1997 VFL season

1997 VFL Premiership Season
Teams	11
Premiers	Sandringham (6th premiership)
Minor premiers	Frankston (2nd minor premiership)
← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 Victorian Football League season was the 116th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Sandringham Football Club, after it defeated Frankston by 29 points in the Grand Final on 21 September.

Premiership season

Ladder

1997 VFL Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	Pct	PTS
1	Frankston	18	17	1	0	1966	1174	167.46	68
2	Springvale	18	14	4	0	2006	1256	159.71	56
3	Sandringham (P)	18	14	4	0	1677	1075	156.00	56
4	Werribee	18	12	6	0	1883	1366	137.85	48
5	Port Melbourne	18	10	8	0	1660	1430	116.08	40
6	Williamstown	18	8	8	2	1544	1662	92.90	36
7	Preston	18	7	11	0	1360	1618	84.05	28
8	North Ballarat	18	6	12	0	1358	1539	88.24	24
9	Box Hill	18	5	12	1	1324	1521	87.05	22
10	Traralgon	18	3	14	1	1199	2071	57.89	14
11	Coburg	18	1	17	0	1084	2349	46.15	4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points								Source

Finals

	Qualifying final
Saturday, 30 August (2:00 pm)	Springvale 14.6 (90)	def. by	Sandringham 17.13 (115)	North Port Oval

	Elimination final
Sunday, 31 August (2:00 pm)	Werribee 14.16 (100)	def. by	Port Melbourne 17.14 (116)	North Port Oval

	First semi-final
Sunday, 7 September (2:00pm)	Springvale 16.7 (103)	def.	Port Melbourne 13.6 (84)	North Port Oval

	Second semi-final
Saturday, 6 September (2:00pm)	Frankston 10.7 (67)	def. by	Sandringham 16.12 (108)	North Port Oval

	Preliminary Final
Sunday, 14 September (2:00pm)	Frankston 14.17 (101)	def.	Springvale 9.8 (62)	North Port Oval

Grand Final

	1997 VFL Grand Final
Sunday 21 September (2:00 pm)	Sandringham	def.	Frankston	North Port Oval (Crowd: 10,000)	[1]
	3.1 (19) 5.6 (36) 7.10 (52) 10.13 (73)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	1.3 (9) 4.3 (27) 4.9 (33) 5.14 (44)	Umpires: M. Vozzo, W. Mann, M. James Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Tim Scott-Branagan (Sandringham)
Amiet 4, Templeton 2, Scott-Branagan 2, Frater, Dear		Goals	R. Stubbs 3, S. Ryan, Cummings
		Reports	Pickering, for striking Mann in the first quarter R. Stubbs, for striking Grant in the first quarter Goodwin, for striking Dear in the first quarter

Awards

• The leading goalkicker for the season was Shayne Smith (Springvale), who kicked 107 goals.
• The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Justin Crough (Sandringham).
• The Fothergill-Round Medal was won by James Puli (Werribee).^[2]
• Frankston won the reserves premiership. Frankston 13.15 (93) defeated Port Melbourne 11.7 (73) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seniors Grand Final on 21 September.^[1]

Notable events

• The VFL adopted two rule changes which had been incorporated into the Australian Football League in 1994: the size of the interchange bench was increased from two to three, and the length of a quarter was reduced from 25 minutes to 20 minutes with extra provisions for time on.^[3]

See also

• List of VFA/VFL premiers
• Australian Rules Football
• Victorian Football League
• Australian Football League
• 1997 AFL season

References

1. Tim Stoney (22 September 1997). "Collins earns his stripes". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. p. 54.
2. "Fothergill-Round Medallists". Sportingpulse. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
3. Fiddian, Marc (2004); The VFA; A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877-1995; p. 45