1963 VFL season

1963 VFL premiership season
Teams	12
Premiers	Geelong 6th premiership
Minor premiers	Hawthorn 2nd minor premiership
Consolation series	Footscray 1st Consolation series win
Brownlow Medallist	Bob Skilton (South Melbourne)
Coleman Medallist	John Peck (Hawthorn)
Matches played	112
Highest	101,209

The 1963 Victorian Football League season was the 67th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Premiership season

In 1963, 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 1963 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Alterations to 1963 match fixtures

Persistent rain throughout the week and further heavy downpours on the Friday (12 July) caused the postponement of all Round 11 matches until the following Saturday (20 July). All remaining home-and-away and finals matches were played a week later than had been scheduled.

Ladder

1963 VFL ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Hawthorn	18	13	4	1	1485	1137	130.6	54	Finals
2	Geelong (P)	18	13	4	1	1354	1056	128.2	54
3	Melbourne	18	13	5	0	1680	1136	147.9	52
4	St Kilda	18	13	5	0	1501	1071	140.1	52
5	Essendon	18	13	5	0	1470	1069	137.5	52
6	Carlton	18	10	8	0	1275	1234	103.3	40
7	North Melbourne	18	8	10	0	1059	1244	85.1	32
8	Collingwood	18	7	11	0	1365	1427	95.7	28
9	Footscray	18	7	11	0	1126	1283	87.8	28
10	Richmond	18	5	13	0	1279	1687	75.8	20
11	South Melbourne	18	4	14	0	1202	1722	69.8	16
12	Fitzroy	18	1	17	0	986	1716	57.5	4

Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Consolation Night Series Competition

The 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 season.

Final: Footscray 10.9 (69) defeated Richmond 9.9 (63)

Premiership Finals

First Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Melbourne	1.4	4.11	8.14	9.17 (71)
St Kilda	0.2	1.6	4.8	8.16 (64)
Attendance: 88,914

Second Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Hawthorn	2.7	7.10	8.13	11.16 (82)
Geelong	4.4	9.6	12.12	14.17 (101)
Attendance: 91,471

Preliminary Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Hawthorn	1.4	5.9	9.9	11.11 (77)
Melbourne	2.3	3.4	8.6	10.8 (68)
Attendance: 86,546

Grand final

Main article: 1963 VFL Grand Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Geelong	3.3	7.10	9.13	15.19 (109)
Hawthorn	3.6	5.6	8.9	8.12 (60)
Attendance: 101,209

Awards

• The 1963 VFL Premiership team was Geelong.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Peck of Hawthorn who kicked 75 goals (including 6 goals in the final series).
• The winner of the 1963 Brownlow Medal was Bob Skilton of South Melbourne with 20 votes.
• Fitzroy took the "wooden spoon" in 1963.
• The reserves premiership was won by Geelong. Geelong 13.12 (90) defeated St Kilda 7.11 (53) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5 October.

Notable events

• In Round 5, Collingwood was the first team to score at least 100 points against Melbourne since Footscray in the 1954 Grand Final; Terry Waters kicked 7 goals in Collingwood's 15.10 (100) to 7.10 (52) victory.
• On Saturday 15 June, South Australia beat Victoria 12.8 (80) to 10.13 (73) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 59,260 spectators. In a brutal return match, in Adelaide, a straighter-kicking Victoria beat South Australia 8.6 (54) to 5.12 (42), a match notorious for a powerful king-hit delivered by Victorian John Peck, who had been included in the team for the return match in order to provide more "grunt" and physical menace, to the jaw of an unsuspecting Brian Sawley. Sawley went some distance in the air before collapsing unconscious in the mud, and had to be carried from the field on a stretcher. Peck was reported, and at the VFL tribunal, Peck testified that the king-hit was in retaliation for Sawley having kicked him in the stomach; Peck was suspended for two weeks.
• Fitzroy's only win during the year was against eventual premiers Geelong, and was achieved without captain-coach Kevin Murray, who was in Perth. Reserves captain Wally Clark took over, and Geelong's weakness in terrible conditions proved their undoing.
• Owing to extremely cold and wet weather, Round 11 was postponed from 13 to 20 July. As of 2019, this is the last time that a complete round of football has been postponed due to weather.

References

• 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

External links

• 1963 Season - AFL Tables
• Full Points Footy: Peter Argent, "1963 Interstate Match: VFL vs. South Australia: The Day South Australian Football Came of Age"