1948 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1948.
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.
Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1947 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
and Essendon
, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
on 2 October 1948, was a drawn match: Melbourne 10.9 (69) to Essendon 7.27 (69). The crowd was 85,815. The two teams played again a week later. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
).
defeated Essendon
13.11 (89) to Essendon 7.8 (50), in the Grand Final Replay that was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
on 9 October 1948, in front of 52,226 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
).
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
season of 1948.
Premiership season
In 1947, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.
Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1947 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
First Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
3.8 | 6.11 | 12.14 | 17.17 (119) |
| Footscray | 4.3 | 8.9 | 9.9 | 12.12 (84) |
| Attendance: 71,514 | ||||
Second Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
3.2 | 8.9 | 12.12 | 13.16 (94) |
| Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria.... |
3.2 | 4.3 | 8.8 | 8.10 (58) |
| Attendance: 72,394 | ||||
Preliminary Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria.... |
4.6 | 11.13 | 19.15 | 25.16 (166) |
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
6.2 | 8.5 | 11.8 | 15.11 (101) |
| Attendance: 63,500 | ||||
Grand final
The 1948 Grand Final between MelbourneMelbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
and Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
on 2 October 1948, was a drawn match: Melbourne 10.9 (69) to Essendon 7.27 (69). The crowd was 85,815. The two teams played again a week later. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
).
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
0.6 | 2.15 | 6.21 | 7.27 (69) |
| Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria.... |
3.0 | 4.5 | 6.8 | 10.9 (69) |
| Attendance: 85,658 | ||||
Grand Final Replay
MelbourneMelbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
defeated Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
13.11 (89) to Essendon 7.8 (50), in the Grand Final Replay that was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
on 9 October 1948, in front of 52,226 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
).
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
0.3 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 7.8 (50) |
| Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria.... |
6.2 | 9.3 | 11.6 | 13.11 (89) |
| Attendance:52,226 | ||||
Awards
- The 1948 VFL Premiership team was MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
. - The VFL's leading goalkickerColeman MedalThe Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
was Lindsay WhiteLindsay WhiteLindsay G. White was a forward for Geelong and South Melbourne during the 1940s and is regarded as one of the best forwards from that era...
of GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
86 goals. - The winner of the 1948 Brownlow MedalBrownlow MedalThe Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
was Bill MorrisBill Morris (Australian rules footballer)William "Bill" Morris was an Australian rules footballer who played for Richmond in the Victorian Football League , mostly during the 1940s. He played much of his football beside Jack Dyer as a knock ruckman....
of RichmondRichmond Football ClubThe Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
with 24 votes. - St Kilda took the "wooden spoonWooden spoon (award)A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
" in 1948.
Notable events
- All VFL matches now start at 2:15PM (previously it was 2:30PM).
- In round 7, MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
champion Norm SmithNorm SmithNorman Walter "Norm" Smith was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League. After 200 games as a player with Melbourne and Fitzroy, Smith began a twenty year coaching career, including a fifteen year stint at Melbourne...
plays his two hundredth game. He is reported for abusing the umpire. Despite Smith's claim that he only said "Don't be silly", he is suspended for four weeks. - After Carlton'sCarlton Football ClubThe Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
round 11 loss at home to North MelbourneNorth Melbourne Football ClubThe North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
, police draw their batons to protect the umpires from Carlton fans. - In the round 16 match between FootscrayWestern BulldogsThe Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
and GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
at the Western Oval the north wind was so fierce that when the Geelong full-back Bruce MorrisonBruce Morrison (footballer)Bruce Morrison is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League .Morrison was recruited from Bairnsdale, Victoria and became a highly-regarded full-back for the Geelong Football Club. He played 130 games for Geelong but failed to score any goals. He was famous...
kicked the ball off after Footscray had scored a behind, the ball floated back over his head and went through the goals. The Goal umpire signalled a "forced behind". - The 1948 Grand Final was the first drawn Grand Final in VFL history. The second was the 1977 VFL Grand Final1977 VFL Grand FinalThe 1977 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1977...
, and the third was the 2010 AFL Grand Final2010 AFL Grand FinalThe 2010 AFL Grand Final is either of two Australian rules football contests between the Collingwood Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club. Together they are considered the 114th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, and were staged to determine the...
.