It was to be one of the bleakest years in Australia's history, and if it hadn't have been for the Collingwood Football Club, it's doubtful whether there would have been any VFL football played in 1916.

As it was, the season would be one of the most unusual on record. Only four teams - all inner-suburban clubs who had connections via their borders - competed in an abbreviated season where each team played the others four times before a finals series that still gave the bottom side the chance to win the premiership.

There were grave reservations about whether the VFL would continue in 1916. It all came against a backdrop of bitter debate on the home front as to whether sporting events - football and racing, to name but two - should proceed while young Australians were being killed, wounded and maimed on the other side of the world.

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More from ANZAC Day

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Collingwood players who served in the First World War (1914 - 1918)

Click on each player's name to learn their story.