1921 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1921.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1921 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
so the home team in the Semi Finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.
defeated Carlton
5.6 (36) to 4.8 (32), in front of a crowd of 43,122 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
).
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
season of 1921.
Premiership season
In 1921, the VFL competition consisted of nine 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 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1921 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
Finals
All of the 1921 finals were played at the MCGMelbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
so the home team in the Semi Finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.
Grand final
RichmondRichmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
defeated Carlton
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
5.6 (36) to 4.8 (32), in front of a crowd of 43,122 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
).
Awards
- The 1921 VFL Premiership team was RichmondRichmond Football ClubThe Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
. - The VFL's leading goalkickerColeman MedalThe Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
was Cliff RankinCliff RankinCliff Rankin is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1915 to 1928....
of GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
with 61 goals. - EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
took the "wooden spoonWooden spoon (award)A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
" in 1921.
Notable events
- Umpires demand that the VFL provides greater protection, including the wire netting of the umpire's race to the ground (in order to protect them from fists, projectiles and, particularly, ladies' hat-pins) and a stronger police guard.
- In the last quarter of the round 7 match between RichmondRichmond Football ClubThe Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
and EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
at the Punt Road OvalPunt Road OvalPunt Road Oval is a sporting ground located in Yarra Park, East Melbourne, Victoria situated only a few hundred metres to the east of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground....
, Richmond had kicked a point. The ball was returned from the crowd to the Essendon full-back Bert Day who was on the boundary line, not the goal line. The ball had been stabbed by someone in the crowd. Day, noticing the deflated condition of the ball, kicked it idly from the boundary line over to the field Umpire (E. P. Willamson) to inspect. Richmond full-forward George BaylissGeorge BaylissGeorge Bayliss was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League in 1914 and then again between 1916 and 1923 for the Richmond Football Club. He then played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football Association in 1924 then in the VFL in...
pounced on the ball and kicked a goal with it. Day's kick from the boundary line was mistakenly treated as if it had been a kick out from the goal line and, despite all of Essendon's protests, a goal was awarded to Bayliss. - Prior to the round 12 match between St Kilda and CarltonCarlton Football ClubThe Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
, a "ladies" football match was played between two female teams, "The Chorleys" and "The Fleetwoods", to the delight of the crowd. The Fleetwoods won 4.2 (26) to 2.4 (16). Whilst the women played in mens guernseys, shorts, socks, boots, etc. The (male) field umpire wore a dress. - In round 11, St Kilda are unable to score a goal, and lose badly to a FitzroyFitzroy Football ClubThe Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
team that had six fewer scoring shots: Fitzroy 6.8 (44) to St Kilda 0.18 (18). - The fourth Australian Football Carnival1921 Perth CarnivalThe 1921 Perth Carnival was the fourth edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian rules football interstate competition...
was held in Perth. Western Australia were the Australian Champions. - In round 17, EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
plays its last match at the East Melbourne Cricket GroundEast Melbourne Cricket GroundThe East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a sports venue located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
. - The 15 October "Grand Final" between RichmondRichmond Football ClubThe Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
and CarltonCarlton Football ClubThe Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
was played in greasy conditions and drizzling rain. The previous week's (8 October) "Preliminary Final", also between Richmond and Carlton, had been played in deep mud — the second-half was delayed until a driving hail-storm, that had turned the Melbourne Cricket GroundMelbourne Cricket GroundThe Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
's playing surface white, had passed — and the second half was played with the MCG covered with pools of water six inches (15 cm) deep. - The five drawn matches during the 1921 season remains a VFL/AFL record for most draws in one season.