1963 VFA season

1963 VFA Premiership season
Division 1
Teams	10
Premiers	Moorabbin (2nd premiership)
Minor premiers	Moorabbin (3rd minor premiership)
Division 2
Teams	9
Premiers	Preston (1st D2 premiership)
Minor premiers	Waverley (1st D2 minor premiership)
← 1962 1964 →

The 1963 Victorian Football Association season was the 82nd season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the third season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Moorabbin Football Club, after it defeated Sandringham in the Grand Final on 21 September by 64 points; it was Moorabbin's second and last VFA premiership, before its suspension from the Association prior to the following season. The Division 2 premiership was won by Preston; it was the club's first premiership in either division since joining the Association.

Association Membership

On 12 December 1962, the Geelong West Football Club was admitted to Division 2 of the Association. Geelong West had a long and successful history prior to World War II in the Geelong & District Football League, then since 1946 in the higher standard Ballarat Football League; but, after 1962 they were encouraged by leave by the Ballarat clubs, who did not like the lower home crowds and the long travelling distances that came with the Geelong-based team in their league; so, Geelong West sought out the VFA, which was prepared to admit the club.^[1] Geelong West played its games at the Western Oval in Church Street.^[2] It was the first time an Association club had been based in Geelong since 1927. Geelong West's admission brought the size of the Association to nineteen clubs, the highest to that stage in Association history.

The Association had already released its Division 2 fixture for 1963, so Geelong West's admission forced the fixture to be re-drawn. The Association intentionally fixtured Geelong West to play home on weekends when the Geelong VFL team was playing away, to maximise potential attendances.^[2]

Scheduling of finals

The Division 1 Grand Final was scheduled for the Saturday prior to the VFL Grand Final^{Note 1};^[3] this was a break from the established tradition, which had every Grand Final since 1939 scheduled for the weekend after the VFL Grand Final. This change of scheduling also forced a change of venue from the St Kilda Cricket Ground, which had hosted all VFA finals since 1945: because the VFA first semi-final now clashed with the final round of VFL home-and-home matches, the St Kilda Cricket Ground would still be in active use as the home ground of the VFL's St Kilda Football Club. As such, the entire Division 1 finals series was played at North Port Oval.^[4]

In Division 2, the Board of Management agreed that all finals were to be played on Sundays at Toorak Park; this was different from previous years, when the finals were played on Sunday only with the agreement of the clubs involved. Waverley was one of four clubs opposed to Sunday football, and it appealed to the Association to play its finals on Saturdays, but its requests were rejected.^[5]

The promotion-relegation challenge match between the Division 2 runners-up and the 9th placed team in Division 1 was abandoned from the 1963 season. As such, only the Division 2 premier was promoted, and only the Division 1 wooden spooner was relegated.

Division 1

The Division 1 home-and-home season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system.

Ladder

1963 VFA Division 1 Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	Pct	PTS
1	Moorabbin (P)	18	13	5	0	1441	1083	133.1	52
2	Sandringham	18	12	6	0	1805	1486	121.5	48
3	Coburg	18	12	6	0	1569	1373	114.3	48
4	Yarraville	18	12	6	0	1468	1297	114.1	48
5	Port Melbourne	18	10	8	0	1496	1399	106.9	40
6	Oakleigh	18	10	8	0	1394	1374	100.2	40
7	Dandenong	18	6	11	1	1379	1429	96.4	26
8	Williamstown	18	6	11	1	1227	1387	95.7	26
9	Brunswick	18	6	12	0	1354	1569	86.3	24
10	Northcote	18	2	16	0	952	1796	53.1	8
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points								Source^[6]

Finals


	Semi Finals
Saturday, 31 August	Coburg 14.20 (104)	def. by	Yarraville 16.15 (111)	North Port Oval (crowd: 8,000)	^[7]
Saturday, 7 September	Moorabbin 14.14 (98)	def.	Sandringham 13.11 (89)	North Port Oval (crowd: 9,000)	^[8]


	Preliminary Final
Saturday, 14 September	Sandringham 17.11 (113)	def.	Yarraville 10.13 (73)	North Port Oval (crowd: 10,000)	^[9]


	1963 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Saturday, 21 September	Moorabbin	def.	Sandringham	North Port Oval (Crowd: 15,000)	^[10]
	5.5 (35) 8.8 (56) 15.10 (100) 19.16 (130)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	2.1 (13) 4.4 (28) 5.9 (39) 9.12 (66)	Umpires: A. O'Neill

