1948 VFL season

1948 VFL Premiership season
Melbourne premiership captain Don Cordner
Teams	12
Premiers	Melbourne (6th premiership)
Minor premiers	Essendon (9th minor premiership)
Matches played	119
Highest attendance	86,198
Leading Goalkicker Medallist	Lindsay White (Geelong)
Brownlow Medallist	Bill Morris (Richmond)
← 1947 1949 →

The 1948 Victorian Football League season was the 52nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Premiership season

In 1948, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.

Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1948 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre 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

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Ladder

1948 VFL Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	PTS
1	Essendon	19	16	2	1	1838	1340	137.16	66
2	Melbourne (P)	19	13	6	0	1682	1347	124.87	52
3	Collingwood	19	13	6	0	1775	1500	118.33	52
4	Footscray	19	12	7	0	1499	1453	103.17	48
5	Richmond	19	11	7	1	1895	1509	125.58	46
6	Carlton	19	10	9	0	1768	1564	113.04	40
7	Fitzroy	19	9	10	0	1529	1355	112.84	36
8	North Melbourne	19	8	11	0	1328	1589	83.57	32
9	Geelong	19	7	12	0	1558	1737	89.69	28
10	South Melbourne	19	7	12	0	1512	1826	82.80	28
11	Hawthorn	19	5	14	0	1280	1690	75.74	20
12	St Kilda	19	2	17	0	1124	1878	59.85	8
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points for, PA = Points against

Finals

First Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Collingwood	3.8	6.11	12.14	17.17 (119)
Footscray	4.3	8.9	9.9	12.12 (84)
Attendance: 71,514

Second Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Essendon	3.2	8.9	12.12	13.16 (94)
Melbourne	3.2	4.3	8.8	8.10 (58)
Attendance: 72,394

Preliminary Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Melbourne	4.6	11.13	19.15	25.16 (166)
Collingwood	6.2	8.5	11.8	15.11 (101)
Attendance: 63,500

Grand final

The 1948 Grand Final between Melbourne and Essendon, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 2 October 1948, was a drawn match: Melbourne 10.9 (69) to Essendon 7.27 (69). The crowd was 85,815. The two teams played again a week later. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Essendon	0.6	2.15	6.21	7.27 (69)
Melbourne	3.0	4.5	6.8	10.9 (69)
Attendance: 86,198

Grand Final Replay

Melbourne defeated Essendon 13.11 (89) to Essendon 7.8 (50), in the Grand Final Replay that was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 9 October 1948, in front of 52,226 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Essendon	0.3	5.5	6.6	7.8 (50)
Melbourne	6.2	9.3	11.6	13.11 (89)
Attendance:52,226

Awards

• The 1948 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Lindsay White of Geelong 86 goals.
• The winner of the 1948 Brownlow Medal was Bill Morris of Richmond with 24 votes.
• St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1948.
• The seconds premiership was won by Geelong. Geelong 17.12 (114) defeated Richmond 12.9 (81) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the drawn senior Grand Final on Saturday 2 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.^[1]

Notable events

• All VFL matches now start at 2:15PM (previously it was 2:30PM).
• In round 7, Melbourne champion Norm Smith plays his two hundredth game. He is reported for abusing the umpire. Despite Smith's claim that he only said "Don't be silly", he is suspended for four weeks.
• After Carlton's round 11 loss at home to North Melbourne, police draw their batons to protect the umpires from Carlton fans.
• In the round 16 match between Footscray and Geelong at the Western Oval the north wind was so fierce that when the Geelong full-back Bruce Morrison kicked the ball off after Footscray had scored a behind, the ball floated back over his head and went through the goals. The Goal umpire signalled a "forced behind".
• The 1948 Grand Final was the first drawn Grand Final in VFL history. The second was the 1977 VFL Grand Final, and the third was the 2010 AFL Grand Final.

See also

• 1977 VFL Grand Final

References

1. "Geelong wins VFL seconds title". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 4 October 1948. p. 15.

• Hogan, P., The Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
• 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

• 1948 Season - AFL Tables