1971 VFL season
| 1971 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Hawthorn 2nd premiership |
| Minor premiers | Hawthorn 3rd minor premiership |
| Consolation series | Melbourne 1st Consolation series win |
| Brownlow Medallist | Ian Stewart (Richmond) |
| Coleman Medallist | Peter Hudson (Hawthorn) |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 136 |
| Total attendance | 3,326,436 (24,459 per match) |
| Highest | 118,192 |
The 1971 Victorian Football League season was the 75th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Premiership season
In 1971, 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 22 rounds; matches 12 to 22 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 11.
Once the 22 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1971 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
Round 19
Round 20
Round 21
Round 22
Ladder
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawthorn (P) | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 2460 | 1601 | 153.7 | 76 | Finals |
| 2 | St Kilda | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 2176 | 1554 | 140.0 | 64 | |
| 3 | Richmond | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 2318 | 1890 | 122.6 | 64 | |
| 4 | Collingwood | 22 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 2331 | 1840 | 126.7 | 58 | |
| 5 | Carlton | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2103 | 2014 | 104.4 | 56 | |
| 6 | Fitzroy | 22 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2047 | 1915 | 106.9 | 48 | |
| 7 | Melbourne | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 1962 | 1791 | 109.5 | 46 | |
| 8 | Footscray | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1966 | 2217 | 88.7 | 44 | |
| 9 | North Melbourne | 22 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 1705 | 2551 | 66.8 | 22 | |
| 10 | Geelong | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 2072 | 2523 | 82.1 | 20 | |
| 11 | Essendon | 22 | 4 | 17 | 1 | 1705 | 2252 | 75.7 | 18 | |
| 12 | South Melbourne | 22 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 1618 | 2315 | 69.9 | 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
Consolation Night Series Competition
The consolation night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the home and away rounds.
Final: Melbourne 12.7 (79) defeated Fitzroy 9.9 (63).
Premiership Finals
First Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | 4.4 | 8.8 | 11.10 | 18.13 (121) |
| Collingwood | 4.1 | 5.5 | 11.8 | 11.11 (77) |
| Attendance: : 99,771 |
Second Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawthorn | 2.7 | 8.12 | 11.16 | 12.18 (90) |
| St Kilda | 1.4 | 4.5 | 7.7 | 12.16 (88) |
| Attendance: 99,822 |
Preliminary Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Kilda | 1.2 | 6.7 | 11.10 | 16.12 (108) |
| Richmond | 3.2 | 7.2 | 9.4 | 12.6 (78) |
| Attendance: 102,494 |
Grand final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawthorn | 2.2 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 12.10 (82) |
| St Kilda | 2.1 | 4.6 | 8.9 | 11.9 (75) |
| Attendance: 118,192 |
Awards
- The 1971 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was Peter Hudson of Hawthorn who kicked 150 goals (including 10 goals in the finals).
- The winner of the 1971 Brownlow Medal was Ian Stewart of Richmond with 21 votes.
- South Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1971.
- The reserves premiership was won by Richmond. Richmond 14.14 (98) defeated Essendon 8.18 (66) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 25 September.[1]
Notable events
- Fitzroy winger Trevor McGregor won the 1971, 130-yard Stawell Gift in 11.7 seconds, off a handicap of 7¼ yards.
- Bill Barrot of Richmond and Ian Stewart of St Kilda swap clubs before the start of the 1971 season. Stewart went on to win his third Brownlow Medal at Richmond, while Barrott was so dissatisfied at St Kilda's demands that he play in defence that he requested, and was given, a clearance to Carlton during the season.
- The VFL sold its Harrison House headquarters and moved to 84 Jolimont Street.
- The Round 21 match between Fitzroy and Carlton at Junction Oval was played in a thick fog with terrible visibility – so much so that goal umpires could not see each other's flags, forcing the boundary umpires to convey messages between the goal umpires for scorekeeping purposes.[2]
- In the Grand Final, Peter Hudson could have broken Bob Pratt's season record of 150 goals except for three incidents:
- He kicked what would have otherwise been an easy goal into the man on the mark (Barry Lawrence).
- He kicked a goal on the run that was disallowed because the end of the quarter siren had gone before the ball hit his boot.
- He ran into an open goal and kicked the ball out of bounds.
- The Committees of the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood decide not to renew the contracts of their respective coaches, Ron Barassi and Bob Rose.
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