The 1909 Victorian Football Association season was the 33rd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Brunswick Football Club, after it defeated minor premiers Prahran by 17 points in the Grand Final on 25 September. It was the first premiership won by the club.

1909 premiership season
Brunswick FC, premiers
Teams10
PremiersBrunswick
1st premiership
Minor premiersPrahran
1st minor premiership
← 1908
1910 →

Association Membership

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In September 1908, a group of stakeholders emerged keen to re-form a West Melbourne Football Club under an entirely new committee, after the club had been banished from the Association for attempting to join the VFL in 1908. The same process had taken place to re-establish a North Melbourne Football Club during the previous preseason. The new club was established under the name of City of Melbourne Football Club and applied to join the Association.[1]

At the Association's meeting on 2 November 1908, the application was rejected on the basis of concern about the effect of an eleventh club on the Association's strength. The Association instead proposed that City of Melbourne consider amalgamating with North Melbourne, with the merged entity to be named either City of Melbourne or Melbourne (Association),[2] with prominent public figures confirming that a more central name and image would open the club to wider public support. The proposal was discussed in December, but the North Melbourne members preferred to retain their traditional image, and voted down the proposal by 37–18.[3] As such, the membership of the Association remained unchanged for 1909.

Premiership

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The home-and-home season was played over eighteen rounds, with each club playing the others twice; then, the top four clubs contested a finals series under the amended Argus system to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder

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1909 VFA ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Prahran 18 16 2 0 1144 739 154.8 64
2 Essendon 18 15 3 0 1068 556 192.1 60
3 Brunswick (P) 18 11 7 0 996 729 136.6 44
4 Footscray 18 11 7 0 928 737 125.9 44
5 Williamstown 18 11 7 0 843 700 120.4 44
6 Brighton 18 11 7 0 877 802 109.4 44
7 North Melbourne 18 5 13 0 758 1009 75.1 20
8 Preston 18 5 13 0 753 1062 70.9 20
9 Northcote 18 3 15 0 667 1202 55.5 12
10 Port Melbourne 18 2 16 0 545 1054 51.7 8
Source: [4]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals

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Semi-finals

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Semi Finals
Saturday, 4 September Prahran 5.6 (36) def. by Brunswick 8.6 (54) Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 10,000) [5]
Saturday, 11 September Essendon 11.12 (78) def. Footscray 5.7 (37) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 15,000) [6]

Preliminary Final

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Preliminary Final
Saturday, 18 September Essendon 6.8 (44) def. by Brunswick 7.12 (54) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 25,000) [7]

Grand Final

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1909 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 25 September Prahran def. by Brunswick North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 20,000) [8]
4.2 (26)
6.4 (40)
8.4 (52)
8.7 (55)
Q1
Q2
Q3
Final
0.1 (1)
3.7 (25)
5.10 (40)
10.12 (72)
Umpires: T. Kendall
Farmer 3, White 2, Hall, Sykes, Wilson Goals H. Braid 2, Marsh 2, O'Shea 2, Chase, Everett, Heaphy, Turnbull

Notable events

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References

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  1. ^ "A new club". The Argus. Melbourne. 24 September 1908. p. 9.
  2. ^ "Football – City of Melbourne Club". The Argus. Melbourne. 3 November 1908. p. 7.
  3. ^ "Football – North Melbourne Club's special meeting". North Melbourne Courier and West Melbourne Chronicle. Melbourne. 11 December 1908. p. 3.
  4. ^ Old Boy (30 August 1909). "The Association Clubs – struggle for fourth place". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  5. ^ Old Boy (6 September 1909). "Association Football – Prahran beaten". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  6. ^ Old Boy (13 September 1909). "Association Match – one-sided game". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  7. ^ Old Boy (20 September 1909). "Association Football – Brunswick triumphant". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  8. ^ Old Boy (27 September 1909). "Association Football – Brunswick premiers". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  9. ^ Santo Caruso; Marc Fiddian; Jim Main (2002), Football Grounds of Melbourne, Essendon North, VIC: Pennon Publishing, p. 104