GRAND FINAL AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
POSTERS
2ND EDITION
THE GRAND FINAL POSTER ART OF WILLIAM ELLIS GREEN (WEG) & MARK KNIGHT
1954-2021
Artist: William Ellis Green
Artist: Mark Knight
FOR THE LOVE OF FOOTY. This book pays tribute to two artists - William Ellis Green (WEG) & Mark Knight - and their unique contribution to the history and tradition of Australian Rules Football. In the 1954 VFL season, Green began drawing premiership posters of the winning teams of the Victorian Football League (VFL) Grand Final for the Weekend Herald. By 1966, Green’s posters had become so popular that The Herald started producing and selling them after the grand final. The posters, generally featuring a caricature of the winning club’s mascot smiling gleefully, continued to sell around 100,000 copies each year. The tradition continued after Green’s death, with Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight taking over as the illustrator of the posters from 2009. The artists would be produce two versions of the posters, representing both teams. Many of the ‘losing’posters can be found in this book. Although the series started in 1954, Green produced posters for all the grand finals back to 1897 to satisfy collectors. The family of the late cartoonist release a grand final poster every year in his memory from artwork supply by Green before he died. He told family that he wanted his posters to go on after he was gone. His private company, Weg Art, supplies the posters each year - www.wegart.com.au
The images in this book have been scrounged from websites throughout the Internet. Some images are of higher quality than others! If you have better quality images, or have images of those ‘losing’ grand final posters, I’d be more than happy to hear from you! There is no intent to profit from this book. I have produced this ‘book’ simply because I could not locate a decent catalogue of these posters anywhere. If you are ‘reading’ this book then I suspect, like me, you have a love of these posters and the incredible talent of each of the artists. They may bring back wonderful memories of those last days in September. And I suspect I am not alone in wishing that someone would publish a full-colour coffee table edition. Chris - grandfinalposterbook@gmail.com
1954
Footscray 15.12 (102) defeated Melbourne 7.9 (51)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1955
Melbourne 8.16 (64) defeated Collingwood 5.6 (36)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1956
Melbourne 8.16 (64) defeated Collingwood 5.6 (36)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1957
Melbourne 17.14 (116) defeated Essendon 7.13 (55)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1958
Collingwood 12.10 (82) defeated Melbourne 9.10 (64)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1959
Melbourne 17.13 (115) defeated Essendon 11.12 (78)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1960
Melbourne 8.14 (62) defeated Collingwood 2.2 (14)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1961
Hawthorn 13.16 (94) defeated Footscray 7.9 (51)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1962
Essendon 13.12 (90) defeated Carlton 8.10 (58)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1963
Geelong 15.19 (109) defeated Hawthorn 8.12 (60)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1964
Melbourne 8.16 (64) defeated Collingwood 8.12 (60)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1965
Essendon 14.21 (105) defeated St Kilda 9.16 (70)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1966
St Kilda 10.14 (74) defeated Collingwood 10.13 (73)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1967
Richmond 16.18 (114) defeated Geelong 15.15 (105)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1968
Carlton 7.14 (56) defeated Essendon 8.5 (53)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1969
Richmond 12.13 (85) defeated Carlton 8.12 (60)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1970
Carlton 17.9 (111) defeated Collingwood 14.17 (101)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1971
Hawthorn 12.10 (82) defeated St Kilda 11.9 (75)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1972
Carlton 28.9 (177) defeated Richmond 22.18 (150)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1973
Richmond 16.20 (116) defeated Carlton 12.14 (86)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1974
Richmond 18.20 (128) defeated North Melbourne 13.9 (87)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1975
North Melbourne 19.8 (122) defeated Hawthorn 9.13 (67)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1976
