1953 VFL season
Appearance
1953 VFL premiership season | |
---|---|
Teams | 12 |
Premiers | Collingwood 12th premiership |
Minor premiers | Geelong 8th minor premiership |
Brownlow Medallist | Bill Hutchison (Essendon) |
Leading goalkicker medallist | John Coleman (Essendon) |
Matches played | 112 |
Highest | 89,149 |
The 1953 Victorian Football League season was the 57th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Premiership season
In 1953, 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 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1953 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre System.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Ladder
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Geelong | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 1546 | 1079 | 143.3 | 60 | Finals |
2 | Collingwood (P) | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1518 | 1229 | 123.5 | 56 | |
3 | Footscray | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1309 | 959 | 136.5 | 52 | |
4 | Essendon | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1529 | 1177 | 129.9 | 52 | |
5 | Carlton | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1409 | 1310 | 107.6 | 40 | |
6 | Fitzroy | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1208 | 1421 | 85.0 | 40 | |
7 | North Melbourne | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1388 | 1287 | 107.8 | 36 | |
8 | South Melbourne | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1385 | 1323 | 104.7 | 36 | |
9 | St Kilda | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1065 | 1561 | 68.2 | 20 | |
10 | Richmond | 18 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 1220 | 1501 | 81.3 | 14 | |
11 | Melbourne | 18 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 1137 | 1420 | 80.1 | 14 | |
12 | Hawthorn | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 974 | 1421 | 68.5 | 12 |
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers
Finals
First Semi-Final
Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|
Footscray | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.11 | 6.13 (49) |
Essendon | 1.0 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 5.11(41) |
Attendance: 68,533 |
Second Semi-Final
Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|
Geelong | 3.1 | 6.4 | 7.12 | 8.12 (60) |
Collingwood | 2.3 | 5.7 | 7.8 | 13.12 (90) |
Attendance: 70,292 |
Preliminary Final
Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|
Geelong | 0.6 | 2.7 | 6.10 | 8.15 (63) |
Footscray | 2.1 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 5.7 (37) |
Attendance: 58,615 |
Grand final
Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|
Collingwood | 2.4 | 5.6 | 10.10 | 11.11 (77) |
Geelong | 2.2 | 3.9 | 5.11 | 8.17 (65) |
Attendance: 89,149 |
Awards
- The 1953 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Coleman of Essendon who kicked 97 goals (including one goal in the finals).
- The winner of the 1953 Brownlow Medal was Bill Hutchison of Essendon with 26 votes.
- Hawthorn took the "wooden spoon" in 1953.
Notable events
- Because Anzac Day fell on a Saturday, there was a fortnight between Rounds 1 and 2. On the evening of Friday 24 April a night-time exhibition match was held between Collingwood and Fitzroy, under lights, at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds for the benefit of St Vincent's Hospital. Collingwood 9.13 (67) defeated Fitzroy 4.19 (43) before a crowd of 22,000.[1]
- In Round 2, John Coleman kicked 11 of Essendon's 13 goals.
- In Round 5, Fitzroy came close to becoming the first (and only) VFL/AFL team to be held scoreless in their match against Footscray at the Western Oval, which was played amidst heavy rain and a burst water main. Allan Ruthven managed their only scoring shot, a goal, with about six minutes remaining in the match.[2] To date, it remains the longest amount of time a team has been kept scoreless in a match.
- In a streak dating back to 1952, Geelong won 23 consecutive matches, and played 26 consecutive matches without defeat; as of 2014, both of these remain VFL/AFL records. The winning streak ended in Round 14, when Collingwood defeated Geelong by 20 points.
- Overall it was a low-scoring season: Footscray's 959 points against remains the lowest average points conceded per game since 1919; the season's highest score of 21.10 (136) was the lowest since 1924; and, for the first time since 1927, there was no match where both teams scored more than 100 points.
- The Collingwood Grand Final team contained three sets of brothers: Lou Richards and Ron Richards; Bob Rose and Bill Rose; Bill Twomey, Jr., Pat Twomey, and Mick Twomey.
- Collingwood supporter and businessman John Wren suffered a heart attack at the 1953 Grand Final and died one month later.
References
- 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