Back at the time of the 1899 Victorian (now Australian) Football League grand final, a Fitzroy family boasted one superstar playing that day, and another surprisingly 2,000km away on the Darling Downs. I told a version of this story live on radio 4WK.

The 2024 AFL grand final this weekend is between Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans. Before the mergers and relocations, the original names of the two teams were the Fitzroy Lions and South Melbourne Swans. They were the teams playing in that 1899 decider and Fitzroy won.

A relative of mine Jim Whelan played with Fitzroy when they also beat South Melbourne to secure the 1895 Victorian Football Association premiership.

Whelan played with the likes Pat Hickey who was named the league’s “champion player” in that 1899 season and of course played in the 1899 grand final.

Also in the Fitzroy team that day was another star player by the name of Eddie Drohan. Along with Hickey, Drohan was named in the league’s “champion team” of the season.

While Eddie Drohan’s family from Ireland settled in Warrnambool in country Victoria, other members of the Drohan family settled in Warwick on the Darling Downs. And they had a star footballer up here as well.

In Warwick in the 1860s to 1880s, Australian Rules football or “Victorian Rules” as it was known then, was often the football code of choice. It wasn’t like today in which rugby league dominates.

In the opening match of the 1870 season, the Darling Downs great rivals Warwick and Toowoomba played each other at Warwick’s recreation ground. A considerable number of people turned up to watch, and the teams played the whole afternoon and neither side kicked a goal.

It should be noted that back then different teams often played under different rules. In this match it appears there was some confusion. One player was under the impression that he was playing the “rugby” rules, while others went for the “Victorian” rules. In any case, it was reported as being a very pleasant day.

Come the 1880s, a star member of the Warwick football club was a player by the name of Andy Drohan. This Drohan also happened to be probably the best athlete on the Darling Downs.

In 1885 at Emu Vale, a very large gathering assembled on another fine day. It wasn’t a football match that they came to see, but rather a private match race between Andy Drohan of Warwick, and an Arthur Greaves of Toowoomba. It was a footrace of two hundred yards, off scratch, for the princely sum of £10 which is around $10,000 in today’s money.

This race had been creating great excitement across the district for some time because both men had been in full training. It was looked upon as an important colonial contest because it was Toowoomba against Warwick. Some lively betting on the event had taken place ever since the match was first made.

Both men stripped very fit. Greaves was the favourite until a little before the start. That’s when Andy Drohan came out in his running clothes and caught the eye of everyone present, and so a late plunge went on the Warwick runner. Rightly so as it turned out, because Drohan won from start to finish in the very fast time of twenty-one seconds.

So if you’re watching the Lions and Swans play in the AFL this weekend, remember the last time they met in a grand final was in 1899, and the two Drohan extended family members – one the Fitzroy footballer, the other the wonderful Warwick match racer who caught everyone’s eye

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD ON RADIO 4WK.

Photo credits:
Melbourne versus Queensland, Brisbane Exhibition Grounds, June 1888 – Athenians and Red Invincibles, Murray Bird, 2015.
Jim Whelan, Fitzroy Football Club, 1895 – Australasian, Melbourne, 17th August 1895, page 27.
Eddie Drohan, 1906 – Collingwood Football Club.