1918 VFL season

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1918 VFL premiership season
South Melbourne, Premier team
Teams8
PremiersSouth Melbourne
2nd premiership
Minor premiersSouth Melbourne
3rd minor premiership
Leading Goalkicker MedallistErn Cowley (Carlton)
Matches played59
Highest39,262
← 1917
1919 →

The 1918 VFL season was the 22nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.

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[edit]

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[edit]

Round 1[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
South Melbourne 7.15 (57) Geelong 4.7 (31) Lake Oval 11 May 1918
St Kilda 4.16 (40) Fitzroy 4.10 (34) Junction Oval 11 May 1918
Richmond 5.16 (46) Essendon 4.10 (34) Punt Road Oval 11 May 1918
Collingwood 8.17 (65) Carlton 4.6 (30) Victoria Park 11 May 1918

Round 2[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Fitzroy 5.8 (38) South Melbourne 12.6 (78) Brunswick Street Oval 18 May 1918
Essendon 8.13 (61) St Kilda 6.18 (54) EMCG 18 May 1918
Carlton 8.5 (53) Richmond 7.16 (58) Princes Park 18 May 1918
Geelong 5.6 (36) Collingwood 7.6 (48) Corio Oval 18 May 1918

Round 3[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Carlton 11.11 (77) St Kilda 7.9 (51) Princes Park 25 May 1918
Richmond 6.8 (44) Fitzroy 10.12 (72) Punt Road Oval 25 May 1918
Geelong 6.16 (52) Essendon 4.12 (36) Corio Oval 25 May 1918
South Melbourne 12.13 (85) Collingwood 9.13 (67) Lake Oval 25 May 1918

Round 4[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Collingwood 11.10 (76) Richmond 8.8 (56) Victoria Park 1 June 1918
Essendon 4.13 (37) Carlton 8.27 (75) EMCG 1 June 1918
St Kilda 6.13 (49) South Melbourne 6.8 (44) Junction Oval 3 June 1918
Fitzroy 10.14 (74) Geelong 8.14 (62) Brunswick Street Oval 3 June 1918

Round 5[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Geelong 6.13 (49) Richmond 7.18 (60) Corio Oval 8 June 1918
Collingwood 14.21 (105) St Kilda 6.9 (45) Victoria Park 8 June 1918
Fitzroy 9.12 (66) Essendon 2.13 (25) Brunswick Street Oval 8 June 1918
South Melbourne 11.10 (76) Carlton 10.12 (72) Lake Oval 8 June 1918

Round 6[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Richmond 5.13 (43) St Kilda 7.18 (60) Punt Road Oval 15 June 1918
Essendon 4.8 (32) South Melbourne 7.10 (52) EMCG 15 June 1918
Collingwood 7.11 (53) Fitzroy 3.6 (24) Victoria Park 15 June 1918
Carlton 16.15 (111) Geelong 7.3 (45) Princes Park 15 June 1918

Round 7[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
South Melbourne 12.14 (86) Richmond 4.10 (34) Lake Oval 22 June 1918
St Kilda 15.13 (103) Geelong 5.9 (39) Junction Oval 22 June 1918
Essendon 4.9 (33) Collingwood 14.14 (98) EMCG 22 June 1918
Fitzroy 6.15 (51) Carlton 12.11 (83) Brunswick Street Oval 22 June 1918

Round 8[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Geelong 7.8 (50) South Melbourne 7.13 (55) Corio Oval 29 June 1918
Fitzroy 7.6 (48) St Kilda 3.5 (23) Brunswick Street Oval 29 June 1918
Essendon 3.4 (22) Richmond 5.15 (45) EMCG 29 June 1918
Carlton 6.13 (49) Collingwood 6.5 (41) Princes Park 29 June 1918

Round 9[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Collingwood 12.14 (86) Geelong 7.10 (52) Victoria Park 6 July 1918
South Melbourne 12.14 (86) Fitzroy 8.13 (61) Lake Oval 6 July 1918
St Kilda 6.14 (50) Essendon 6.6 (42) Junction Oval 6 July 1918
Richmond 7.16 (58) Carlton 8.13 (61) Punt Road Oval 6 July 1918

Round 10[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Fitzroy 10.11 (71) Richmond 6.7 (43) Brunswick Street Oval 13 July 1918
Essendon 8.10 (58) Geelong 5.9 (39) EMCG 13 July 1918
Collingwood 6.8 (44) South Melbourne 7.9 (51) Victoria Park 13 July 1918
St Kilda 4.20 (44) Carlton 2.5 (17) Junction Oval 13 July 1918

Round 11[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Carlton 10.20 (80) Essendon 4.7 (31) Princes Park 20 July 1918
South Melbourne 14.17 (101) St Kilda 7.9 (51) Lake Oval 20 July 1918
Geelong 5.6 (36) Fitzroy 11.6 (72) Corio Oval 20 July 1918
Richmond 6.13 (49) Collingwood 11.10 (76) Punt Road Oval 20 July 1918

Round 12[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Essendon 8.10 (58) Fitzroy 6.6 (42) EMCG 27 July 1918
Carlton 5.13 (43) South Melbourne 8.7 (55) Princes Park 27 July 1918
Richmond 15.15 (105) Geelong 10.11 (71) Punt Road Oval 27 July 1918
St Kilda 9.9 (63) Collingwood 6.14 (50) Junction Oval 27 July 1918

Round 13[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
St Kilda 10.7 (67) Richmond 8.9 (57) Junction Oval 3 August 1918
South Melbourne 12.13 (85) Essendon 7.10 (52) Lake Oval 3 August 1918
Fitzroy 8.12 (60) Collingwood 10.19 (79) Brunswick Street Oval 3 August 1918
Geelong 10.7 (67) Carlton 4.13 (37) Corio Oval 3 August 1918

Round 14[edit]

Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Date
Richmond 7.12 (54) South Melbourne 7.17 (59) Punt Road Oval 10 August 1918
Geelong 10.27 (87) St Kilda 6.6 (42) Corio Oval 10 August 1918
Collingwood 9.14 (68) Essendon 3.8 (26) Victoria Park 10 August 1918
Carlton 10.14 (74) Fitzroy 9.7 (61) Princes Park 10 August 1918

Ladder[edit]

(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[edit]

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]

Semi-finals[edit]

Home team Score Away team Score Venue Date
Collingwood 7.16 (58) St Kilda 7.7 (49) MCG 17 August
South Melbourne 8.10 (58) Carlton 7.11 (53) MCG 31 August

Grand final[edit]

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[edit]

  • 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.

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Atkinson, Graeme (2002). The Complete Book of AFL Finals. Noble Park, Australia: Five Mile Press. p. 608. ISBN 186503892X.
  2. ^ No League Game Today; Semi-Final Postponed owing to Bad Weather, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 24 August 1918), p.3.
  • 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[edit]