1989 VFA season

1989 VFA Premiership Season
Teams 14
Premiers Coburg
(6th premiership)
Minor premiers Coburg
(8th minor premiership)
1988
1990

The 1989 Victorian Football Association season was the 108th season of the Australian rules football competition. It was the first season since 1960 in which the Association operated as a single-division competition, after having operated as a two-division competition with promotion and relegation between them for the previous 28 years. The premiership was won by the Coburg Football Club, after it defeated Williamstown in the Grand Final on 24 September by 20 points; it was Coburg's second premiership in a row, and its sixth and, as of 2014, last top division premiership overall.

Association membership and structure

End of Division 2 and withdrawal of Geelong West

After several years of speculation, the Association's second division was dissolved for the 1989 season and competition was re-combined into a single division, ending 28 years of partitioned competition. The future of Division 2 had been uncertain for most of the 1980s, and both the temporary competition restructure of 1982,[1] and the proposals of the FORT review of December 1986[2] had sought to remove promotion and relegation between the divisions because the gap in both on-field performances and off-field viability between the strongest and weakest teams had widened. Talk of the imminent demise of Division 2 began following the folding of Waverley in March 1988, at which point the size of the Association had reduced to 17 teams;[3] Mordialloc's withdrawal a month later reduced the size to sixteen. By the end of the year, president Brook Andersen confirmed that the 1989 season would operate as a single division; and, that while his preference was for a twelve- or fourteen-team competition, all sixteen teams would be given the opportunity to justify their positions in the competition.[4]

The only club to withdraw between the end of 1988 and the beginning of 1989 was Geelong West. The club was heavily in debt, in large part because population growth had boosted the popularity of the Geelong Football League above that of the Association in Geelong, and it was unable to secure the $50,000 in sponsorship it needed to remain viable; and, throughout the 1980s it had been unable to field a competitive Thirds team[5] due to difficulties in attracting juniors players willing to play in Melbourne every second week, rather than in the local Geelong competitions.[6] The club decided that it needed to return to the local competition, where operating costs were lower, and where it would attract stronger support by performing at a more competitive level, and it formally withdrew from the Association on 27 October.[7] The club was not permitted to join the GFL in its own right due to its proximity to the existing St Peters Football Club,[8] but St Peters saw its own long-term viability as uncertain, so was willing to enter a merger. The resultant club was known as the Geelong West St Peters Football Club.[9]

Consequently, the size of the Association was reduced to fifteen teams, the smallest since 1957. With fifteen clubs in one division, the Association introduced the McIntyre Final Five system to replace the Page–McIntyre Final Four system.[10]

Uncompetitiveness of former Division 2 clubs and the withdrawal of Sunshine

During the two-division era, the Division 2 premiers had usually struggled to be competitive in their first season in the Division 1; so, in 1989, it was an unprecedented challenge for clubs who were already weak in Division 2 to adapt to playing former top division clubs in the single-division competition. The top two from the 1988 home-and-away season, Oakleigh and Werribee, were reasonably competitive, finishing with records of 8–10; but the other three clubs, Dandenong, Camberwell and Sunshine, were completely uncompetitive, and quickly risked causing embarrassment to the Association.[11][12] The Association board of management began discussing plans to reduce the size of the Association to twelve teams,[13] but the board needed a two-thirds majority in a vote of club delegates to gain the power to set the number of clubs in the competition, and the vote was only 7–8 in favour of granting the powers.[14]

The weakest club was Sunshine. The step up from Division 2 to the combined division was too great for it to manage, and after eight games, it was winless with a percentage of 31,[15] and had twice conceded scores in excess of 300 points.[11][12] On June 8, Sunshine announced its withdrawal from the seniors and reserves competitions for the rest of the season. It intended to use the remainder of the season to regroup, secure local sponsorships, and target strong Footscray District Football League players and fringe Footscray Football Club League players to recruit a competitive playing list for the 1990 season. The club granted unconditional clearances to its players, hoping they would return to the club in 1990; and it continued to field an Under-19s team for the rest of the season, against the protests of some teams.[16] The eight games Sunshine had played were expunged from the records, and the rest of the senior and reserves fixture was redrawn to give all teams an equal number of games.[17][18] At the end of the year, Sunshine was confident that it had rebuilt itself to be a viable and competitive club; but the Association disagreed and terminated its licence permanently at the end of the season.[19]

Camberwell and Dandenong were little more competitive than Sunshine. Camberwell defeated Sunshine, but since that game was expunged from the records, the club went on to officially finish the season winless in all three grades;[20] its seniors conceded more than 200 points in each of its first six games of the season (excluding the game against Sunshine) and eight times overall. Dandenong's sole win for the season came against Camberwell, and it conceded 200 points six times during the year.[21]

Premiership season

In the home-and-away season, each team played eighteen games over twenty rounds. The fixture after Round 9 was redrawn following the withdrawal of Sunshine from the senior and reserves competition (the under-19s fixture was unchanged). The top five then contested the finals under the McIntyre Final Five system. The primary finals venue was North Port Oval, and the Grand Final was played at Windy Hill.

