1973 VFA season

The 1973 Victorian Football Association season was the 92nd season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 13th season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, after it came from fourth on the ladder to defeat Oakleigh in the Grand Final on 23 September by 35 points; it was Prahran's fourth Division 1 premiership. The Division 2 premiership was won by Caulfield; it was the first and only premiership in either division won by the club after its move from Brighton to Caulfield in 1962.

1973 VFA Premiership season
Division 1
Teams10
PremiersPrahran
(4th premiership)
Minor premiersDandenong
(3rd minor premiership)
Division 2
Teams10
PremiersCaulfield
(1st D2 premiership)
Minor premiersCaulfield
(2nd D2 minor premiership)

Division 1

The Division 1 home-and-away season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals were played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.

Ladder
1973 VFA Division 1 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Dandenong 18 12 5 1 2144 1834 116.9 50
2 Oakleigh 18 12 6 0 2048 1819 112.5 48
3 Port Melbourne 18 11 7 0 2186 2074 105.4 44
4 Prahran (P) 18 10 7 1 2203 1997 111.3 42
5 Geelong West 18 10 8 0 1986 1912 103.9 40
6 Williamstown 18 8 10 0 1867 1919 97.3 32
7 Sandringham 18 7 11 0 1861 2236 83.2 28
8 Sunshine 18 7 11 0 1820 2191 83.0 28
9 Preston 18 6 12 0 2118 2151 98.4 24
10 Coburg 18 5 12 2 1942 2026 95.8 24
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[1]

Finals
Semi Finals
Sunday, 2 September Port Melbourne 10.17 (77) def. by Prahran 18.21 (129) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 8,000) [2]
Sunday, 9 September Dandenong 13.23 (101) def. by Oakleigh 17.14 (116) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 14,000) [3]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 16 September Dandenong 12.9 (81) def. by Prahran 16.14 (110) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 13,600) [4]
1973 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Sunday, 23 September Oakleigh def. by Prahran St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 21,200) [5]
2.5 (17)
5.7 (37)
7.15 (57)
 10.18 (78)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 2.4 (16)
8.11 (59)
12.17 (89)
 15.23 (113)		 Umpires: Stirling
Cloke 3, Halliday 2, Ford, Forster, O'Kane, Robbins, Taylor Goals Appleton 4, Weekes 3, Anderson 2, Smith 2, Emselle, Payne, Sinclair, Townsend
Quinn, for striking Rippon in the third quarter Reports Rippon, for striking Quinn in the third quarter
Rippon, for striking Nesbit in the fourth quarter

Awards

Division 2

The Division 2 home-and-away season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park.

Ladder
1973 VFA Division 2 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Caulfield (P) 18 15 3 0 2514 1611 156.0 60
2 Waverley 18 14 4 0 2570 1516 169.5 56
3 Brunswick 18 12 5 1 1987 1722 115.4 50
4 Camberwell 18 10 7 1 1881 1761 106.8 42
5 Frankston 18 10 7 1 2094 1989 105.2 42
6 Northcote 18 8 10 0 1745 2196 79.4 32
7 Werribee 18 7 11 0 1787 2040 87.5 28
8 Yarraville 18 6 11 1 1729 1994 86.7 26
9 Mordialloc 18 6 12 0 1692 2077 81.4 24
10 Box Hill 18 0 18 0 1475 2568 57.4 0
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[7]

Finals
Semi Finals
Sunday, 19 August Brunswick 18.14 (122) def. Camberwell 10.18 (78) Toorak Park (crowd: 4,500) [8]
Sunday, 26 August Caulfield 19.14 (128) def. Waverley 14.9 (93) Toorak Park (crowd: 7,000) [1]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 2 September Waverley 14.7 (91) def. by Brunswick 17.18 (120) Toorak Park (crowd: 4,000) [2]
1973 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 9 September Caulfield def. Brunswick Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000) [3]
4.4 (28)
10.6 (66)
12.10 (82)
 18.20 (128)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 4.11 (35)
6.13 (49)
10.21 (81)
 14.22 (106)		 Umpires: John Gambetta
Logan 6, Hocking 4, Cliff 3, Jewell 3, Baker, Guinane Goals Hadzilias 3, Allen 2, Dimattina 2, Hobbs 2, Baird, Egan, Gutterson, Hanton, Liakaureas
Injuries Horsington (concussion)

Scores were level in time-on in the final quarter before Caulfield kicked four late goals.

