1922 VFL season

In 1922, the VFL competition consisted of nine 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 (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1922 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

All of the 1922 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.

Fitzroy defeated Collingwood 11.13 (79) to 9.14 (68), in front of a crowd of 50,064 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

• The 1922 VFL Premiership team was Fitzroy.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Horrie Clover of Carlton with 54 goals (56 after finals).
• South Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1922.
• The Victorian Junior League premiership, which is today recognised as the VFL reserves premiership, was won by Collingwood's team, Collingwood District. Collingwood District 8.10 (58) defeated Essendon Juniors 1.9 (15) in the challenge Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior Grand Final on 14 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[1]

• Essendon began playing its home games at the Essendon Recreation Reserve (known today as Windy Hill) from this season, after the closure of the East Melbourne Cricket Ground at the end of 1921.
• Boundary umpires became responsible for bringing the ball back to the centre after a goal has been scored.
• Angry Richmond fans invaded the field after Richmond's 10-point loss against Essendon in Round 5. Field umpire Arthur Norden, later received a letter threatening his life, and he retired.
• The first issue of the "pink paper", the Saturday evening newspaper, The Sporting Globe, was published on 22 July 1922.
• In the round 17 match against Geelong, St Kilda's centre half-forward Dave McNamara had 12 kicks for the match. From the twelve kicks he scored ten goals, nine of them with place-kicks (one 70 yards, another 65 yards), and tenth with a punt-kick. By contrast with that accurate kicking, on the following Saturday, in the round 18 match against Richmond, McNamara kicked 1.13 (19).
• South Melbourne's percentage is the highest ever by the team finishing last.

• 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

• 1922 Season - AFL Tables