1911 VFA season

1911 Premiership season
Teams	10
Premiers	Essendon (A.) (1st premiership)
Minor premiers	Essendon (A.) (1st minor premiership)
← 1910 1912 →

The 1911 Victorian Football Association season was the 35th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Essendon (Association) Football Club, after it defeated Brunswick by eight points in a rain-affected Grand Final on 23 September. It was the first premiership won by the club, and it came after having finished second on the ladder in three consecutive seasons without playing in the final match.

Premiership

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

1911 VFA Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	Pct	PTS
1	Essendon (P)	18	16	2	0	1292	732	176.5	64
2	North Melbourne	18	14	4	0	1179	749	157.4	56
3	Prahran	18	13	5	0	1284	890	144.2	52
4	Brunswick	18	12	6	0	1225	815	150.2	48
5	Port Melbourne	18	12	6	0	1044	797	130.9	48
6	Footscray	18	9	9	0	1098	865	126.9	36
7	Williamstown	18	5	13	0	724	975	74.0	20
8	Brighton	18	4	14	0	684	1080	63.3	16
9	Northcote	18	4	14	0	768	1292	58.2	16
10	Preston	18	1	17	0	662	1761	38.1	4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points								Source[1]

Finals

	Semi Finals
Saturday, 2 September	North Melbourne 3.7 (25)	def. by	Brunswick 5.10 (40)	North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 15,000)	[2]
Saturday, 9 September	Essendon 8.9 (57)	def.	Prahran 7.8 (50)	North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 15,000)	[3]

	Final
Saturday, 16 September	Essendon 9.9 (63)	def. by	Brunswick 10.5 (65)	North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (crowd: 20,000)	[4]

	1911 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 23 September	Essendon	def.	Brunswick	North Melbourne Recreation Reserve (Crowd: 30,000)	[5]
	1.3 (9) 2.5 (17) 4.10 (34) 4.10 (34)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	0.1 (1) 1.3 (9) 1.4 (10) 3.8 (26)	Umpires: Kendall
McNamara 2, Gough, McCann		Goals	Chase 2, McKenzie
Maine (leg)		Injuries

Notable events

• In the match between North Melbourne and Preston on 1 July, North Melbourne was penalised for having too many players on the field after Preston called for a head count early in the second quarter. North Melbourne was leading 7.5 (47) to 2.1 (13) at the time, and its score was re-set to zero. North Melbourne still went on to win the game 10.9 (69) to 7.6 (48).^[6]
• In the first final between Essendon and Brunswick on 16 September, Dave McNamara (Essendon) had a place kick after the final bell from 40 yards out directly in front, which would have won the match and the premiership if successful. Spectators streamed onto the ground before he took his kick, but he kicked before waiting for a space to be cleared and missed the goal by six feet, resulting in a two-point win to Brunswick and forcing a Grand Final the following week.^[4] Essendon protested the result on the basis of interference from the crowd, and McNamara stated that the encroachment of the crowd prevented him from taking as long a run-up as he had desired; but, he was deemed to have voluntarily taken his kick without waiting for more space to be cleared (as he was entitled to do), and he was not interfered with after starting his run-up, so the protest was dismissed.^[7]
• Brunswick captain Jack McKenzie was approached to throw the Grand Final in Essendon's favour. He was offered £150 if he, Chase and Johnson all "played stiff" during the game. McKenzie refused the offer and reported it to the Association, and the Grand Final is not believed to have ultimately been compromised by any form of bribery.^[8] This was the second match fixing scandal in Melbourne football in two years, with two players from League club Carlton banned for match fixing in 1910.
• Dave McNamara (Essendon) was the Association's leading goalkicker for the season. Including finals, he set a new Association record of 81 goals, breaking the record of 76 goals set by Frank Caine (North Melbourne) in 1910.^[5]

External links

• Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League History (1877-2008)
• List of VFA/VFL Premiers (1877-2007)

References

1. Old Boy (28 August 1911). "Association clubs". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 4.
2. Old Boy (4 September 1911). "Association Semi-Final – North Melbourne beaten". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 10.
3. Old Boy (11 September 1911). "Association Semi-Final". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 5.
4. Old Boy (18 September 1911). "Association Final – Magnificent contest". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 5.
5. Old Boy (25 September 1911). "Association Final – Essendon premiers". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 5.
6. Old Boy (22 Jul 1921). "Football – Notes and comments". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. p. 4.
7. "A football protest". The Coburg Leader. Coburg, VIC. 22 September 1911. p. 3.
8. "Melbourne football scandal". Singleton Argus. 14 October 1911. p. 1.