Awards
  • The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was Doug Baird (Brunswick) who kicked 90 goals in the home-and-away season,[9] and 94 goals overall.[2][3][8]
  • The J. Field Medal was won by Geoff Bryant (Box Hill); Bryant polled 57 votes, at a very high average of 3.2 votes per game, despite his club failing to win a single game for the year. He was a comfortable winner over Ron Allen (Waverley), who polled 45 votes, and Mick Martin (Yarraville), who polled 41 votes.[10]
  • Caulfield won the Seconds premiership. Caulfield 11.14 (80) drew Brunswick 10.20 (80) in the Grand Final[3] at Northcote Park on Saturday, 8 September;[2] in the Grand Final Replay at Toorak Park on Saturday, 15 September, Caulfield 18.11 (119) d. Brunswick 13.20 (98).[4]
  • Caulfield also won the Thirds premiership to be premiers in all three grades; as was the case in the seconds, the Grand Final was drawn; Caulfield 18.19 (127) defeated Waverley 16.10 (106) in the Grand Final Replay, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seconds Grand Final Replay.[4] It was the second time a club had won all three grades in the same season.

Notable events
  • On 22 April, Dandenong defeated Geelong West by five points, ending Geelong West's 22-game winning streak which dated back to 1971.[11]
  • On 29 April, Waverley 36.20 (236) defeated Box Hill 11.13 (81); at the time, it was the equal-third highest score in Association history.[12] On 13 May, only two weeks later, Waverley matched this score again; Waverley 35.26 (236) d. Werribee 7.4 (46).[13]
  • In the final round of the Division 1 home-and-away season, the bottom two teams Coburg and Preston played off against each other at Coburg City Oval in a match which directly determined which of the two clubs was relegated. Despite their respective positions on the ladder, the match attracted between 13,000 and 15,000 spectators, the highest crowd of the home-and-away season. Preston 27.9 (171) defeated Coburg 22.22 (154) in a high scoring game, to hold its place in the top division.[1][14]
  • Coburg was relegated despite a win-loss record 5–12–2 and a high percentage of 95.8,[1] setting a new record as the best performance by a wooden spooner in Association history.[15] In addition to its two draws, Coburg lost four matches by less than a goal.[16]
  • Camberwell qualified for the finals for the first time since 1961, clinching its finals position with a one-point win against Waverley in the final round of the season; Camberwell 15.17 (107) d. Waverley 15.16 (106).[7]
  • Box Hill was the first club to finish a season winless since Brighton in 1961;[7] however, the club did go on to win its first two matches in the lightning premiership.[1][8]
  • The Division 2 Grand Final was held up for four minutes during the final quarter when all of the match footballs were lost; a replacement ball was eventually found in the Toorak Park club rooms.[3]
  • List of VFA/VFL Premiers

References
  1. John Holland (27 August 1973). "Preston stays in top division". The Age. Melbourne. p. 22.
  2. John Holland (3 September 1973). "Prahran sinks Port". The Age. Melbourne. p. 31.
  3. John Holland (10 September 1973). "Oakleigh wins on the post". The Age. Melbourne. p. 27.
  4. John Holland (17 September 1973). "Prahran step closer to flag". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25.
  5. John Holland (24 September 1973). "Prahran by 35 points". The Age. Melbourne. p. 22.
  6. John Holland (30 August 1973). "Rookie wins award". The Age. Melbourne. p. 30.
  7. John Holland (13 August 1973). "Cooper first VFA man to kick 100 this year". The Age. Melbourne. p. 28.
  8. John Holland (20 August 1973). "Last VFA round vital". The Age. Melbourne. p. 20.
  9. "Results in the VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial (First ed.). Melbourne. 13 August 1973. p. 59.
  10. John Holland (16 August 1973). "Bruant takes VFA award". The Age. Melbourne. p. 31.
  11. John Holland (23 April 1973). "Substitutes clinch Oaks' win". The Age. Melbourne. p. 19.
  12. John Holland (30 April 1973). "Let-down as VFA sides tie". The Age. Melbourne. p. 28.
  13. John Holland (14 May 1973). "10 goals in a quarter and still beaten". The Age. Melbourne. p. 29.
  14. Stephen Phillips (27 August 1973). "West waits, but in vain". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 54.
  15. This reference shows Geelong West credited with the best record bya wooden spooner in 1971. By comparison, Coburg's in 1974 improves upon Geelong West's by virtue of its percentage. Terry O'Halloran (30 August 1971). "Roosters win, but relegated". The Age. Melbourne. p. 21.
  16. John Holland (30 July 1973). "Coburg causes VFA surprise". The Age. Melbourne. p. 17.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.