Ladder

1989 VFA Ladder
TEAM P W L D PF PA Pct PTS
1 Coburg (P) 18 17 1 0 2271 1260 180.2 68
2 Williamstown 18 14 3 1 2819 1716 137.5 58
3 Box Hill 18 14 3 1 2360 1716 137.5 58
4 Springvale 18 13 5 0 2244 1580 142.0 52
5 Frankston 18 12 6 0 2218 1844 120.3 48
6 Brunswick 18 9 9 0 2140 1941 110.3 36
7 Preston 18 9 9 0 1667 1742 95.7 36
8 Port Melbourne 18 9 9 0 1953 2112 92.5 36
9 Werribee 18 8 10 0 2122 2001 106.0 32
10 Oakleigh 18 8 10 0 2057 2169 94.8 32
11 Sandringham 18 7 11 0 2411 2509 96.1 28
12 Prahran 18 4 14 0 1782 2382 74.8 16
13 Dandenong 18 1 17 0 1430 2815 50.8 4
14 Camberwell 18 0 18 0 1351 3336 40.5 0
15 Sunshine Club withdrew, record expunged
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[20]

Finals

Qualifying final
Saturday, 2 September Williamstown 14.15 (99) def. by Box Hill 17.9 (111) North Port Oval (crowd: 7,231) [22]
Elimination Final
Sunday, 3 September Springvale 23.11 (149) def. Frankston 16.9 (105) Beach Rd Oval [23]
Second semi-final
Saturday, 9 September Coburg 13.16 (94) def. Box Hill 7.10 (52) North Port Oval (crowd: 3,020) [24]
First semi-final
Sunday, 10 September Williamstown 18.11 (119) def. Springvale 6.11 (47) North Port Oval (crowd: 4,150) [24]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 17 September Box Hill 17.12 (114) def. by Williamstown 19.15 (129) North Port Oval (crowd: 8,431) [25]
1989 VFA Grand Final
Sunday, 24 September (2:10pm) Coburg def. Williamstown Windy Hill (Crowd: 23,272) [26]
3.2 (20)
5.6 (36)
8.10 (58)
10.13 (73)
Q1
Q2
Q3
Final
1.1 (7)
2.6 (18)
4.7 (31)
7.11 (53)
Umpires: Peter Cameron, Rowan Sawers
Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Tim Rieniets (Coburg)
Reynoldson 3, Allison 2, Doyle, Ingram, Kaakour, Langhan, Weatherald Goals Rickman 3, Aziz, Dimartino, Ghazi, Smith
Evans, Langhan, Nimmo Reports

Awards

Notable events

Interleague matches

In 1989, the Association competed in and won the NFL Shield, the NFL's interstate competition among the minor states, held in Tasmania over the Queen's Birthday weekend. Phil Cleary (Coburg) was coach of the Association team,[30] and Brett McTaggart (Williamstown) was captain. Because Tasmania unexpectedly finished last in the qualifying matches, attendances and takings at later matches dropped, resulting in all six competing states losing $40,000 in expenses over the event.[31] Rino Pretto (Oakleigh) kicked a VFA representative record of twelve goals in the Grand Final.[32]

1989 NFL Shield
Qualifying matches
Friday, 9 June (4:15pm) V.F.A. 20.11 (131) def. New South Wales 5.6 (36) West Park Oval, Burnie [33]
Saturday, 10 June (10:00am) V.F.A. 11.11 (77) def. Queensland 2.10 (22) York Park, Launceston [34]
Grand final
Monday, 12 June (2:00pm) V.F.A. 21.15 (141) def. Australian Amateurs 2.3 (15) North Hobart Oval, Hobart [32]

