1927 VFA season

The 1927 Victorian Football Association season was the 49th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Coburg Football Club, after it defeated Brighton by 34 points in the Grand Final on 15 October. It was the club's second VFA premiership, achieved in only its third season of senior competition, and was the second in a sequence of three premierships won consecutively from 1926 until 1928; and, it came after the team was undefeated in the home-and-home season.

1927 VFA premiership season
Teams10
PremiersCoburg
2nd premiership
Minor premiersCoburg
2nd minor premiership
Attendance
Matches played96
Total attendance386,000 (4,021 per match)

Association membership

In the off-season, the Brunswick Football Club was re-admitted to the Association, after having withdrawn from the competition in late 1926 in protest at suspensions given to two of its players. As such, the Association membership remained the same as it had been at the start of 1926.[1][2]

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over eighteen rounds, with each club playing the others twice; then, the top four clubs contested a finals series under the amended Argus system to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder
1927 VFA ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Coburg (P) 18 18 0 0 2005 1051 52.4 72
2 Brighton 18 14 4 0 1454 1100 75.7 58
3 Port Melbourne 18 13 5 0 1394 1012 72.6 52
4 Preston 18 12 6 0 1587 1323 83.4 48
5 Northcote 18 11 7 0 1378 1205 87.4 44
6 Williamstown 18 7 10 1 1013 1289 127.2 30
7 Brunswick 18 6 12 0 1037 1330 128.2 24
8 Camberwell 18 5 13 0 1261 1552 123.1 20
9 Prahran 18 2 15 1 1133 1665 146.1 10
10 Geelong 18 1 17 0 889 1623 182.6 4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[3]

Finals
Semifinals
Saturday, 3 September Brighton 8.14 (62) drew with Preston 7.20 (62) Motordrome (crowd: 6,000) [4]
Saturday, 10 September Coburg 15.10 (100) drew with Port Melbourne 15.10 (100) Motordrome (crowd: 10,000) [5]
Saturday, 17 September Brighton 12.13 (85) def. Preston 9.17 (71) Motordrome (crowd: 10,000) [6]
Saturday, 24 September Coburg 7.6 (48) def. by Port Melbourne 14.13 (97) Motordrome (crowd: 13,000) [7]
Preliminary final
Saturday, 1 October (postponed) Brighton v Port Melbourne Motordrome (crowd: 2,000) [8]
Saturday, 8 October Brighton 11.14 (80) def. Port Melbourne 9.15 (69) Motordrome (crowd: 23,000) [9]
1927 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 15 October Coburg def. Brighton Motordrome (crowd: 20,000[10]) [11]
5.1 (31)
9.3 (57)
13.6 (84)
 19.10 (124)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 1.4 (10)
6.6 (42)
10.7 (67)
 13.12 (90)
Gardiner 10, Forbes 3, Kerley 2, Charleston, Harris, Huntington, Rogers Goals Walsh 7, Hunt 2, De Aurugo 2, Arthur, May
Injuries Irwin (broken leg), Garcia (thigh), Dainty (leg), De Aurugo (leg)

Awards
  • P. Gardiner (Coburg) was the leading goalkicker for the season, with 82 goals in the home-and-home matches and 97 overall. He finished ahead of J. Walsh (Brighton), who kicked 78 goals in the home-and-home matches and 92 goals overall.[3][11]
  • Ernie Martin (Coburg) won the Recorder Cup as the best and fairest player in the Association for the season. Woods (Northcote) finished second.[4]

Notable events
  • Prior to this season, Brighton moved its home ground from the Brighton Beach Oval in southern Brighton to Elsternwick Park in northern Brighton.[12]
  • Due to errors by the scoreboard attendants in the drawn semi-final between Brighton and Preston, those present at the ground were unsure of the result of the game until the goal umpires confirmed the score after the final bell.[4]
  • The preliminary final was postponed by one week because extremely heavy rain on the day made the surface unplayable.[8] The rain was so heavy that the League Grand Final, which was played that day in spite of the rain, was the lowest scoring League match of the 20th century.
  • Because of the two drawn semi-finals and the postponed preliminary final, the finals series was spread over a total of seven weekends.[13]

References
  1. "Football sensation – club leaves Association". The Argus. Melbourne. 21 August 1926. p. 32.
  2. "Brunswick's position". The Argus. Melbourne. 18 January 1927. p. 7.
  3. Onlooker (29 August 1927). "Football – Collingwood defeated". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
  4. Scorer (5 September 1927). "The Association – first semi-final". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
  5. Scorer (12 September 1927). "Association Semi Final – Second Drawn Game". The Argus. Melbourne. pp. 6–7.
  6. Scorer (19 September 1927). "The Association – Brighton wins replay". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  7. Scorer (26 September 1927). "The Association – Grand Final necessary". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
  8. Scorer (3 October 1927). "The Association – first match postponed". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
  9. Scorer (10 October 1927). "A stirring game – Brighton too strong". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 9.
  10. "Association attendances". The Argus. Melbourne. 18 October 1927. p. 13.
  11. Old Boy (17 October 1927). "Association Grand Final – Coburg premiers again". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
  12. "Football – Brighton Club's New Ground". The Argus. Melbourne. 16 December 1926. p. 4.
  13. Fiddian, Marc (1994). Boilovers, Thrillers and Grand Eras in League and Association Football. Pakenham, Victoria: Pakenham Gazette. p. 21. ISBN 1875475087.
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