1961 VFL Grand Final

The 1961 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Footscray Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 65th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1961 VFL season. The match, attended by 107,935 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 43 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.

1961 VFL Grand Final

Hawthorn

Footscray
13.16 (94) 7.9 (51)
1 2 3 4
HAW 2.4 (16) 3.9 (27) 9.15 (69) 13.16 (94)
FOO 4.2 (26) 5.5 (35) 6.6 (42) 7.9 (51)
Date23 September 1961
StadiumMelbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance107,935
 1960 VFL Grand Final 1962 

Hawthorn, who were competing in their inaugural VFL Grand Final despite being in the competition since 1925, came into the game as minor premiers and favourites. Footscray, the 1954 premiership winners, had finished the home and away season in fourth place but upset the Ron Barassi-led Melbourne by 27 points in the Preliminary Final to end the Demons' sequence of seven consecutive Grand Final appearances.

It was a young Footscray side, with only two players coming into the game with more than 80 VFL games behind them, although one of them was veteran Ted Whitten. Hawthorn's Brendan Edwards was playing in his 100th VFL game and dominated in the centre. Despite trailing at half time, Hawthorn won comfortably in the end courtesy of a dominant third quarter in which they kicked six goals to just one by Footscray.

The Bulldogs did not appear in another Grand Final until 2016, which they won.

The 1961 Grand Final is the oldest currently available on DVD. Videos of the 1962, 1963 and 1964 Grand Finals have not yet surfaced. It is also the first Grand Final in VFL/AFL history that did not include any of the original eight clubs that formed the VFL in 1897 (Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St. Kilda, South Melbourne).

Teams

Hawthorn
Footscray
Hawthorn
B: 29 Reg Poole 1 Les Kaine 10 Graham Cooper
HB: 20 Sted Hay 28 John McArthur 26 Cam McPherson
C: 30 Colin Youren 9 Brendan Edwards 5 John Fisher
HF: 14 Ian Mort 31 Garry Young 4 Morton Browne
F: 11 Malcolm Hill 23 John Peck 19 Jack Cunningham
Foll: 12 John Winneke 2 Graham Arthur (c) 7 Ian Law
Res: 22 Phil Hay 3 Ron Nalder
Coach: John Kennedy, Sr.
Footscray
B: 28 Charlie Evans 29 Bernie Lee 4 Bob Ware
HB: 25 John Jillard 23 John Hoiles 38 Barry Ion
C: 12 Alex Gardiner 8 Bob Spargo 37 Ian Bryant
HF: 15 John Quarrell 17 Graham Ion 30 Barney McKellar
F: 3 Ted Whitten (c) 24 Jack Slattery 6 Keith Beamish
Foll: 14 John Schultz 9 Cameron McDonald 2 Merv Hobbs
Res: 16 Ken Duff 5 Charlie Stewart
Coach: Ted Whitten

Umpire: Frank Schwab

Scoreboard

Team123Final
Hawthorn2.43.99.1513.16 (94)
Footscray4.25.56.67.9 (51)

Statistics

Goal kickers

Hawthorn:

  • Browne 3
  • Law 2
  • Mort 2
  • Arthur 1
  • Cunningham 1
  • Edwards 1
  • Hill 1
  • Nalder 1
  • Peck 1

Footscray:

  • Whitten 3
  • Quarrell 2
  • Hobbs 1
  • McKellar 1

Attendance

  • MCG attendance – 107,935

References

  • 1961 Grand Final page on AFL Tables
  • The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004
  • 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

See also

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