Imagine the uproar if Nick Daicos left Collingwood tomorrow, seduced by a huge financial offer from a rival Australian football competition. Imagine if the reigning Brownlow Medallist, Patrick Cripps, followed suit, then Christian Petracca and Charlie Curnow and more. Chaos would ensue.

Welcome to the world of football in the late 1930s. The Victorian Football League (VFL) was as dominant then as its successor, the Australian Football League (AFL), is now, and the likelihood of a challenger emerging seemed just as remote. But that’s exactly what the Victorian Football Association (VFA) did, launching a bold and audacious bid for footballing primacy. Poaching the League’s stars was just the VFA’s most high-profile strategy. Other changes made its version of Australian football a genuine alternative and pitted the two bodies against each other in a brief but no-holds-barred battle.