1909 VFL season

1909 VFL Premiership season
Premiership captain Charlie Ricketts
Teams	10
Premiers	South Melbourne (1st premiership)
Minor Premiers	South Melbourne (1st minor premiership)
Matches played	94
Highest attendance	37,759
Leading Goalkicker Medallist	Dick Lee (Collingwood)
← 1908 1910 →

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1909.

Premiership season

In 1909, the VFL competition consisted of ten 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 18 rounds.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1909 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Ladder

Finals

All of the 1909 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.

Semi finals

Preliminary Final

Grand final

This was South Melbourne's first premiership after finishing runner up twice previously.

Awards

• The 1909 VFL Premiership team was South Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Dick Lee of Collingwood with 58 goals.
• St Kilda took the wooden spoon in 1909.

Notable events

• St Kilda forfeited four premiership points (the equivalent to a win) to Geelong for playing a suspended player in round 6. This is the only such forfeiture to have lasted in VFL/AFL history (other such forfeits have temporarily occurred, but were later reversed).
• In the second round match against the University Football Club, badly concussed Richmond follower Bill Burns, who was about to leave for the hospital, heard that Richmond was about to lose the match, returned to the field of play, took a mark, kicked the winning goal, and was carried off the ground on the his team mate's shoulders. Later in 1909 Burns was suspended for 44 matches after being found guilty of a kicking charge, however, the sentence was later reduced on appeal.
• In round 7 against Geelong, Harry Brereton of Melbourne, in only his seventh game, became the first player to kick nine goals in a match since Jim McShane in 1899 and only the second player to achieve that feat at that point in VFL history.
• A round 8 match between Fitzroy and Melbourne was marred by numerous incidents of foul play. Spectators were involved in large brawl at the end of the game.
• The round 13 match between Carlton and Geelong was the first to break the 200-point aggregate barrier with a combined score of 29.26 (200).
• There were riots in the crowd after the round 13 match between South Melbourne and Fitzroy.
• An imminent on-field brawl between players from Collingwood and South Melbourne in their round 14 match was averted when the appearance of a policeman on the ground calmed both teams down.
• The round 15 match between St Kilda and Geelong is the last VFL/AFL game in which no goals were scored in the second half. On a flooded Junction Oval, St Kilda kicked 0.7 and Geelong scored 0.5 after half time.
• A Collingwood spectator jumped the fence at the round 18 match against Melbourne and punched a Melbourne player. Melbourne's Secretary, Mr. J.A. Harper, ran onto the field and made a citizens' arrest.
• The Argus newspaper published the height, weight and occupation of each player in the finals for the first time.

See also

• 1909 VFL Grand Final

Footnotes

References

• Hogan, P., The Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
• 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

External links

• 1909 Season - AFL Tables