Papley 6, Kee 4, Whalebone 4, Burns 2, Christie 2, Ryan		Goals	Gleeson 2, O'Toole 2, Perovic 2, Wills 2, Strachan

Hoy (leg)		Injuries

Awards

The leading goalkicker for the season was Robert Evans (Yarraville), who kicked 47 goals during the home-and-home season.^[6]
The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by John Clegg (Yarraville), who polled 46 votes. Clegg was a comfortable winner over his Yarraville captain Don Whitten, who polled 28 votes, and Ian Abrahams (Dandenong), who polled 26 votes.^[11]
Brunswick won the seconds premiership. Brunswick 11.11 (77) defeated Coburg 11.10 (76) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 21 September.^[10]

Division 2

The Division 2 home-and-home season was played over 16 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system.

Ladder

1963 VFA Division 2 Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	Pct	PTS
1	Waverley	16	12	4	0	1459	934	150.9	48
2	Preston (P)	16	12	4	0	1390	996	139.4	48
3	Sunshine	16	10	6	0	1167	1134	102.9	40
4	Prahran	16	9	6	1	1338	1103	121.3	38
5	Box Hill	16	9	6	1	1103	1078	102.3	38
6	Mordialloc	16	8	8	0	1443	1196	120.9	32
7	Camberwell	16	5	11	0	1078	1303	82.6	20
8	Geelong West	16	3	13	0	889	1474	60.5	12
9	Brighton–Caulfield	16	3	13	0	941	1567	60.1	12
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points								Source^[12]

Finals


	Semi Finals
Sunday, 25 August	Sunshine 10.4 (64)	def. by	Prahran 10.17 (77)	Toorak Park (crowd: 5,000)	^[13]
Sunday, 1 September	Waverley 13.12 (90)	def.	Preston 12.10 (82)	Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000)	^[14]


	Preliminary Final
Sunday, 8 September	Preston 15.16 (106)	def.	Prahran 11.6 (72)	Toorak Park (crowd: 6,000)	^[15]


	1963 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 15 September	Waverley	def. by	Preston	Toorak Park (Crowd: 15,000)	^[9]
	3.6 (24) 4.7 (31) 9.15 (69) 9.15 (69)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	1.3 (9) 5.7 (37) 6.9 (45) 11.14 (80)	Umpires: C. Mance

Angus 2, McKindley 2, Scott 2, Ingwersen, Nash, Nation		Goals	Mills 5, Murnane 3, Parris 2, Waddell

		Injuries	Cataggio (leg)

Awards

The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was Frank Power (Mordialloc), who kicked 74 goals during the season.^[12]
The Division 2 Best and Fairest was won by Dick Perry (Geelong West), who polled 45 votes; standing at 5'4", Perry was the smallest player in the Association at the time. Ray Besanko (Mordialloc) was second with 31 votes, and Larry Rowe (Brighton–Caulfield) was third with 27 votes.^[16]
Camberwell won the Seconds premiership. Camberwell 7.11 (53) defeated Sunshine 5.9 (39) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday, 7 September at Box Hill City Oval. It was Camberwell's first premiership in any of the VFA's three grades since joining the competition in 1926.^[17]

Notable events

At the recommendation of new coach Ian Thorogood, Waverley adopted Panthers as its nickname at the start of the season. Waverley had spent around £100 on signage, letterheads, etc. to promote the nickname before it was realised that Sunshine had adopted Panthers as its nickname in 1962 – Sunshine had not promoted the nickname as aggressively as Waverley, but had invested in some clothing bearing the new mascot.^[18] Sunshine ultimately abandoned the Panthers nickname, and became known as the Crows instead.
Following an argument at a committee meeting on 3 June, Moorabbin senior coach Bob Wilkie and seconds coach John Hirst resigned their positions. Two days later, thirds coach Graham Dunscombe was appointed senior coach, and Hirst apologised to the committee and was reinstated as seconds coach.^[19] Despite this off-field instability, Moorabbin was able to win the minor and major premierships for the season.

Footnotes

1.^ Based on the original schedule; as it actually happened, the VFL postponed its Round 11 due to rain, so there ended up being a two-week gap between the two competitions‘ Grand Finals.

