the Victorian countryside
and southern New South Wales.
Free Agency, Metropolitan Zoning, Country Zoning,
Transfer Fees and Various Player Payment Schemes: 1968-84
The new features of this period include the addition of country zoning to
complement metropolitan zoning, the transfer fee system and various
schemes to control player payments. Country zoning was implemented
in 1967, so from the 1968 season country recruits were zoned to a particular
VFL club.
The League’s preferred solution was a zoning scheme which
divided the state into 12 zones with each one allocated to a
club. The idea was for each club to control its zone for a
determined period (three to five years) and be responsible for
development of the game in that zone. No player could be
recruited from outside the zone, and a transfer fee would be
paid to the club of each recruit ... Zoning stayed in force for
the next two decades even though the idea of rotating zones
never materialised.31
The Victorian Country Football League did not want the scheme, but it
could not hold out forever.
The VFL has implemented its system of zoning for the
recruitment of players. Victoria and the Riverina are now
divided into recruiting areas allocated to the League clubs,
who cannot look outside their own zones for new talent
emerging in ‘the bush’. The scheme was approved by the VFL
Committee last September, despite strong opposition from
the country leagues, and is now in force for the next three
22
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
years. The allocation was a matter of pot luck, literally. Club
names were placed in the Premiership Cup and the 12 zones
in its lid, and a draw conducted. St Kilda, Carlton, Footscray
and North Melbourne seem to have fared best. The zones
theoretically the ‘weakest’ have gone to Geelong, South
Melbourne, Hawthorn and Richmond.32
Minor changes to country zones were made in 1972, the aim being to
create zones which contained roughly the same number of young males.
The criteria used by the VFL to determine the boundaries were local
government boundaries; the spread and density of population; and the
age distribution of the population over ail regions. 33 The quality of zones
varied considerably and some VFL clubs were unhappy with their allotted
zone.
Draft changes to country recruiting zones released by the
VFL have some clubs ‘hopping mad’ although they are mostly
minor alterations. Major country league alignments, such as
Footscray with the Latrobe Valley League and Carlton with
the Bendigo League remain the same. Clubs which have not
had prime recruiting zones were hoping to improve their
positions, but have not. And Richmond have gained nothing
in addition to the poor Sunraysia League and would lose the
Mallee to Essendon.34
With the introduction of country zoning, the VFL and the VCFL reached
an agreement that no player could transfer to a VFL club without
permission from his country club. Country clubs could now command a
transfer fee. However, this placed country clubs at a disadvantage
compared with interstate clubs because interstate clubs could bargain
with all VFL clubs on a transfer fee for their players, whereas the bargaining
power of a country club was limited. The country club’s bargaining
power was limited to simply delaying permission to transfer. 35 In any
case, the effectiveness of zoning is questionable because
... even if the VFL could create zones of equal value, the rich
clubs could still counteract the spirit of zoning by using their
wealth to secure the services of the best players, by either
buying them from poorer VFL clubs or by securing the services
of players who play with interstate clubs. 36
At the end of 1971, the VFL allowed transfer payments to be made
37
between VFL clubs for the transfer of players. Before this, the inability to
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
23
exchange players for cash had limited player mobility.
