1920 VFL season

Infobox Victorian Football League season
year = 1920


imagesize = 120px
caption = Roy Cazaly
clubs = 9
home-and-away season = 18 rounds
premiership team = Richmond
count = 1st
minor premiers = Richmond
champion of the season = Roy Cazaly
top goal kicker = George Bayliss (62)Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1920.

Premiership season

In 1920, the VFL competition was comprised of nine teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1920 VFL "Premiers" were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus" 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

Grand Final

"See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list."

Richmond defeated Collingwood 7.10 (52) to 5.5 (35), in front of a crowd of 53,908 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Ladder

Awards

* The 1920 VFL Premiership team was Richmond.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was George Bayliss of Richmond with 63 goals.
* "The Argus" newspaper's "Player of the Year", Roy Cazaly of St Kilda, was declared 1920 Champion of the Season.
* St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1920.

Notable Events

* After only three VFL games, Carlton's half-forward Horrie Clover, selected in the Victorian team that narrowly beat South Australia 10.11 (71) to 9.12 (66) in match played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of the Prince of Wales.
* Richmond's recruit from Kyabram, Billy James, aged 20, plays his first senior game in the Grand Final, and kicks the final goal of the match (his only goal) in the last quarter. He badly injured his foot in a rabbit shooting accident before the start of the 1921 season, and never played again.
* At the end of the season, tired with the constant in-fighting at St Kilda, Roy Cazaly is granted a clearance to South Melbourne.
* Vic Cumberland, after four years away from football (he had been wounded three times in World War I), plays 10 senior games for St Kilda in 1920, aged 43.
* In round 17, in the process of kicking 8.25 (73) in its 3-point loss to Geelong, South Melbourne hits the post nine times (five times in the last quarter).
* Unable to tolerate the increasing levels of assaults, thrown projectiles, and ground invasions umpires threaten to go on strike unless they are given stronger police protection.

References

* Hogan, P., "The Tigers Of Old", The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
* 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/1920.html 1920 Season - AFL Tables]