External links

List of VFA/VFL Premiers

References

↑ Fiddian, Marc (2004), The VFA: a history of the Victorian Football Association, 1877–1995, p. 189
1 2 Scot Palmer (13 December 1962). "League outpost "invaded"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 64.
↑ "VFA draw for 1963". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 22 November 1962. p. 57.
↑ Scot Palmer (4 March 1963). "Clubs act on VFA finals". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne.
↑ "It's Sundays for Waverley". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 24 August 1963. p. 46.
1 2 "All the VFA details". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 26 August 1963. p. 40.
↑ Scot Palmer (2 September 1963). "It's Yarraville – but at a cost". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
↑ Scot Palmer (9 September 1963). "Moorabbin shows its class". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
1 2 Scot Palmer (16 September 1963). "Preston earns senior ranking". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 46.
1 2 Scot Palmer (23 September 1963). "Moorabbin has set VFA "problem'". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 46.
↑ Scot Palmer (29 August 1963). "Year of the little man...". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
1 2 "All the VFA details". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 19 August 1963. p. 44.
↑ "Association Details". The Age. Melbourne. 26 August 1963. p. 19.
↑ Scot Palmer (2 September 1963). "Semi was easy for Waverley". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
↑ Scot Palmer (9 September 1963). "Preston close to "boost"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
↑ "BIG day for little man...". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 22 August 1963. p. 52.
↑ Scott Palmer (9 September 1963). "A real pennant at last". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 40.
↑ Scot Palmer (10 May 1963). "Panthers are snarling". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 45.
↑ "Moorabbin post for Dunscombe". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 6 June 1963. p. 54.

VFA/VFL seasons

Pre-VFA	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876

VFA seasons	1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896

VFA seasons (Post VFL formation)	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

VFL seasons	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Victorian Football League clubs

Current clubs	Box Hill Casey Scorpions Coburg Collingwood reserves Essendon reserves Footscray reserves Geelong reserves North Ballarat Northern Blues Port Melbourne Richmond reserves Sandringham Werribee Williamstown

Former clubs	Albert Park Ballarat Ballarat Imperial Berwick Bendigo Brighton/Caulfield Brunswick Camberwell Carlton Carlton reserves Collingwood Dandenong East Melbourne Essendon Essendon 'A' Fitzroy Footscray Frankston Geelong Geelong 'A' Geelong West Gold Coast Hawthorn Hotham/North Melbourne Kilsyth Melbourne Melbourne City Moorabbin Mordialloc Murray Kangaroos Northcote Oakleigh Prahran Richmond St Kilda St Kilda reserves South Ballarat South Melbourne South Williamstown Sunshine Tasmanian Devils Traralgon University Waverley West Melbourne Yarraville

Australian rules football in Victoria

Representative side	Victoria

Governing bodies	AFL Victoria (metropolitan) AFL Victoria Country (country)

Professional clubs	Carlton Collingwood Essendon Geelong Hawthorn Melbourne North Melbourne Richmond St Kilda Western Bulldogs

Statewide leagues	Victorian Football League TAC Cup (under-18) List of Australian rules football competitions in Victoria

Metropolitan leagues	Eastern Essendon District Northern Riddell District Southern VAFA Western Region

Regional leagues (major)	Ballarat Bellarine Bendigo Central Murray Geelong Gippsland Goulburn Valley Hampden Mornington Peninsula Nepean Murray North Central Ovens & Murray Sunraysia Wimmera Yarra Valley Mountain

Regional leagues (district)	Alberton Central Highlands Colac & District East Gippsland Ellinbank & District Geelong & District Golden Rivers Heathcote Horsham & District Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Kyabram & District Loddon Valley Maryborough Castlemaine Mid Gippsland Millewa Mininera North Gippsland Omeo & District Ovens & King Picola & District South East South West Tallangatta Upper Murray Warrnambool Western Border

Women's leagues	Victorian Women's Football League AFL Victoria Youth Girls Competition

Defunct leagues	Benalla (1946-2009) Federal (1909-1981) Lexton Plains (1999-2010) Mallee (1997-2015) Riviera (1986-2003) Tyrrell (1945-1978) List of former Australian rules football competitions in Victoria

Principal venues	Melbourne Cricket Ground Docklands Stadium Princes Park Kardinia Park

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