Players who moved to other clubs were usually regarded as
‘rejects’ and player swaps occurred very infrequently. The
player exchanges that did occur usually have been
accompanied by a ‘black market’ transfer fee. 38
Eventually, the practice of buying and selling players without their
consent became common. There was no obligation on a club to discuss a
proposed transfer with a player. 39
A significant event in this period was the short-lived experiment with
the ten-year rule in 1973. Under this rule, a player who had given at least
ten years’ service was eligible to transfer to any other VFL club of his
choice. Stewart argues that the rule was a recognition by the VFL of the
legally fragile nature of its transfer regulations. This rule was rescinded
in 1974, because the VFL was concerned by emerging wage pressures at
club level. The Players’ Association, which was formed in 1973, favoured
the ten-year rule since it provided greater flexibility of player movements.40
The VFL and the VFA have had agreements on transfers at various
times, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s League and Association clubs
bid freely for one another’s players. However, the open market was
restricted by the VFL requiring its member clubs to refuse employment to
any VFA player who had crossed without permission until two years
after he had ended his association with the VFA. 41
Changes to interstate recruiting were made during this period. Until
1970, VFL rules prevented VFL clubs from paying both transfer fees to
interstate clubs and signing-on fees to players from interstate. The practice
was so widespread, that in 1970 the VFL changed its rules to adjust with
the times, allowing VFL clubs to offer signing-on fees and contracts to
interstate players. However, VFL clubs were still prohibited from making
similar offers to zoned players. 42
Until 1982, each club was able to recruit two interstate players a year,
subject to the satisfactory negotiation of a clearance and/or transfer fee
with the player’s interstate club. One result, already mentioned, was that
interstate recruits were able to bargain with twelve clubs and negotiate
more attractive contracts than zoned players who could only negotiate
with one club.43
By the late 1970s, it was generally agreed that interstate recruiting
was out of control. Escalating transfer and signing-on fees were creating
financial problems for the VFL, while interstate clubs were concerned
24
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
about the loss of their best players to the VFL. 44
In 1982 the VFL introduced a drafting system. Interstate players, who
had played 100 games with their club, could be drafted by VFL clubs at a
stipulated fee, with choice in the draft being in reverse order to the endof-season ladder. Each VFL club was only allowed to draft two players
per year but clubs were allowed to trade draft choices and draft players.45
The VFL continued to seek to place limits on the income that players
could earn. Match payments under the Coulter Law were adjusted in
response to average weekly earnings and the cost of living until 1969. 46
During the 1970s senior players in particular became disenchanted
with their payments. Between 1970 and 1978 a sliding-scale of regulation
match payments (based on number of games played) was used. 47 Rule 11
was in effect a seniority rule in that ‘... the VFL specifies one wage,
depending on the number of games played ... which is both a minimum
and a maximum. No allowance is made for skill differences.´ 48
Rule 11 was broken in several ways and then weakened. Clubs used
to offer incentive payments (for winning and for placement in best and
fairest awards); supporters offered donations to winning teams and clubs
placed their star players on contract. 49
Over time the exceptions to Rule 11 grew. Payments to captains, vice
captains, seven-year players and interstate recruits were unrestricted,
board and travelling allowances could be varied at the discretion of the
club, and contracts could be negotiated between players and their club. 50
In 1979, the VFL decided to modify its rules covering player payments
and to implement a formal system of maximum player payments, which
would cover all senior players. Based on a complicated point system, the
scheme aimed to compress player payment relativities. 51
In December 1979 the VFL introduced a kind of wage freeze,
‘a radical new payment scheme’ designed to ‘bring sanity
back into the game’. The controversial proposal, approved by
the clubs, puts all players under contract to the VFL, freezes
all present players’ contracts, abolishes the players’ appeals
board, bans signing-on fees for players transferring between
VFL clubs, and limits the amounts payable for club best-andfairest awards. It introduces a sliding scale of payments on a
points system. Each point earned — based on age, games
played, finals appearances, attitude and so on — is worth
$80. The scheme benefits young players and average
performers but drastically cuts the pay of the stars. The most
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
25
a top player will be able to earn under the new scheme would
be between $16 000 and $18 000, and that is if the player is
captain of a VFL team, has played more than 200 games,
appeared in at least ten finals matches, won a club best-andfairest, and is rated tops in attitude. Clubs have been told the
formula is the only way to save the game from bankruptcy.
Clubs found guilty of breaching the new scale can be fined up
to $30 000. 52
The scheme was introduced at the beginning of the 1980 season, retained
in a modified form in 1981, and withdrawn at the end of the season. The
scheme was ineffective in curbing wages growth, partly because contract
players were exempted. In its place the VFL introduced a scheme whereby
players who had reached 40 games were free to negotiate with their clubs
on future payments. Players with fewer games were to be paid according
to the number of games played. 53
The Foschini case was a landmark which heralded the end of this
period.54 In 1983, Mr Justice Crockett of the Victorian Supreme Court
handed down his decision in the ‘Foschini Case’.
