- 1961 VFL season
Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1961
imagesize =
caption =
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Haw
count =
minor premiers = AFL Haw
mpcount =
matches =
top goal scorer =Tom Carroll (AFL Car)
brownlow medalist =John James (AFL Car)Results and statistics for theVFL/AFL season of 1961.Premiership season
In 1961, 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 1961 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 - Frank Schwab
Leading Goalkicker
Awards
* The 1961 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was Tom Carroll of Carlton who kicked 54 goals.
* The winner of the 1961Brownlow Medal was John James of Carlton with 21 votes.
* North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1961.Notable Events
* Following a VFL investigation of a complaint that game officials had not reported the incident, rugged South Melbourne ruckman Ken Boyd was suspended for 12 matches for striking Carlton ruckman John Nicholls.
* In round 16, Richmond are held goal-less by St Kilda for the first time since St Kilda was held goal-less by Fitzroy in round 11 of 1921.
* Hawthorn defeated Footscray in their firstGrand Final atMelbourne Cricket Ground .Brendan Edwards was, by far, the best player in the match.
* Having decided to abandon its (1957-1960) experiment of allowing live telecasts of the last quarter of three VFL matches each Saturday afternoon on ABV-2, HSV-7, and GTV-9, the VFL rejects offers from the three television stations to broadcast replays on Saturday evenings. A separate arrangement was made to allow a replay of the entire Grand Final match.
* In November, Collingwood announces that it has de-listed sixteen players from its 1961 playing list, includingIan Brewer and Barry "Hooker" Harrison.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 0-670-86814-0External links
* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1961.html 1961 Season - AFL Tables]
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