1948 VFA season

1948 VFA premiership season
Teams12
PremiersBrighton
1st premiership
Minor premiersWilliamstown
3rd minor premiership
← 1947
1949 →

The 1948 VFA season was the 67th season of the Victorian Football Association (VFA), an Australian rules football competition played in the state of Victoria.

Brighton won the VFA premiership for the first and only time, defeating Williamstown by nine points in the 1948 VFA Grand Final.

Ladder

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.

Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Williamstown 20 16 4 0 2133 1543 138.2 64
2 Brunswick 20 16 4 0 2217 1712 129.5 64
3 Brighton (P) 20 13 7 0 2313 2037 113.5 52
4 Northcote 20 12 8 0 1925 1724 111.7 48
5 Oakleigh 20 12 8 0 2167 1972 109.9 48
6 Preston 20 12 8 0 2146 1971 108.9 48
7 Camberwell 20 10 10 0 1957 2052 95.4 40
8 Sandringham 19 7 12 0 1900 2240 84.8 28
9 Coburg 19 6 13 0 1939 2128 91.1 24
10 Prahran 20 6 14 0 2005 2339 85.7 24
11 Port Melbourne 20 5 15 0 1968 2412 81.6 20
12 Yarraville 20 4 16 0 1850 2390 77.4 16
Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals

Semi-finals

Semifinals
Saturday, 18 September Brighton 17.23 (125) def. Northcote 12.13 (85) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 12,000) [2]
Saturday, 25 September Williamstown 17.13 (115) def. Brunswick 9.20 (74) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 15,000) [3]

Preliminary final

Preliminary final
Saturday, 2 October Brunswick 12.14 (86) def. by Brighton 14.16 (100) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 11,000) [4]

Grand Final

1948 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 9 October Williamstown def. by Brighton St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 18,000[5]) [6]
4.3 (27)
7.4 (46)
9.6 (60)
13.7 (85) 		Q1
Q2
Q3
Final 		2.4 (16)
7.7 (49)
10.10 (70)
13.16 (94) 		Umpires: Merrington
MacPherson 3, Redmond 3, Salvas 3, Matthews 2, Peacock, Todd Goals Douglas 4, Warburton 3, Burke 2, Heims 2, Adamson, McIndoe

Awards

Notable events

  • On 26 June, Sandringham 11.11 (77) defeated Coburg 9.20 (74); but, Coburg protested the result due to a timekeeping error which had resulted in the final quarter being played five minutes short. The Association quashed the result of the match, and determined that a replay should be played if the match were to have an influence on the final four. Both teams were ultimately well out of finals contention, so the replay was not held, and the teams are credited with playing only nineteen matches for the season.[8]
  • Prahran played most of its home matches at Elsternwick Park during the year, sharing the ground with Brighton, because Toorak Park was unavailable due to top-dressing after the first few weeks of the season.[9]
  • Preston missed the finals on percentage, after losing its last home-and-home match to wooden-spooner Yarraville by one point, 16.10 (106) def. by 15.17 (107).[1]
  • The 1948 VFL Grand Final was drawn, so the Association Grand Final was played on the same day as the League Grand Final Replay. The Association considered postponing its Grand Final by a week to avoid competing for the gate, but the motion was defeated 12–8.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Follower (13 September 1948). "Yarraville's win lets Northcote into four". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.
  2. ^ Follower (20 September 1948). "Brighton's last-term runaway". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.
  3. ^ Follower (27 September 1948). "Greater dash wins for Williamstown". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.
  4. ^ Follower (4 October 1948). "Brighton's pennant chance". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.
  5. ^ "Brighton wins first VFA premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. 11 October 1948. p. 15.
  6. ^ a b Follower (11 October 1948). "Courage and stamina gave Brighton win". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.
  7. ^ "Brighton rover is best and fairest in VFA". The Argus. Melbourne. 14 September 1948. p. 12.
  8. ^ "Replay in V.F.A. game if needed". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 13 July 1948. p. 12.
  9. ^ "Elsternwick Park for Prahran FC". The Argus. Melbourne. 6 March 1948. p. 24.
  10. ^ Follower (5 October 1948). "No postponement of V.F.A. Grand Final". The Age. Melbourne. p. 8.