1918 VFL season
The 1918 VFL season was the 22nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.
| 1918 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
 South Melbourne, Premier team | |
| Teams | 8 |
| Premiers | South Melbourne 2nd premiership |
| Minor premiers | South Melbourne 3rd minor premiership |
| Leading Goalkicker Medallist | Ern Cowley (Carlton) |
| Matches played | 59 |
| Highest | 39,262 |
Played during the final year of World War I, eight of the league's nine senior clubs competed, an increase of two from the previous year with only Melbourne absent. The season ran from 11 May until 7 September, and comprised a 14-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The premiership was won by the South Melbourne Football Club for the second time, after it defeated Collingwood by five points in the 1918 VFL Grand Final.
Background
In 1918, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds.
Once the 14 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1918 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
Home-and-away season
Ladder
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Melbourne (P) | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 970 | 678 | 143.1 | 52 |
| 2 | Collingwood | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 956 | 659 | 145.1 | 40 |
| 3 | Carlton | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 862 | 740 | 116.5 | 32 |
| 4 | St Kilda | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 742 | 805 | 92.2 | 32 |
| 5 | Fitzroy | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 774 | 784 | 98.7 | 24 |
| 6 | Richmond | 14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 752 | 857 | 87.7 | 20 |
| 7 | Geelong | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 716 | 944 | 75.8 | 12 |
| 8 | Essendon | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 547 | 852 | 64.2 | 12 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 56.4
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
All of the 1918 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the semi-finals and preliminary final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the preliminary final.
The second semi-final was scheduled to be played on the 24th of August, but heavy rain caused a postponement to the 31st of August — the first postponement of a finals match in VFL history.[1][2]
Grand final
South Melbourne defeated Collingwood 9.8 (62) to 7.15 (57), in front of a crowd of 39,168 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).
Season notes
- Essendon and St Kilda re-entered the VFL competition. The Essendon players met their own expenses and played as amateurs, with the club donating all of its 1918 profits (which amounted to £194-19-8) to "patriotic and charitable purposes".
- In Round 2, Richmond recorded its first VFL win over Carlton after 23 consecutive losses, a losing streak dating back to Richmond's entry into the VFL in 1908.
- In Round 14, Len Phillips of Essendon, a fast, skilful rover, and a printer by trade, played the last of his 13 senior VFL matches — having played his first VFL match for St Kilda in 1914.[3]
Awards
- The 1918 VFL Premiership team was South Melbourne.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was Ern Cowley of Carlton with 34 goals.
- Essendon took the "wooden spoon" in 1918.
References
- Atkinson, Graeme (2002). The Complete Book of AFL Finals. Noble Park, Australia: Five Mile Press. p. 608. ISBN 186503892X.
- No League Game Today; Semi-Final Postponed owing to Bad Weather, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 24 August 1918), p.3.
- Phillips, played for Melbourne City Football Club (VFA) 1912–1913, Essendon Association (VFA) 1913, Richmond Football Club (VFL) 1913, Brighton Football Club (VFA), St Kilda Football Club (VFL) 1914, West Perth Football Club (WAFL) 1915–1917, Essendon Football Club (VFL) 1918, Footscray Football Club (VFA) 1919, and Hawthorn Football Club (VFA) 1920; consequently, he has the unusual distinction of playing senior football with nine clubs, eight of them in Melbourne, over eight consecutive seasons (1913–1920).
- Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
- Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
- Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0
Sources
- 1918 VFL season at AFL Tables
- 1918 VFL season at Australian Football