Hawthorn 13.22 (100) defeated North Melbourne 10.10 (70)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1977 Artist: William Ellis Green
North Melbourne 21.25 (151) defeated Collingwood 19.10 (124) Collingwood 10.16 (76) drew North Melbourne 9.22 (76)
1978
Hawthorn 18.13 (121) defeated North Melbourne 15.13 (103)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1979
Carlton 11.16 (82) defeated Colingwood 11.11 (77)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1980
Richmond 23.21 (159) defeated Collingwood 9.24 (78)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1981
Carlton 12.20 (92) defeated Collingwood 10.12 (72)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1982
Carlton 14.19 (103) defeated Richmond 12.13 (85)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1983
Hawthorn 20.20 (140) defeated Essendon 8.9 (57)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1984 Artist: William Ellis Green
Essendon 14.21 (105) defeated Hawthorn 12.9 (81)
1985
Essendon 26.14 (170) defeated Hawthorn 14.8 (92)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1986
Hawthorn 16.14 (110) defeated Carlton 9.14 (68)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1987
Carlton 15.14 (104) defeated Hawthorn 9.17 (71)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1988
Hawthorn 22.20 (152) defeated Melbourne 6.20 (56)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1989
Hawthorn 21.18 (144) defeated Geelong 21.12 (138)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1990
Collingwood 13.11 (89) defeated Essendon 5.11 (41)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1991
Hawthorn 20.19 (139) defeated West Coast 13.8 (86)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1992
West Coast Eagles 16.17 (113) defeated Geelong 12.13 (85)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1993
Essendon 20.13 (133) defeated Carlton 13.11 (89)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1994
West Coast Eagles 20.23 (143) defeated Geelong 8.15 (63)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1995
Carlton 21.15 (141) defeated Geelong 11.14 (80)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1996
North Melbourne 19.17 (131) defeated Sydney 13.10 (88)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1997
Adelaide 19.11 (125) defeated St Kilda 13.16 (94)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1998
Adelaide 15.15 (105) defeated North Melbourne 8.22 (70)
Artist: William Ellis Green
1999
North Melbourne 19.10 (124) defeated Carlton 12.17 (89)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2000
Essendon 19.21 (135) defeated Melbourne 11.9 (75)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2001
Brisbane Lions 15.18 (108) defeated Essendon 12.10 (82)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2002
Brisbane Lions 10.15 (75) defeated Collingwood 9.12 (66)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2003
Brisbane Lions 20.14 (134) defeated Collingwood 12.12 (84)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2004
Port Adelaide 17.11 (113) defeated Brisbane Lions 10.13 (73)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2005
Sydney 8.10 (58) defeated West Coast 7.12 (54)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2006
West Coast 12.13 (85) defeated Sydney 12.12 (84)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2007
Geelong 24.19 (163) defeated Port Adelaide 6.8 (44)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2008
Hawthorn 18.7 (115) defeated Geelong 11.23 (89)
Artist: William Ellis Green
2009
Geelong 12.8 (80) defeated St Kilda 10.8 (68)
Artist: Mark Knight
2010 Artist: Mark Knight
Collingwood 16.12 (108) defeated St Kilda 7.10 (52) Collingwood 9.14 (68) drew with St Kilda 10.8 (68)
2011
Geelong 18.11 (119) defeated Collingwood 12.9 (81)
Artist: Mark Knight
2012
Sydney Swans 14.7 (91) defeated Hawthorn 11.15 (81)
Artist: Mark Knight
2013
Hawthorn 11.11 (77) defeated Fremantle 8.14 (62)
Artist: Mark Knight
2014
Hawthorn 21.11 (137) defeated Sydney 11.8 (74)
Artist: Mark Knight
2015
Hawthorn 16.11 (107) defeated West Coast 8.13 (61)
Artist: Mark Knight
2016
Western Bulldogs 13.11 (89) defeated Sydney Swans 10.7 (67)
Artist: Mark Knight
2017
Richmond 16.12 (108) defeated Adelaide 8.12 (60)
Artist: Mark Knight
2018
West Coast 11.13 (79) defeated Collingwood 11.8 (74)
Artist: Mark Knight
2019
Richmond 17.12 (114) defeated GWS Giants 3.7 (25)
Artist: Mark Knight
2020
Richmond 12.9 (81) defeated Geelong 7.8 (50)
Artist: Mark Knight
2021
Melbourne 21.14 (140) defeated Western Bulldogs 10.6 (66)
Artist: Mark Knight