1949 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1949


imagesize = 120px
caption = John Coleman
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Ess
count = 10th
minor premiers = AFL Nor
mpcount = 1st
matches =
top goal scorer = John Coleman (AFL Ess)
brownlow medalist = Ron Clegg (South Melbourne)
Col Austen (AFL Haw)

Results and statistics for the VFL/AFL season of 1949.

Premiership season

In 1949, 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 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.

Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1949 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

Round 19

Ladder

Preliminary Final

::Carlton Coach: Percy Bentley

::Essendon Captain-Coach: Dick Reynolds

Umpire - Jack McMurray

Awards

* The 1949 VFL Premiership team was Essendon.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Coleman of Essendon with 100 goals (including 15 goals in the final series).
* The winner of the 1938 Brownlow Medal was Ron Clegg of South Melbourne with 23 votes on a countback from Colin Austen of Hawthorn (because Clegg had been best on the ground six times to Austen's five).
**As a consequence of its 1981 decision to change its rules relating to tied Brownlow Medal contests, the AFL awarded a retrospective medal to Colin Austen in 1989.
* Hawthorn took the "wooden spoon" in 1938.

Notable Events

* In round 1, John Coleman of Essendon kicks 12 goals in his first VFL game; he was best on the ground. He kicked a goal with his first kick in VFL football, having taken a mark in the first seconds of the match; and he kicked a goal with his last kick of the 1949 season, in last minutes of the Grand Final, to bring his season's total to 100 goals.
* In round 12, Hawthorn score seven goals and no behinds in its match against Essendon. This is the first time since round 9 of the 1899 season that a team failed to score a single behind in a VFL match.
* In round 19, Richmond's captain-coach Jack Dyer plays his last VFL game, having played 16 games for Victoria, 312 senior games for Richmond, and 12 games in Richmond Seconds over 19 VFL seasons. Richmond thrashes Geelong 22.12 (144) to 10.15 (75). Dyer kicks six goals.

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/1949.html 1949 Season - AFL Tables]