Other notable events

External links

References

  1. Marc Fiddian (12 September 1980). "New VFA may save 'doomed'". The Age. Melbourne. p. 26.
  2. Len Johnson (6 December 1986). "Radical plan to cut VFA to 12 teams". The Age. Melbourne. p. 39.
  3. Linda Pearce (30 March 1988). "One VFA division in 1989 – chief". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 70.
  4. "VFA make-up due out in a month". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 11 October 1988. p. 67.
  5. Linda Pearce (22 October 1988). "Roosters face chop". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 95.
  6. Sam Prenesti (16 April 1987). "Juniors the hope for club on the outer". The Age. Melbourne. p. 26.
  7. Linda Pearce (29 October 1988). "Ailing Geelong West quits VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 103.
  8. Ondrej Foltin (25 October 1988). "Geelong West faces strict GFL deadline". Geelong Advertiser. Geelong, VIC. p. 28.
  9. Glen Quartermain (28 October 1988). "Roosters out of VFA – merger with St Peters". Geelong Advertiser. Melbourne. p. 28.
  10. 1 2 Linda Pearce (15 October 1988). "VFA may go for 16 teams". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 93.
  11. 1 2 Amanda Buivids (10 April 1989). "Bullant surge fires Box Hill". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 83.
  12. 1 2 Amanda Buivids (8 May 1989). "Crisis looms for VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 86.
  13. Amanda Buivids (9 May 1989). "VFA plans to cut out three clubs". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 75.
  14. Amanda Buivids (6 June 1989). "Clubs knock back VFA relegation plan". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 66.
  15. Amanda Buivids (5 June 1989). "Dolphins torpedo Oaks". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 80.
  16. Amanda Buivids (22 June 1989). "Talks on future of VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 77.
  17. Amanda Buivids (9 June 1989). "Sun sets on Crows". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 72.
  18. Linda Pearce (10 June 1989). "Sunshine allows Crows to fly away". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 72.
  19. Amanda Buivids (26 October 1989). "Sunshine licence terminated". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 91.
  20. 1 2 "Victorian Football Association fixture program season 1989", Recorder, Victorian Football Association, p. 35, 24 September 1989
  21. "VFA ladders", Recorder, Victorian Football Association, p. 40, 24 September 1989
  22. Phil Cleary (3 September 1989). "Box Hill stuns them all". The Sunday Sun. Melbourne. p. 106.
  23. Amanda Buivids (4 September 1989). "Grand old footbrawl". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 76.
  24. 1 2 Amanda Buivids (11 September 1989). "Lions, Gulls shape up". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 75.
  25. Amanda Buivids (18 September 1989). "Gulls clip Box Hill". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 75.
  26. 1 2 Amanda Buivids (25 September 1989). "Coburg clearly best". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 89.
  27. Marc Fiddian (2003), Seagulls over Williamstown, Williamstown, VIC: Williamstown Football Club, p. 176
  28. Amanda Buivids (31 August 1989). "Seagull Ghazi cleans up in Liston contest". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 88.
  29. "Fothergill-Round Medallists". Sportingpulse. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  30. Amanda Buivids (9 June 1989). "High stakes for VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 75.
  31. Amanda Buivids (12 June 1989). "VFA mean machine runs rampant into final". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 57.
  32. 1 2 Amanda Buivids (13 June 1989). "VFA shields its honor". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 83.
  33. Amanda Buivids (10 June 1989). "VFA it is – "Cowboy"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 72.
  34. Amanda Buivids (12 June 1989). "VFA draw". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 48.
  35. "VFL and VFA bury the hatchet". The Canberra Times. Canberra, ACT. 11 November 1988. p. 16.
  36. Bruce Matthews; Linda Pearce (3 November 1988). "Central umpiring for next season". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 78.
  37. Amanda Buivids (22 September 1989). "Coburg recalls elusive Darby". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 77.
  38. "VFA will play 16 a side". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 17 March 1959. p. 62.
  39. Amanda Buivids (21 March 1989). "VFA's boss in doubt". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne.
  40. Amanda Buivids (23 March 1989). "VFA axe falls on chief". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 87.
  41. Amanda Buivids (11 April 1989). "Grieve steps up to top VFA job". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 76.
  42. Amanda Buivids (19 April 1989). "'Umpire bungle' saves 2". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 81.
  43. Amanda Buivids (14 April 1989). "Owen is simply full of promise". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 66.
  44. Amanda Buivids (24 April 1989). "Cobras strike, Crows stoned". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 76.
  45. Amanda Buivids (19 October 1989). "Ants win battle". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 76.
  46. Melbourne Highest to Lowest Seasonal Rainfall
  47. Amanda Buivids (7 September 1989). "Mudpile thwarts Coburg". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 73.
  48. Amanda Buivids (11 August 1989). "VFA offers help for troubled Bullants". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 75.
  49. Amanda Buivids (4 September 1989). "Ugly end to VFA final". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 91.
  50. Amanda Buivids (7 September 1989). "26 matches". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 76.
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