1914 VFL season

In 1914, 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 1914 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

All of the 1914 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.

Carlton defeated South Melbourne 6.9 (45) to 4.15 (39), in front of a crowd of 30427 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football.)

• The 1914 VFL Premiership team was Carlton.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Dick Lee of Collingwood with 57 goals.
• University took the "wooden spoon" in 1914.

• A crowd of 2,000 angry Carlton fans mobbed the field umpire after Carlton lost to St Kilda in round 2.[1]
• In Round 14, Collingwood full-forward Dick Lee kicked eleven goals in the victory over University, equalling the record set by Jim McShane in 1899 for the most goals by a player in a game.[1]
• In Round 16, a spectator ran onto the ground during the Essendon and South Melbourne match and hit Essendon captain Alan Belcher behind the ear.[1] Belcher chased the spectator, struck him, and was reported for unseemly play.[1] Belcher was cleared by the VFL tribunal.
• In Round 16, University lost its 49th consecutive match, breaking the record of 48 consecutive losses set by St Kilda in 1897–1899. University dropped out of the league and folded at the end of the season, having lost its last 51 matches. As of 2020, this remains the longest winless streak in VFL/AFL history.[2]
• In his 27th and final game of VFL football in Round 18, Arthur Fitzroy Best kicked the entire Melbourne score of 5.5 (35).[3]

• List of VFL debuts in 1914
• 1914 VFL Grand Final

:1.^ Geelong's score in the first semi-final is given in different sources as either 5.7 (37)[4][5] or 5.8 (38).[6][7]

• 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
• Ross, J. (ed.), The Australian Football Hall of Fame, HarperCollinsPublishers, (Pymble), 1999. ISBN 0-7322-6426-X
• Atkinson, Graeme 3AW Book of Footy Records, Magistra Publishing Company Pty Ltd (South Melbourne), 1989. ISBN 1863210091

• 1914 Season - AFL Tables