Silvio Foschini, a South Melbourne/Swans player who did
not wish to live and play in Sydney, had a clearance
application to the St Kilda club refused. He took legal action,
claiming restraint of trade. Unlike previous cases, which
were always settled out of court, the Sydney Swans, who
believed that St Kilda, by illegally approaching players had
undermined the stability of the club, refused to negotiate.
Crockett judged that the VFL’s zoning, clearance, transfer
and poaching rules were illegal, and constituted an
unreasonable restraint of trade on professional footballers.
The VFL was subsequently forced to limit its restrictions on
player movement between clubs. Although the zoning
regulations were retained, players were able to become free
agents upon expiration of their employment contracts with
c1ubs.55
Salary Cap and National Player Draft: 1985 to 1996
Following the Foschini case, significant changes were made to the VFL’s
player rules. Players who had played out their contracts were now free to
seek employment with other clubs, though the club which lost a player
could be compensated by the club obtaining the player. 56
26
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
In 1984, the twelve VFL clubs (one being the Sydney Swans) appointed
an independent Commission with the power to control, among other
things, the player rules. Each of the clubs retained their metropolitan and
country zones, but a team salary cap ( a maximum team wages bill) was
introduced in 1984 in time for the 1985 season. 57
The VFL Commissions ‘Establishing the Basis for Future Success’
report of 1985 recommended a draft system of recruiting as one of the key
elements to achieving greater on-field
evenness in the competition. Metropolitan zoning within Victoria
was maintained but senior and junior lists were introduced with each
club being permitted only 50 players on each. Junior lists contained
zoned players aged between 15.5 and 19 years. 58
The first national player draft was held at the end of the 1986 season in
time for 1987, which coincided with the entry of Brisbane and West Coast.
Victorian country zoning ended in 1986 (eighteen years after its
introduction in 1968) with players going into the draft pool. Metropolitan
zoning was maintained for the eleven Victorian-based clubs. 59
The national draft was modelled on the interstate player draft
introduced at the end of 1981. In both the 1987 and 1988 seasons, each
club, with the exception of the West Coast Eagles, was allowed to draft
five players from Victorian country or interstate leagues. Positions on the
draft were determined in terms of the reverse order of how teams finished
on the VFL ladder in the previous year. The club which finished last had
first choice, the premiers last choice, and the process repeated five times.
Clubs were also able to trade draft choices for existing senior list players,
and a club which drafted a player had a ‘hold’ on his services for three
years.60
West Coast has never had a reserves team and Brisbane fielded only a
senior team in 1987 and 1988. A moratorium was placed on the recruitment
of players from Western Australia and Queensland in both 1987 and 1988
to assist West Coast and Brisbane establish their player lists. The Eagles
were allowed a senior training list of 35, the majority of whom were
recruited from WAFL clubs, with a small number of VFL players who
had been originally recruited from Western Australia. The Brisbane Bears
were allowed a senior list of 40 most of whom were recruited from VFL
clubs, plus a small number from South Australia and Tasmania. 61
From September 1988 Victorian-based clubs and the Sydney Swans
were allocated zones from which they were entitled to recruit a limited
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
27
number of local players, Brisbane Bears was allocated Queensland and
West Coast Eagles could recruit from registered WAFL players. 62
In November 1988 all VFL clubs, including the West Coast Eagles,
were entitled to participate in a national player draft of players from the
Victorian country, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory,
South Australia, Tasmania and from overseas. Each club was allowed to
draft eight players, an increase from the five allowed in previous drafts.
