1943 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1943


imagesize = 150px
caption = Jack Dyer
teams = 11
premiers = AFL Ric
count = 5th
minor premiers = AFL Ric
mpcount = 4th
matches =
top goal scorer = Fred Fanning (AFL Mel)
brownlow medalist =

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1943.

Influence of World War II

*Geelong were still unable to field a team due to the war, so the bye was retained.

New System

A new system was introduced so that each team received only one bye.

There were still 16 rounds. The first 11 had every team competing - after round 11, the bottom placed team would drop out, and a new byeless draw would be made.

Premiership season

In 1942, the VFL competition consisted of eleven teams of 18 on-the-field players each (Geelong did not field a team due to wartime rail and road transport restrictions), plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 16 rounds. During the first 11 rounds each team played each other once and had one bye. At round 11, the eleventh team on the ladder dropped out of the competition. In the remaining rounds (12 to 16), all of ten teams played 5 matches each.

The determination of the 1942 season's fixtures were greatly complicated by the fact that the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Lake Oval, the Western Oval, and the Junction Oval had all been appropriated for military use, and that Melbourne now shared the Punt Road Oval with Richmond as their home ground, South Melbourne now shared Princes Park with Carlton as their home ground, and that St Kilda and Footscray now played their home games at Toorak Park and Yarraville Oval respectively (this was possible because there was no VFA competition in 1942).

Once the 16 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1939 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

Grand Final

"See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list."
Richmond defeated Essendon 12.14 (86) to 11.15 (81), in front of a crowd of 42,100 (approx.) people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Grand Final Teams

Awards

* The 1943 VFL Premiership team was Richmond.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was Fred Fanning of Melbourne with 62 goals.
* "The Argus" newspaper's "Player of the Year", Jack Dyer of Richmond, was declared 1943 Champion of the Season.
* No Brownlow Medal was awarded in 1943.
* St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1943.

Notable Events

* Hawthorn's coach Roy Cazaly renames the club "The Hawks" from "The Mayblooms".
* In the spiteful round 1 match between Essendon and South Melbourne a vicious brawl broke out in the last quarter when South Melbourne's Jack 'Basher' Williams felled Ted Leehane (apparently in a square-off retribution for Leehane's similar action against Williams in the 1942 Preliminary Final), involving a dozen players, officials, trainers, police, and many spectators.
**Only three players were reported. Williams was received an eight week suspension for striking Leehane, Dick Reynolds, Gordon Lane, and Perc Bushby. South Melbourne's 1940 Brownlow Medal winner Herbie Matthews was suspended for four weeks for striking Allan Hird. Perc Bushby was suspended for two weeks for striking Williams.
* The VFL suspends its round 12 matches and conducts a one-day "lightning" carnival; the 1941 Victorian Football League Patriotic Match Cup is won by Essendon.
* In round 5, Denis Cordner makes his debut for Melbourne in a team that also contains his brothers Don and Ted.
* Munitions worker Bob Chitty plays for Carlton in round 15 despite losing the top of his finger during the week in a workplace accident.
* Richmond's centre half-forward Jack Broadstock went Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) from his Army duties in order to play in the 1943 Grand Final. He was arrested by the Military Police upon his arrival at Princes Park, and it was only through some very persuasive talking by Richmond captain Jack Dyer (himself a policeman with the Victorian Police Force) that Broadstock's commanding officer allowed him to play in the match. Broadstock went on to kick a goal and be one of Richmond's best players.

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/1943.html 1943 Season - AFL Tables]