1909 VFL season
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1909 VFL season
Premiership captain Charlie Ricketts
Clubs	10
Home-and-Away Season	18 rounds
Premiership Team	South Melbourne (1st premiership)
Minor Premiers	South Melbourne
Champion of the Season	Bill Busbridge
VFL Leading Goalkicker	Dick Lee (55)

Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1909.

Premiership season

In 1909, the VFL competition consisted of ten 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.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1909 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

Ladder

90 games were played in the 1909 AFL Season during the Home and Away series. An additional 4 finals games came after this.

Finals

All of the 1909 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the Semi Finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand Final

Main article: 1909 VFL Grand Final

This was South Melbourne's first premiership after finishing runner up twice previously.

Awards

• The 1909 VFL Premiership team was South Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Dick Lee of Collingwood with 58 goals.
• The Argus newspaper’s "Player of the Year", Bill Busbridge of Essendon, was declared 1909 Champion of the Season.
• St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1909.

Notable Events

• St Kilda forfeited 4 premiership points to Geelong for playing a suspended player in round 6. This is the only such forfeiture to have lasted in VFL/AFL history (other such forfeits have temporarily occurred, but were later reversed).
• In the second round match against the University Football Club, badly concussed Richmond follower Bill Burns, who is dressed and about to leave for the hospital, hears that Richmond is about to lose the match, strips, returns to the field of play, takes the mark of the day, kicks the winning goal, and is carried off the ground shoulder-high. Later in 1909 Burns was suspended for 44 matches after being found guilty of a kicking charge (the sentence was later reduced on appeal).
• Round 8 match between Fitzroy and Melbourne marred by numerous incident of foul play. Spectators involved in large brawl at the end of the game.
• Crowd riots after round 13 match between South Melbourne and Fitzroy.
• Imminent on-field brawl between players from Collingwood and South Melbourne in their round 14 match averted when the appearance of a policeman on the ground calms both teams down.
• Collingwood spectator jumps the fence at the round 18 match against Melbourne and punches a Melbourne player. Melbourne's Secretary, Mr. J.A. Harper, runs onto the field and makes a citizens' arrest.
• The Argus newspaper published the height, weight and occupation of each player in the finals for the first time.

See also

• 1909 VFL Grand Final

Footnotes

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

• 1909 Season - AFL Tables