Each club, including the West Coast Eagles, was allowed to draft only one
player from the WAFL. Small transfer fees were paid to clubs whose
players were drafted by VFL clubs, with the amount increasing with the
number of senior games played in the VFL. This limit on transfer fees was
intended to substantially reduce the costs of VFL clubs. The 1988 rules
allowed clubs to trade draft choices for senior listed players (the exchange
must have involved solely the players involved with both clubs), but
clubs were not allowed to exchange draft choices for cash. Changing
senior lists during the season was not permitted. 63
A pre-season player draft was introduced in 1989 (in time for preseason 1990)64 for uncontracted senior list players, plus those players
delisted from senior training lists. Each club was entitled to four choices.
The only obligation was that the financial requirements specified by the
players fit within the club’s salary cap and 1988 rules required such
players to provide details concerning their financial requirements. For
1989, all clubs were allowed a senior list of 52, unless not fielding a
reserves side in which case the senior list was limited to 40. 65
A non-compulsory mid-season draft for previously listed AFL players
was introduced in 1990.66 The Adelaide Crows entered the competition in
1991 with special concessions giving them access to SANFL and
uncontracted former SA players on AFL club lists. Victorian clubs were
given their last chance to list metropolitan zone players with the
announcement that metropolitan zoning would end, having been
introduced in 1915. In 1992, Adelaide participated in the national draft
with all states/territories involved for the first time. 67
Amendments to the AFL’s player rules were made during 1993, in
time for the 1993 national draft and the 1994 season. The period players
were to be bound to clubs was reduced from 36 months to 24 months. 68
The AFL draft nomination form was introduced with the requirement
that players must turn seventeen during the year of the draft and come
from an approved competition. Special draft concessions were introduced
28
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
to the three bottom teams (Sydney, Brisbane and Richmond) recognising
their competitive difficulties over the previous four years. Sydney and
Brisbane were also given priority selection for up to three New South
Wales and Queensland players respectively. AFL clubs nominated lists of
52 with the exception of Sydney and Brisbane which had 60 players. The
last mid-season draft was held in 1993. 69
For 1994, AFL lists were reduced to 42 players, except Sydney which
was allowed 50. All AFL clubs were allowed supplementary list players
(State League listed players). The State League list was introduced
primarily to allow the eleven Victorian-based clubs to continue to operate
their VSFL senior teams (commonly known as Reserves teams). 70
A minimum salary operated in 199471 and 1995, comprising a season
base of $7500 and a senior match payment of $750.72 In November 1995,
the AFL and the AFLPA signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA)
for the period 1996 to 1998. The agreement set out a minimum season
base payment and a minimum senior match payment for listed players of
$15 000 and $1000 respectively in 1996, increasing to $20 000 and $1500 in
1997.73
Fremantle participated in the AFL competition from 1995, with a
player list of 50 in 1995, 46 in 1996 and 42 in 1997 (the same as for other
AFL clubs in 1997 except Brisbane and Port Adelaide). Significant features
of the player rules for the admission of Fremantle included: the ability to
list a certain number of WAFL players and up to ten delisted AFL players
prior to the 1994 national draft; a number of priority selections; and (prior
to the 1995 pre-season draft) the ability to list (over a two-year period ) up
to twelve listed, uncontracted AFL players. No AFL club was allowed to
lose more than two players to Fremantle, and AFL clubs were entitled to
financial compensation and the right to nominate another player. 74
In order to establish its player list for 1997, Port Adelaide was entitled
to select up to four AFL listed but out-of-contract players prior to the 1996
national draft, any number of SANFL players (provided the maximum
list size of 46 was not exceeded) and five priority choices in the 1996
national draft.75
Sydney, having finished second in 1996, lost the concession of being
able to include up to three NSW/ACT players as pre-draft selections on
its list for 1997. However, Sydney was allowed to include two NSW/
ACT players on its list instead of one player from another state in Round
1 of the 1996 national draft if it so wished. 76
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
29
The merger of the Brisbane Bears FC and the Fitzroy FC meant that the
Brisbane Lions did not participate in either the 1996 national draft or the
1997 pre-season draft. The Brisbane Lions were entitled to a list of 44
players, eight of whom had to be former Fitzroy players. The salary cap
for the Brisbane Lions was extended (by diminishing amounts) for 1997,
1998 and 1999.77
With the increase in the draft age from seventeen to eighteen as at 1
January 1997, and 1996 being a transitional draft year, each club was
entitled to list one seventeen-year-old player. 78
Conclusions
Officially there was an ‘amateur’ competition until 1911, though very
strong suspicion of under-the-table payments. The period of 1897 to 1914
was one of strong competition for new players, hence my use of the term
‘free agency’. Transfer rules did exist for existing players. Uncertainty
remains as to how effectively these transfer rules were enforced, and the
frequency of any signing-on fees and/or transfer fees.
