1903 VFL season

1903 VFL Premiership season
Teams	8
Premiers	Collingwood (2nd premiership)
Minor premiers	Collingwood (2nd minor premiership)
Matches played	71
Highest attendance	32,263
Leading Goalkicker Medallist	Teddy Lockwood (Collingwood)
← 1902 1904 →

The 1903 Victorian Football League season was the seventh season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Premiership season

In 1903, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds.

Once the 14 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1903 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Round 1

Round 2

The match between Geelong and Carlton, originally to have been played at Corio Oval, was postponed due to a railway strike. It was played between Rounds 13 and 14, and was opportunistically moved to the Sydney Cricket Ground.^[1]

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Sectional Rounds

Sectional Round 1 (Round 15)

Sectional Round 2 (Round 16)

Sectional Round 3 (Round 17)

Ladder

1903 VFL Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	PTS
1	Collingwood (P)	17	15	2	0	1063	667	159.37	60
2	Fitzroy	17	14	3	0	985	574	171.60	56
3	Carlton	17	11	6	0	865	636	136.01	44
4	Geelong	17	9	8	0	981	813	120.66	36
5	St Kilda	17	7	9	1	635	831	76.41	30
6	Essendon	17	6	10	1	691	879	78.61	26
7	Melbourne	17	3	14	0	593	925	64.11	12
8	South Melbourne	17	2	15	0	595	1083	54.94	8
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points for, PA = Points against

Semi finals

First Semi Final

Second Semi Final

Grand final

Collingwood defeated Fitzroy 4.7 (31) to 3.11 (29). (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Collingwood	2.3	3.4	3.6	4.7 (31)
Fitzroy	2.2	2.5	2.8	3.11 (29)

Awards

• The 1903 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Teddy Lockwood of Collingwood with 35 goals.
• South Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1903.

Notable events

• Boundary umpires were added to some VFL matches, relieving the field umpire of the task of returning the ball to play from the boundary, and would be made permanent from 1904.
• Following their Round 1 loss to Geelong, St Kilda had played 100 games for a record of two wins and 98 losses.
• The Round 2 match between Geelong and Carlton on 9 May was postponed after a railway strike prevented the Carlton team from getting to Geelong. The league decided to use the opportunity to promote the game in Sydney, and arranged to play the match on Saturday, 1 August at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Due to heavy rain on the day, the match was postponed a second time,^[2] and was finally played on Monday, 3 August at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 5,000; Geelong won 8.7 (55) to 6.9 (45).^[3] In Round 3, Melbourne had to travel to Geelong by boat as the strike still had not been resolved.
• On 23 May, a crowd of 18,000 attended the round 4 match between Fitzroy and Collingwood at the Sydney Cricket Ground; Fitzroy won 7.20 (62) to 6.9 (45). Players wore large numbers on the back of their guernseys to assist the crowd.
• St Kilda's win over South Melbourne in Round 7 was its first away win in 54 VFL matches; the 53 consecutive away losses is an AFL/VFL record. Overall, it was also St Kilda's first senior away win since defeating Port Melbourne in the 1894 VFA season, a streak of 77 away matches without a win (including three draws), and 62 consecutive away losses.
• 1903 was the first time that the VFL Premiership was decided on the last kick of the day. The usually accurate Fitzroy captain Gerald Brosnan missed the goal from 30 metres out, and Fitzroy lost to Collingwood by two points.

References

1. Rodgers, Stephen, Every Game Ever Played, VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991, Ringwood, VIC: Viking O'Neal, p. 36
2. "To-day's football". Evening News. Sydney, NSW. 4 August 1903. p. 4.
3. "Geelong v. Carlton". Australian Town and Country Journal. Sydney, NSW. 5 August 1903. p. 51.

• Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897-1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

External links

• 1903 Season - AFL Tables