The Brownlow on TV | Know Your History with Shannon Gill (17.09.26)
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What is the history of the Brownlow Medal before it was televised?
This time every Thursday we reach Know Your History, 40 years of the Brownlow Medal on television. And it has always been thus. It's all happened before. We'll sit down on Monday night and see it count and wonder, could it be more? Should it be like that? It shapes the greatest one-horse race perhaps that we've ever seen. So let's go back in time. The Brownlow Medal on TV is Know Your History.
Seven Sports presents from the Radisson President Hotel in Melbourne, the 1994 Brownlow Medal Counts. Your host, Bruce McEvaney.
Good evening, Australia. For the first time, the greats, past and present, have gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Melbourne for the Brownlow Medal. So in just a few moments' time...
The unmistakable grandeur of the Brownlow Medal on television. Shannon Gill, welcome. Morning, Gerard. Are you looking forward to Brownlow night?
Always. Always. I know how this year ends. Yes. And we might go through some things today that might be good to employ this year for the Brownlow, given that. The
endless debate around the Brownlow on television. I love this as a subject because during the week I've had numerous suggestions. They should do this. They should do that. Why do we have
to
do it? And it has all happened before.
Yes. And if... There is a rich tradition of people critiquing the Brownlow Medal on television. So if you do it this year, you're not the first. This has been happening ever since it went onto television. And look, the topic Brownlow Medal on TV is quite broad. We'll just work through some of the eras. It's not a complete history, but we'll work through some of the eras and narrow it down a little bit. Taylor Swift style. Yes.
Era
one, the origins. Okay, okay. So we go back. Now, pre-television of the Brownlow, what happened was the votes would be called on radio and the winner would be at home. And what would happen was media would listen to it on radio and then work out, oh, it's Dick Reynolds might win it. We better get in the car and drive around to Dick Reynolds' house to get the first interview with him. So this is sort of how it worked. There was nothing really happening. Now, I've got a clipping from the year before. So this is 1969, the year before we went to televise Brownlow. And Kevin Murray, the Fitzroy sponsors hold a dinner for him or hold a dinner that he's at. And they have the radio on with the votes. And as the night goes through, they start saying, oh, well, actually, Kevin's winning.
And then eventually they have the radio on for the finish. He's lifted above the crowd. And the journalists have worked out by that stage where Kevin Murray is on the night because they've gone to his house. He's not there. I know he's at a dinner. So they go to the dinner. and they get the snap
of him. It's so good. Peter McFarlane writes, with 300 of his teammates and friends at the Lion Hunters dinner in the Victoria Club, Queen Street, the Lions roar when the result was broadcast, rattled the rafters, Murray jumped on a table and smiled and waved to the throng.
How did the first TV broadcast of the Brownlow Medal in 1970 change the ceremony?
Yes. So that was how it was like before we had television broadcasts of the Brownlow. So we get to 1970 and this is when TV starts. So TV starts for the Brownlow. So it's reported earlier in that 1970 season that the league may open the Brownlow up to television. They were studying films from Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania who had televised their own state league counts, which is again an example of Victoria copying everything that our supposed smaller states have done. Or if you don't like the Brownlow, it's WA, South Australia and Tasmania's fault for inflicting it upon us. So yes, Peter McFarlane again reports, Brownlow, it's a gala night. The Victorian Football League has decided to make the counting of votes in this year's Brownlow medal a public function, being that public could...
go along, but also that it would be broadcast on television. Now, the way it actually looks on the night, I've managed to track down a photograph of what it was like. There's not much reporting on it, but it's at Sir Dallas Brooks Hall and
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the history of the Brownlow Medal before it was televised?
0:00–3:20
2
How did the first TV broadcast of the Brownlow Medal in 1970 change the ceremony?
3:20–8:00
3
What were the criticisms and format quirks of the Brownlow telecast in the 1970s?
8:00–12:06
4
How did the vote‑reading process evolve from the 1970s to the 1980s?
12:06–16:05
5
What improvements did the 1980s bring to Brownlow TV coverage and why?
16:05–21:00
6
What made the 1990s the ‘bells‑and‑whistles’ era for the Brownlow broadcast?
21:00–25:10
7
How did the WAG and fashion focus reshape the Brownlow ceremony in the 2000s?
25:10–29:09
8
Why is the 1986 Brownlow tie considered the most chaotic TV finish?
29:09–33:01
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Whateley
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