The period from 1915 to 1929 was one where each club was now
allocated a geographical zone of metropolitan Melbourne from which
players could be recruited. However, there was keen competition between
VFL clubs for country, interstate and VFA players. The period ends with
the introduction of the Coulter Law in 1930. Until 1930, there was no
attempt to limit the wages of individual players.
The period from 1930 to 1967 is one of metropolitan zoning, with free
agency for country and interstate players. Transfer fees and signing-on
fees, though illegal, were not uncommon for country and interstate
recruits. Employment is also a strong inducement. The Coulter Law — a
uniform maximum imposed on each individual player’s wage — was
imposed. Despite the maximum wage being adjusted upwards through
the period, it becomes much more difficult to enforce with the passage of
time.
The new features of the period from 1968 to 1984 include the addition
of country zoning to complement metropolitan zoning, the transfer fee
system and various schemes to control player payments. This period is
one of continuing metropolitan zoning, but now also country zoning
which was introduced for the 1968 season. In 1970, transfer fees, signingon fees and contracts were allowed for each club’s two permissible
interstate recruits. At the end of 1971, transfer payments were allowed for
30
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
exchanges of players between VFL clubs. The ten-year rule was invoked
for a short period from late 1972 to early 1974 which allowed free agency
for players who had given a decade of service. The VFL Players’
Association (VFLPA) is formed in 1973. Various player payment systems,
more flexible than the Coulter Law, and mostly based on experience,
were tried over the period which was generally one of significant increases
in player payments, well above those prescribed. Player contracts became
increasingly common and transfer fees were prevalent into the early
1980s. An interstate player draft was introduced in time for the 1982
season. Concern was raised over the validity of the VFL’s zoning, transfer
and player payment rules, which culminated in the Foschini case in 1983.
The watershed was 1985, the first season to be played under a team salary
cap.
The AFL Commission was appointed in 1984 and the salary cap was
introduced for the 1985 season. Zoning was phased out during this
period with country zoning ending in 1986 and metropolitan zoning in
1991. The first national player draft was held in time for the 1987 season.
Drafted players were ‘bound’ for three years, later reduced to two years.
Player lists were also introduced at this time. Recruiting concessions are
given to new clubs (Brisbane, West Coast, Adelaide, Fremantle and Port
Adelaide) to help them form their player lists. In 1993, special draft
concessions were given to the three bottom teams with competitive
difficulties, Sydney, Brisbane and Richmond. A minimum wage was
introduced in 1994. Special draft and salary cap conditions were to apply
to the Brisbane Lions for seasons 1997-99 after the Brisbane-Fitzroy merger
of 1996.
NOTES:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Since 1996 the VFA has competed as the VFL.
L Sandercock and I Turner, Up Where Cazaly? The Great Australian Game,
Granada, Sydney, 1981, p. 57.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 57.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 58.
Australian Football League, 100 Years ol Australian Football: The Complete Story of
the AFL, Viking, Ringwood, 1996. p. 76. 15 May 1911.
The literature is not in agreement on this date. For example, R Pascoe, The Winter
Game: The Complete History of Australian Football, Text Publishing Melbourne,
1995 p.76) agrees with Stremski’s verslon that
‘Metropolitan zoning was introduced in 1915, against the opposition of clubs such
as Collingwood which were beginning to recruit more widely’.
