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Results and statistics for the
Victorian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
season of 1940.
Premiership season
In 1940, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the
19th 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 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1940 VFL
Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
Grand final
MelbourneThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
defeated
RichmondThe 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,...
15.17 (107) to 10.8 (68), in front of a crowd of 69,061 people. (For an explanation of scoring see
Australian rules footballAustralian 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 1940 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker
The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
was Jack "Skinny" TitusJack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats...
of RichmondThe 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,...
with 92 goals (100 after finals).
- The joint winners of the 1940 Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
were Herbie MatthewsHerbie Matthews was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League. He was recruited from suburban Fairfield under the League's "father and son" rule. His father, 'Butcher' Matthews, partnered the great Roy Cazaly in South Melbourne's ruck...
of South MelbourneThe Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
and Des FothergillDesmond Hugh Fothergill was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League , and briefly in the Victorian Football Association ....
of CollingwoodThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
with 32 votes each.
- The rules of the award stated that there was only one medal to be awarded in any one season. A count-back revealed that each had the same number of 3, 2, and 1 votes; and, although the controversy associated with such a criterion being applied in the case of Stan Judkins in 1930 meant that it was never used again, having played the whole 18 home-and-away matches each, they could not have been separated on the basis of the number of matches played anyway.
- The VFL announced the tied result and neither player received a medallion.
- As a consequence of its 1981 decision to change its rules relating to tied Brownlow Medal contests, the AFL awarded retrospective medals to Herbie Matthews
Herbie Matthews was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League. He was recruited from suburban Fairfield under the League's "father and son" rule. His father, 'Butcher' Matthews, partnered the great Roy Cazaly in South Melbourne's ruck...
and Des FothergillDesmond Hugh Fothergill was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League , and briefly in the Victorian Football Association ....
in 1989.
- North Melbourne
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
took the "wooden spoon" in 1940.
Notable events
- The VFL suspends its round 15 matches and conducts a one-day "lightning" carnival at the Melbourne 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...
on Saturday 3 August 1940 to raise money for the war effort. After a somewhat complex set of knock-out preliminary contests, RichmondThe 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 North MelbourneThe North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
in the first semi-final, and St Kilda defeating CarltonThe 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...
. In the final, St Kilda thrashed RichmondThe 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,...
(who were sorely missing the injured Jack DyerJohn Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM , always known as Jack Dyer, was one of the colossal figures of Australian rules football during two distinct careers, firstly as a player and coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952, and later in the broadcast media for...
4.2 (26) to 0.2 (2). The trophy awarded to the victorious St Kilda team (which included Keith MillerKeith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...
) was the Victorian Football League Patriotic Match Cup.
- The carnival raised almost £3,000 for the war effort.
- The Round 10 match between Melbourne and Geelong was the first to produce a 300-point aggregate: 46.29 (305). Melbourne's losing score was the highest until 1976 and was the fifth-highest score of the season. No team has ever lost a match with a score among the four highest of a season: the nearest approaches to Melbourne's record are South Melbourne in the opening round of 1976 (equal fifth highest) and Carlton in Round 4 of 1954 (sixth highest)
- The ANFC decides to cancel the 1940 Carnival scheduled to be held in Hobart because of the war.
- In one of the most rugged seasons ever 47 players are reported to the VFL Tribunal.
- In the last quarter of the Grand Final, Jack Titus
Jack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats...
scores a goal with his last kick, bringing his season's total to 100 goals.
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