1904 VFL season

1904 VFL Premiership season
Fitzroy premiership captain Gerald Brosnan
Teams	8
Premiers	Fitzroy (3rd premiership)
Minor premiers	Fitzroy (3rd minor premiership)
Matches played	71
Highest attendance	32,688
Leading Goalkicker Medallist	Vin Coutie (Melbourne)
← 1903 1905 →

The 1904 Victorian Football League season was the eighth season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Premiership season

In 1904, 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 1904 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Round 1

Round 2

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

1904 VFL Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	PTS
1	Fitzroy (P)	17	12	5	0	954	744	128.23	48
2	Carlton	17	10	6	1	804	762	105.51	42
3	Collingwood	17	10	7	0	867	741	117.00	40
4	Essendon	17	10	7	0	835	738	113.14	40
5	South Melbourne	17	10	7	0	831	766	108.49	40
6	Melbourne	17	8	9	0	947	840	112.74	32
7	Geelong	17	4	12	1	726	940	77.23	18
8	St Kilda	17	3	14	0	708	1141	62.05	12
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

Fitzroy defeated Carlton 9.7 (61) to 5.7 (37). (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Fitzroy	3.1	3.2	5.2	9.7 (61)
Carlton	1.1	3.3	3.7	5.7 (37)

Awards

• The 1904 VFL Premiership team was Fitzroy.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Vince Coutie of Melbourne with 39 goals.
• St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1904.

Notable events

• The final home-and-away match between South Melbourne and Fitzroy at the Lake Oval was a torrid affair. Billy McGee of South Melbourne and Harry Clarke of Fitzroy were each suspended for three matches, while South Melbourne's Billy Gent ran amok during the match, charging at players and was reported on three striking charges; Gent was suspended for the remainder of 1904 and all of 1905 (20 matches).
• After the drawn match between Geelong and Carlton at Corio Oval on 9 July 1904, a spectator is arrested for attacking the field umpire, Henry "Ivo" Crapp.
• The VFL introduces boundary umpires.
• In round four, Essendon plays Melbourne in Sydney in front of only 6,000 spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground, loses to Melbourne, takes five days to return to Melbourne by sea, then loses again to Fitzroy in their Saturday's round five match.
• In the Final Premiership match Carlton was surging ahead of Fitzroy, and one of the Carlton forwards (Ross, 1996, does not name him, but it was most likely Mick Grace) took a powerful high overhead mark with his knees in his opponent's back. The field umpire, Henry "Ivo" Crapp, obeying the VFL rules of the day, paid a free kick to the Fitzroy player for "interference". Fitzroy steadied and went on to win the game. There was such an outcry after the match that the VFL immediately amended its rules to allow for what it now termed "unintentional interference".

References

• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• 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

• 1904 Season - AFL Tables