In contrast. there are two authors who claim that metropolitan zoning began with the
formation of the VFL. Sandercock and Turner (Up Where Cazaly? p. 212) suggest
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
31
that ‘it was the unremitting competition for players, and the effect that this had on
the rewards which players could command (even though these were not paid
openly), which led the original eight VFL clubs to agree to the division of the
Melbourne metropolitan area into exclusive recruiting zones In 1896. The sources of
this restricted recruiting were amateur and school clubs; the VFL was a special
problem.’
B Stewart. The Australian Football Business: A Spectator’s Guide to the VFL,
Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1983 p. 79) concurs with the above view stating that
‘metropolitan zones were introduced in 1897. the year of the formation of the VFL’.
However, the AFL’s Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2) affirms 1915 as the year
metropolitan zoning commenced.
In 1991, ‘Victorian Clubs were given their last chance to list metropolitan zone
players with the announcement that metropolitan zoning would end after being first
introduced in 1915’.
7
Richard Stremski. Kill for Collingwood, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1986, pp. 70-1.
6 J Lack, C McConville, M Small and D Wright, Unleashed: A History of the Footscray
Football Club, Aus-Sport Enterprises, Footscray, 1996, p. 77.
9 Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 94.
10 Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 96.
11 The Coulter Law was named after Melbourne delegate Gordon Coulter. E C H
Taylor, 100 Years of Football: The Story of the Melbourne Football Club, MFC,
Melbourne, 1958, pp. 101-02 reproduces the final draft which was accepted by the
League in its entirety. It read:
1. The payment or offer of payment of any lump sum of money or equivalent
thereto to secure or retain the services of any player is prohibited.
2. The rate of payment to League players, with the exception of the captain and/or
coach, shall not exceed £3 per player per premiership match.
(a) Payments lo an emergency shall not exceed £1/10/- per match, and
payments to other players on the list shall not exceed £1 per week.
(b) Sustenance payments to Club players out of employment shell not exceed
£3 per week.
(c) Payments by Clubs to intending metropolitan players shall not exceed lo/per week, and to intending country players £2/10/- per week. plus travelling
expenses.
No payments to be made before March 30, but in the case of players from
other States before February 1.
Payments to injured players lo be at the discretion of the Clubs, but must
not exceed £3 per week, plus loss of wages less Insurance.
Any bonus which may be declared by Clubs shall not exceed £2 per
premiership match per player.
In the event of the establishment of a Provident Fund, no payments to be
made from the fund until the player retires from the game or receives his
clearance.
If he should return and wishes to play again he must obtain permission from
the VFL.
3. If any Club or Club official, or if any player or players have acted contrary to any
of the clauses of this rule, and if such charges be sustained by the decision of
the arbitrators, a penalty of £250 can be imposed for the first offence and the
forfeiture of all premiership points registered by the Club or Clubs concerned up
to the dale of the offence.
In the case of a second offence the Clubs position as a member of the VFL will
be immediately reviewed.
Any player found guilty of any action contrary lo the provisions of the rule may
32
12
13
14
15
16
17
16
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
26
29
30
21
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
ASSH Bulletin No. 26 • June 1997
be disqualified at the pleasure of the League.
R Holmesby and J Main, This Football Century, Wilkinson, Melbourne, 1996, p. 67.
Taylor, 100 Years of Football, p. 102.
Pascoe, The Winter Game, 1995, p. 109.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, pp. 105-06.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 107.
See M Branagan and M Lefebre, Bloodstained Angels: The Rise and Fall of the
Foreign Legion, the authors, Melbourne, 1995.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 107.
Holmesby and Main, This Football Century, p. 91.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, pp. 144-5.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, pp. 122-3.
Branagan and Lefebvre, Bloodstained Angels, p. 118.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 121.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 138.
Australian Football League, 100 Years of Australian Football, Viking, Ringwood.
1996, p. 226, 11 June 1964.
Holmesby and Main, This Football Century, p. 167.
Dabscheck, ‘Sporting Equality: Labour Market vs Product Market Control’, Journal
of Industrial Relations, June 1975, p. 181.
