Author(s): Ian W. Shaw

General

The 1945 VFL Grand Final was Melbourne's first major sporting event after the end of World War II. The game was advertised as "the Victory Grand Final" and signalled an end to global violence and bloodshed. Ironically those are the characteristics that will forever be associated with the game which has entered the folklore of Aussie Rules football as "the Bloodbath".

The game also featured a cast of extraordinary characters including Jack "Basher" Williams, "Gentleman" Jim Cleary, Bob Chitty (who was to star as Ned Kelly in a major Australian film), the young Ken "Dirty" Hands and, perhaps the greatest all-round sportsman Australia has ever produced, the mercurial Laurie Nash.

Ian Shaw has interviewed surviving players and researched contemporary accounts to produce this masterly account of one of the most infamous days in Australian sporting history.