The 1937 Victorian Football Association season was the 59th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, after it came from fourth on the ladder to defeat Brunswick by two points in the Grand Final on 4 September. It was the club's first VFA premiership since it joined the Association in 1899.
| 1937 VFA premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Prahran 1st premiership |
| Minor premiers | Brunswick 3rd minor premiership |
Premiership
editThe home-and-home season was played over sixteen matches, a reduction from the eighteen games staged in 1936, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.
Ladder
edit| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brunswick | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1486 | 1182 | 125.7 | 48 |
| 2 | Brighton | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1456 | 1334 | 109.1 | 48 |
| 3 | Yarraville | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 1375 | 1071 | 128.4 | 44 |
| 4 | Prahran (P) | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 1557 | 1320 | 118.0 | 44 |
| 5 | Northcote | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1353 | 1173 | 115.3 | 40 |
| 6 | Coburg | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 1454 | 1419 | 102.5 | 36 |
| 7 | Sandringham | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 1338 | 1335 | 100.2 | 28 |
| 8 | Camberwell | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 1390 | 1477 | 94.1 | 28 |
| 9 | Port Melbourne | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 1161 | 1464 | 79.3 | 20 |
| 10 | Williamstown | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1177 | 1370 | 85.9 | 16 |
| 11 | Preston | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1227 | 1461 | 84.0 | 16 |
| 12 | Oakleigh | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 1296 | 1664 | 77.9 | 16 |
Finals
edit| Semifinals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 7 August | Yarraville 12.12 (84) | drew with | Prahran 11.18 (84) | Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000) | [2] |
| Saturday, 14 August | Brunswick 13.17 (95) | def. | Brighton 6.9 (45) | Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000) | [3] |
| Saturday, 21 August | Yarraville 14.8 (92) | def. by | Prahran 18.12 (120) | Toorak Park (crowd: 6,000) | [4] |
| Preliminary Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 28 August | Brighton 9.9 (63) | def. by | Prahran 14.12 (96) | Toorak Park (crowd: 7,000) | [5] |
| 1937 VFA Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 4 September | Brunswick | def. by | Prahran | Toorak Park (crowd: 9,000) | [6] |
| 3.3 (21) 6.6 (42) 10.13 (73) 11.17 (83) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
1.3 (9) 3.6 (24) 9.9 (63) 12.13 (85) |
|||
| Crawford 3, McInnes 3, Gardner 2, Bailey, Dowling, McKay | Goals | Hawkins 6, Anderson 2, Thompson 2, Fleming, White | |||
| Turner, for striking Wiltshire in the second quarter Gardner, for striking Wiltshire in the third quarter Kanngieser, for striking Gravell in the third quarter |
Reports | Wiltshire, for striking Turner in the second quarter Wiltshire, for striking Gardner in the third quarter Gravell, for kicking Kanngeiser in the third quarter | |||
Awards
edit- Geoff McInnes (Brunswick) was the leading goalkicker for the season; he kicked 78 goals in the home-and-home season and 86 goals overall.[1][6]
- In the parallel Association best and fairest awards:
- Neville Huggins (Williamstown) won the Recorder Cup, polling six votes. Jack Lowry (Prahran), L. Wedgwood (Yarraville) and J. Holden (Prahran) finished equal second with three votes apiece.[2]
- The Association Medal was won jointly by Neville Huggins (Williamstown) and Jack Lowry (Prahran), who tied with 24 votes apiece. It was Huggins' second Association Medal in a row. G. Weber (Brighton) and E. Watson (Oakleigh) finished equal-third with 23 votes.[7]
- Coburg won the seconds premiership. Coburg 9.11 (65) defeated Brunswick 4.13 (37) in the Grand Final on Saturday 28 August at Preston.[5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Statistics of the games". The Argus. Melbourne. 2 August 1937. p. 14.
- ^ a b Rover (9 August 1937). "8000 see thrilling match drawn". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 14.
- ^ Rover (16 August 1937). "Brunswick wins second semi-final". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 14.
- ^ Rover (23 August 1937). "Prahran easily wins replay". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 14.
- ^ a b "Prahran in form". The Argus. Melbourne. 30 August 1937. p. 15.
- ^ a b Rover (6 September 1937). "Won premiership after 38 years". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
- ^ "Huggins, Lowry tie for medal". The Argus. Melbourne. 20 August 1937. p. 19.