When was the first AFL Grand Final?
AFL Grand Final
However, this method had flaws, so the VFL continued to experiment, playing "section" matches after the regular season and then a finals series where first on the ladder played the third team and second met fourth. The winners of these "semi" finals then met in a final to decide the premiership. The first such final was contested in 1898 between the Essendon Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club at the St Kilda Cricket Ground, which Fitzroy won scoring 5.8 (38) to Essendon's 3.5 (23).
1990 AFL Grand Final
Collingwood's drawn game with West Coast caused the Grand Final and all other finals to be delayed by a week from the originally scheduled dates. This proved controversial, because in the second semi-final, it had been 21 days since Essendon's last competitive match, due to receiving a bye in the first week of the finals, following by the replayed Qualifying Final in the second week; Essendon had played an unofficial practice match against 12th-placed Fitzroy during the second week. For the 1991 and successive AFL seasons, the rules were changed to allow extra time to be played in finals, excluding the Grand Final, if scores were level at the end of the fourth quarter. The first final to require extra time was four years later in the 1994 Qualifying Final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn.