1918 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1918.

Premiership season

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".

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

Ladder

Finals

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.

Semi finals

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).

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.

Notable events

• 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 10, an extraordinary situation arose when South Melbourne played Collingwood, Carlton played St Kilda, Fitzroy played Richmond, and Geelong played Essendon; according to their positions on the ladder at the end of round 9, the matches were (1)v(2), (3)v(4), (5)v(6), and (7)v(8).
• In round 14, Len Phillips of Essendon plays the last of his 13 senior VFL matches, having played his first VFL match for St Kilda in 1914.
  • Phillips, a fast, skilful rover, and a printer by trade, 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; he has the unusual distinction of playing senior football with nine clubs, eight of them in Melbourne, over eight consecutive seasons (1913-1920).
• In round 2, Richmond records its first VFL win over Carlton after 24 consecutive losses to Carlton (including a loss in the 1916 Semi-final), a losing streak dating back to Richmond's entry into the VFL in 1908.

References

• 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

• 1918 Season - AFL Tables