Holmesby and Main, This Football Century, p. 167.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 178.
B Stewart, ‘The Economic Development of the Victorian Football League 19601984’, Sporting Traditions, vol. 1, no. 2, May 1984, pp. 9-10.
Holmesby and Main. This Football Century, p. 167.
AFL, 100 Years of Australian Football, p. 240, 16 Apr. 1968.
Stewart, The Australian Football Business, 1983, p. 79.
AFL, 100 Years of Australian Football, 30 Aug. 1972.
Sandercock and Turner. Up Where Cazaly?, p. 79 and B Dabscheck. ‘Silvio
Foschini and the Sydney Swans’, Australian Quarterly, Autumn, 1984, p. 66.
B Dabscheck, ‘The Labour Market for Australian Rules Footballers’, unpub. MEc.
thesis, Monash Uni. 1973. p. 75.
Dabscheck, ‘Labour Market for Australian Rules Footballers’. p. 76.
Dabscheck, ‘Labour Market for Australian Rules FoolbaIlers’, p. 77.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 215.
Stewart, The Australian Football Business, p. 76.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?. p. 214.
Dabscheck, ‘Labour Market for Australian Rules FootbaIlers’, p. 76.
Dabscheck, ‘Silvio Foschini and the Sydney Swans’, p. 66.
Stewart, The Australian Football Business, p. 82.
Dabscheck, ‘Silvio Foschini and the Sydney Swans’, p. 66.
Stewart, ‘The Economic Development of the Victorian Football League’, p. 25.
Stewart, The Australian Football Business, p. 87.
B Dabscheck, ‘The Wage Determination Process for Sportsmen’, Economic Record,
Mar. 1975, p. 55.
Dabscheck, ‘The Wage Determination Process for Sportsmen’. p. 56.
Dabscheck, ‘The Wage Determination Process for Sportsmen’, p. 55; Sandercock
and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, p. 204; Stewart, The Australian Football Business,
pp. 86-8.
Stewart, The Australian Football Business, p. 93.
Sandercock and Turner, Up Where Cazaly?, pp. 208-09.
Stewart. The Australian Football Business. p. 89.
See Dabscheck, ‘Silvio Foschini and the Sydney Swans’.
Booth • History of Player Recruitment
55 Stewart, ‘The Economic Development of the Victorian Football League’, p. 21.
56 B Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees: The Victorian Football League’s New
Employment Rules’. Sporting Traditions, Nov. 1989, p. 67.
57 Coaching Update, Mar. 1994, p. 1.
56 Coaching Update, Mar. 1994, p.. 1.
59 Coaching Update, Mar. 1994, pp. 1-2.
60 Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees’,p. 71.
61 Coaching Update, Mar. 1994, p. 2 and Dabscheck, Abolishing Transfer Fees’,
p. 71.
62 Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees’. p. 72.
63 Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees’, pp. 72-3.
64 AFL ‘96 (100 Years of Australian Football, pp. 160 ff) shows the first pre-season
draft occurred in 1990.
65 Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2) and Dabscheck, ‘Abolishing Transfer Fees’,
pp. 72. 74-5.
66 Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2).
67 Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2).
68 AFL, Amendments, Player Rules, Season 1994, June 1993.
69 Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2).
70 Coaching Update (Mar. 1994 p. 2, 5).
71 Jim Durnan, AFL, 13 Aug. 1993, AFLPA 2 May 1997.
72 ‘I’m worth $65,000, says Grant’, Herald Sun, 28 Oct. 1994, Daryl Timms.
73 AFL and AFLPA, Collective Bargaining Agreement, 6 Nov. 1995, p. 11.
74 AFL Player Rules (2/9/94), Section 4, pp. 13-18.
75 AFL National Draft, 1996-97, A Football Record Guide, p. 17.
76 AFL National Draft, 1996-97, A Football Record Guide. p. 16.
77 AFL National Draft, 1996-97, A Football Record Guide, p. 18.
78 AFL National Draft, 1996-97, A Football Record Guide, p. 6.
33