Here’s a thought that would send shivers down the spine of any AFL supporter: imagine if the Super League war had occurred to the AFL in 1995.

Imagine News Limited decided they wanted exclusive rights to pay-TV for the AFL, rather than Optus or C7, and went after the game.

On April 1, 1995 The Herald Sun in Melbourne announces that eight of the 16 AFL clubs had defected to a rebel competition known as Super League, to be run and owned by News Limited.

The Brisbane Bears, Fitzroy Lions, Sydney Swans, Fremantle Dockers, Hawthorn Hawks, Melbourne Demons, Footscray Bulldogs and North Melbourne Kangaroos announce that they would be defecting to a new competition known as Super League.

Their major reason is financial stability, which many of these clubs at the time didn’t have.

Their players also attracted to the greater pay on offer at the News Limited competition.

In order to make their competition more viable, Super League invites the Port Adelaide Magpies to play in the national competition, and place a team in Tasmania as well.

The ten-team competition is announced, with the signatures of some of the biggest players in the game, including Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall, Wayne Carey and Garry Lyon.

The AFL is blindsided and Ross Oakley and his team are forced to act quickly or be banished. They team up with the Seven Network and Optus, who pledge their allegiance to the AFL.

Collingwood Magpies, St Kilda, Carlton Blues, Essendon Bombers, Richmond Tigers, West Coast Eagles, Geelong Cats and the Adelaide Crows all pledge to stay with the AFL.

News Limited’s intentions are to bleed the AFL dry, to the point where it folds, accepts News Limited’s takeover and join forces.

However, the AFL is better equipped than expected and sign some of the games bigger names like Gary Ablett, Robert Harvey and James Hird.

The AFL takes News Limited to court, attempting to stop Super League from occurring. Their cause is heard and ruled in favour of.

The 1996 season goes ahead as planned for the AFL, however all eight Super League clubs forfeit their first games. Wayne Carey sits the entire year out of the game in protest of the decision.

News Limited appeals the decision, and in late 1996 is permitted to run the 1997 Super League season.

The AFL is devastated by the decision but accepts it and goes about planning for the 1997 AFL season. In order to make the competition viable, they set up a team in Canberra, the Canberra Rams, and a team in Sydney, the Sydney Mariners.

1997 sees 20 teams running around, with varying degrees of quality and crowds drop significantly for the code.

Fans are turned away because they see the Super League War as nothing but a fight between two media giants, Optus and Foxtel for the rights of pay-TV.

Seven and News Limited sought out their differences and seven broadcasts both AFL and Super League games.

The grand finals of both competitions occurs one week apart from each other. First is the Super League’s, contested between the Brisbane Bears and North Melbourne Kangaroos on Saturday at 7.30pm.

Played at the MCG, more than 90,000 turn up to watch North Melbourne easily account for the young Bears. A huge national audience tunes in to the game, which is telecast live by Seven around the country.

The AFL grand final is contested between Carlton and Geelong. The game is played at Waverley Park, due Super League brokering a deal with the MCC that prohibited any AFL club from playing at the MCG.

Close to 80,000 turn up to the grand final and watch a heart-stopper won by the Carlton in the final three seconds of the game. Greg Williams gives an inside ball to teammate Dean Rice, who snaps truly from 40 metres out to win the game for Carlton by three points.

The fallout from this game leads to widespread calls for the game to reunite. The Carlton/Geelong grand final is regarded as the game that saved the game.

Delegates from both the AFL and Super League agree to merge the twenty teams into what would be known as the ARL (Australian Rules League). A six member board, three from the AFL and three from News Limited, control the game, as well as a CEO.

Part of the agreement to merge would be to rationalise the 20-team competition into 14 teams by 2000. While all the teams would contest the 1998 season, by mid-season it was obvious that the Canberra Rams and Sydney Mariners would not survive and both folded by season’s end.

The Kangaroos and Lions agree to a merger as the North-Fitzroy Kangaroos. Port Adelaide Magpies were forced to change their stripes and name to avoid a conflict with the Collingwood Magpies, and so became the Port Adelaide Power.

1999 would be contested by 17 teams. The Tasmanian Dolphins, who were never very popular due to the belief in Hobart that the club favoured Launceston, was either to merge or fold, but could not find a merger partner and folded.

The Footscray Bulldogs and the Melbourne Demons would then follow suit and merge as the Melbourne Bulldogs. Richmond remained defiant refusing to merge, and was kicked out of the competition for failing to meet the criteria leaving 14 teams.

These 14 teams included: Collingwood Magpies, Sydney Swans, Carlton Blues, Essendon Bombers, Melbourne Bulldogs, Brisbane Bears, Adelaide Crows, Port Adelaide Power, West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers, North-Fitzroy Kangaroos, St Kilda, Hawthorn and Geelong Cats.

The decision to kick the tigers out of the competition is extremely unpopular and in 2000 more than 80,000 people protest the decision through the streets of Melbourne. The ARL is taken to court and the Tigers win re-admission into the competition for the 2002 ARL season.

The ARL is never the same again. The constant in-fighting stumps any idea of quick reform or change. The game’s CEO was the chief lawyer for the Super League onslaught, who does a very amiable job in stabilising the ARL and increases its crowds, memberships and ratings.

In 2011, News Limited announces they will exit the game and the AFL independent commission will take over the game once again after 13 years of un-easy alliance.

Pretty scary stuff!