1947 VFL season
| 1947 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Carlton 8th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Carlton 11th minor premiership |
| Brownlow Medallist | Bert Deacon (Carlton) |
| Fred Fanning (Melbourne) | |
| Matches played | 118 |
| Highest | 85,793 |
The 1947 VFL season was the 51st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 19 April until 27 September, and comprised a 19-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the eighth time, after it defeated Essendon by one point in the 1947 VFL Grand Final.
Background
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.
Home-and-away season
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 19 is notable for Fred Fanning's 18-goal performance, which, to date, is the most goals ever scored by an individual player in VFL/AFL history for a single game. It was also his final game.[1]
Ladder
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlton (P) | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 1833 | 1368 | 134.0 | 60 |
| 2 | Essendon | 19 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 1876 | 1528 | 122.8 | 56 |
| 3 | Fitzroy | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 1736 | 1370 | 126.7 | 52 |
| 4 | Richmond | 19 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 1726 | 1582 | 109.1 | 48 |
| 5 | Collingwood | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1738 | 1546 | 112.4 | 46 |
| 6 | Melbourne | 19 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 1742 | 1488 | 117.1 | 44 |
| 7 | Geelong | 19 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 1761 | 1705 | 103.3 | 44 |
| 8 | South Melbourne | 19 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1602 | 1652 | 97.0 | 34 |
| 9 | Footscray | 19 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1646 | 1713 | 96.1 | 34 |
| 10 | North Melbourne | 19 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 1390 | 1789 | 77.7 | 16 |
| 11 | Hawthorn | 19 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 1456 | 1907 | 76.4 | 16 |
| 12 | St Kilda | 19 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1221 | 2079 | 58.7 | 6 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 86.5
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
Semi-finals
Preliminary final
Grand final
| Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 27 September (2:15 pm) | Carlton | def. | Essendon | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 85,793) | [2] |
| 4.0 (24) 8.0 (48) 10.4 (64) 13.8 (86) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
3.7 (25) 8.11 (59) 10.15 (75) 11.19 (85) |
Umpires: Alfred Sawyer | ||
| Davies 4, Baird 3, Turner 2, Garby, Henfry, Howell, Stafford | Goals | Hutchison 4, Brittingham 2, Reynolds 2, Cassin, Goodingham, Rawle | |||
| Clark, Green, Turner, Henfry, Davies, Grieve, Jack Bennett, Conley | Best | Buttsworth, Jones, McClure, Hutchison, Reynolds, Lambert, Cassin, Harper, Allanson | |||
| Deacon (cramp), Bailey (knee) | Injuries | ||||
| Reports | Cassin, for elbowing Hands in the third quarter | ||||
Season notes
- In Round 2, South Melbourne returned to the Lake Oval for the first time since 1941 after it was vacated by the military and had its grandstand rebuilt; this was the final home ground change related to World War II.
- At the first bounce, at the very start of the round 5 match between Hawthorn and Richmond, Richmond ruckman Laurie Taylor punched the ball an amazing 40 yards and dislocated his shoulder.
- Richmond champion Jack Titus, having retired early in the 1946 VFA season, having scored 1159 goals in his senior career of 294 games with Richmond (1926–1943), 23 games with Coburg (1945–1946), and 14 games for Victoria (1929–1934, 1936), played one match for the Richmond Second Eighteen when it was short of players at the age of 39 and scored 12 goals against North Melbourne.
- In round 6, with North Melbourne trailing Essendon by 44 points at three quarter time, North Melbourne captain Les Foote moved into the ruck and almost single-handedly led a comeback which ended with an eight-point victory to North Melbourne: North Melbourne 15.12 (102) to Essendon 14.10 (94).
- Western Australia defeated Victoria 16.10 (106) to 14.17 (101) at the Tenth ANFC Carnival in Tasmania. Also, in a challenge match, a combined South Australian and Western Australian team defeated the Victorian team 21.14 (140) to 19.15 (129).
- In the final round and his last league match before accepting a coaching job in the Western District, Melbourne's Fred Fanning kicked 18 goals 1 behind. This broke Gordon Coventry's Round 12, 1930 record for the most goals by one player in a VFL match, and still stands today.
- Carlton won the Grand Final by a point after Fred Stafford kicked a goal just before the final bell.
Awards
- The 1947 VFL Premiership team was Carlton.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was Fred Fanning of Melbourne with 97 goals.
- The winner of the 1947 Brownlow Medal was Bert Deacon of Carlton with 20 votes.
- St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1947.
- The seconds premiership was won by North Melbourne. North Melbourne 16.13 (109) defeated Richmond 14.10 (94) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior Grand Final on Saturday 27 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[3]
- The thirds premiership was won by Melbourne (main: 1947 VFL thirds season)
References
- ^ "AFL Tables - Miscellaneous Goalkicking Records". afltables.com. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ Alf Brown (27 September 1947). "Carlton snatch win in hectic finish". The Herald. Melbourne, VIC. p. 26.
- ^ "North Seconds win first pennant". The Argus. Melbourne. 29 September 1947. p. 18.
- 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
Sources
- 1947 VFL season at AFL Tables
- 1947 VFL season at Australian Football