1954 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1954


imagesize =
caption =
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Foo
count = 1st
minor premiers = AFL Gee
mpcount =
matches =
top goal scorer = Jack Charles Collins (AFL Foo)
brownlow medalist = Roy Wright (AFL Ric)

Results and statistics for the VFL season of 1954.

Premiership season

In 1954, 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 1954 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 - Jack McMurray Junior

Awards

* The 1954 VFL Premiership team was Footscray. At the end of 2007, this is still the only Footscray AFL/VFL premiership since it entered the VFL in 1925.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was Jack Collins of Footscray who kicked 84 goals (including 11 goals in the final series).
* The winner of the 1954 Brownlow Medal was Roy Wright of Richmond with 29 votes (he had missed one match through illness, but still won the medal by 10 votes).
* St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1952.

Notable Events

* North Melbourne are renamed the "The Kangaroos" from "The Shinboners".
* In round 8, Essendon champion full-forward John Coleman sustained a career-ending knee injury (he left the field having scored 42 goals in five and a half matches). With two other players also injured, Essendon finished the match with 17 men.
* A group of Fitzroy players and supporters, who were offered a series of side bets at 10/1, back Fitzroy. Fitzroy produces a shock result, beating Collingwood 12.9 (81) to 6.13 (49), and the punters collect around ₤2,000 (approx. $40,000 in 2007).
* An injured Charlie Sutton (he had not played in the Second Semi-Final) is picked in Footscray's Grand-Final team. Although not playing in his usual back-pocket position, he plays reasonably well in the forward-pocket, and kicks three goals.

ee also

* 1954 VFL Grand Final

References

* Hogan, P., "The Tigers Of Old", The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
* 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/1954.html 1954 Season - AFL Tables]