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  ALL ABOUT THE FOOTBALL RECORD
     
FOOTY RECORD CENTRAL

ABOUT THE RECORD

WISHLIST 1 (1960-65)

WISHLIST 2 (1966-69)

WISHLIST 3 (1970-)

NIGHT SERIES

STATE GAMES

THE REST

MELBOURNE MEMORABILIA

OTHER COLLECTORS & WEBSITES

  
A SHORT HISTORY

The Record was first published at the start of the 1912 season (the image at right is a reproduction produced in 1996). Primarily a guide to player's taking to the field that day, it soon grew to feature news from both the league and the clubs, match reports, player profiles and so on.

In the 1960s player photographs began to appear on the cover and it was not uncommon to see the same photograph used two or three seasons apart.

1970 saw the league move away from the use of these "stock" photographs, opting for the use of action shots from the previous week's matches.

By 1973 the action shots remained but the Record took on a new, slightly larger format that included a dash of colour bordering the black and white cover photo.

THE MODERN ERA

Although colour had been used on finals Records since 1963, it wasn't until Anzac Day 1975 that the first colour cover appeared on a home & away edition.

By 1978 all issues were printed in glossy colour and it's no coincidence that many collections start from this point.

The Record continued largely unchanged until 1994 when the format was altered dramatically. Home & away games moved from A5 to magazine size and the days of storing your copy in your back pocket during the game were fading.

The late 1990s saw a number of spin-off publications such as the Football Record for Kids and the Football Record Almanac (published three or four times a season).

In 1998 the league trialled the 'TV Edition' of the Record but this was abandoned after only one season. Published midweek and available from newsagents and a certain chain of hamburger restaurants, the early edition was basically the same as that available on match day, but without the final team line-ups.

In 1999 the title was changed to the AFL Record and the emphasis moved to greater statistical analysis and in-depth feature articles.

THE RECORD AND ME...

AUGUST 15, 1981... This was the day my Dad took me to my first match of VFL/AFL footy - Hawthorn v St.Kilda at VFL Park . This was also the day I got my first copy of the matchday program known to all and sundry as the 'Footy Record'.

Now I don't remember much of the game that day but I can describe for you the cover of the Record... a determined Chris Smith of Fitzroy trying to punch the ball away from Geelong's Terry Bright, along with a small photo of Don Scott's melon in the left hand corner.

Dad took me to heaps of games at VFL Park and to avoid the traffic slowly escaping after a match, we would search through the grandstands for any Records left behind by the fans. If you were really lucky someone would leave behind a copy from the week before that had sat in their bag all week - two birds with the one stone!

Being both a hoarder and a 'footyhead' it was only natural that I would start to collect every Record I could get my hands on.