1953 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1953


imagesize =
caption =
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Col
count =
minor premiers = AFL Gee
mpcount =
matches =
top goal scorer = John Coleman (AFL Ess)
brownlow medalist = Bill Hutchison (AFL Ess)

Results and statistics for the VFL/AFL season of 1953.

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

Preliminary Final

Umpire - McMurray

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" is held between Collingwood and Fitzroy, under lights, at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds. Collingwood win 12.12 (84) to Fitzroy's 5.8 (38).
* In round 2, John Coleman kicks 11 of Essendon's 13 goals.
* In a very wet game in Round 5, Fitzroy came close to becoming the first VFL team to be held scoreless. They managed their only scoring shot, a goal, with ten minutes remaining in the game.
* In round 14, Collingwood defeats Geelong at Kardinia Park 10.15 (75) to 7.13 (55). Prior to this defeat, Geelong had won 23 consecutive matches (still a VFL/AFL record), and had played 26 consecutive matches without a loss (also still a VFL/AFL record).
* In round 17, Keith Bromage plays his first senior match for Collingwood at 15 years and 287 days (still a VFL/AFL record).
* The Collingwood Grand Final team contained three sets of brothers:
**Lou Richards and Ron Richards.
**Bob Rose and Bill Rose.
**Bill Twomey, Pat Twomey, and Mick Twomey.

References

* Maplestone, M., "Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996", Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-959-17402-8
* 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

External links

* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1953.html 1953 Season - AFL Tables]
* [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22463250-2862,00.html Ken Piesse, "Stray Cat lifts lid on Grand Final dumping", ("Sunday Herald Sun", 23 September 2007)]