1942 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1942.
had many negative effects on AFL in Australia:
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 16 rounds. During the first 11 rounds each team played each other once and had one bye. In the remaining rounds (12 to 16), 6 teams played 5 matches, and 5 teams played 4 matches and had one bye (thus, the five teams had 2 byes for the season).
The determination of the 1942 season's fixtures were greatly complicated by the fact that the Melbourne Cricket Ground
, the Lake Oval, the Western Oval
, and the Junction Oval
had all been appropriated for military use
, and that Melbourne
now shared the Punt Road Oval
with Richmond
as their home ground, South Melbourne
now shared Princes Park
with Carlton
as their home ground, and that St Kilda and Footscray
now played their home games at Toorak Park
and Yarraville Oval
respectively (this was possible because there was no VFA competition in 1942).
Once the 16 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1939 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
defeated Richmond
19.18 (132) to 11.13 (79), in front of a crowd of 49,000 (approx.) 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 1942.
Influence of World War II
World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
had many negative effects on AFL in Australia:
- Geelong were unable to compete in the competition because of wartime travel restrictions. Temporary transfers to other clubs were available to Geelong players (limit of three per club).
- Melbourne and Collingwood struggled to field a team, however they were able to compete.
- Available servicemen were often called upon to make up the numbers - this accounts for the drop in form of the Melbourne team, having previously won 3 premierships in a row.
- The VFA went into recess, and any eligible players were given league permits.
- The Brownlow Medal was suspended until 1946.
- Many ground changes were also forced upon teams, as their usual home grounds were used in the war effort. The new grounds used were Yarraville Oval (Footscray), Toorak Park (St Kilda), Punt Road Oval (Melbourne) and Princes Park (South Melbourne).
Premiership season
In 1942, the VFL competition consisted of eleven teams of 18 on-the-field players each (Geelong did not field a team due to wartime rail and road transport restrictions), 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 16 rounds. During the first 11 rounds each team played each other once and had one bye. In the remaining rounds (12 to 16), 6 teams played 5 matches, and 5 teams played 4 matches and had one bye (thus, the five teams had 2 byes for the season).
The determination of the 1942 season's fixtures were greatly complicated by the fact that the Melbourne Cricket Ground
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...
, the Lake Oval, the Western Oval
Whitten Oval
Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League.Formerly known as the...
, and the Junction Oval
Junction Oval
The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
had all been appropriated for military use
Commandeering
Commandeering is an act of appropriation by the military or police whereby they take possession of the property of a member of the public.-External links:*"" at Straight Dope, 25 April 2006*"" at Urban Legends Reference Pages, 6 August 2001...
, and that Melbourne
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
now shared the Punt Road Oval
Punt Road Oval
Punt 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....
with Richmond
Richmond 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,...
as their home ground, South Melbourne
Sydney Swans
The 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...
now shared Princes Park
MC Labour Park
Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located at Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North, Victoria....
with 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...
as their home ground, and that St Kilda and Footscray
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
now played their home games at Toorak Park
Toorak Park
Toorak Park is a cricket and Australian rules football arena located in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, Victoria, Australia. It is the home ground of the Prahran Football Club and Old Xaverians Football Club of the Victorian Amateur Football Association and Prahran Cricket Club, which plays in...
and Yarraville Oval
Yarraville Oval
The Yarraville Oval is an Australian Rules Football and Cricket ground located on the corner of Williamstown Road and Anderson Street in Yarraville, Victoria....
respectively (this was possible because there was no VFA competition in 1942).
Once the 16 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1939 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
Grand final
EssendonEssendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
defeated Richmond
Richmond 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,...
19.18 (132) to 11.13 (79), in front of a crowd of 49,000 (approx.) 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 1942 VFL Premiership team was EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. - 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 Lindsay WhiteLindsay WhiteLindsay G. White was a forward for Geelong and South Melbourne during the 1940s and is regarded as one of the best forwards from that era...
of South MelbourneSydney SwansThe 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...
with 67 goals (80 after finals). He was usually a 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...
player, but played for South Melbourne because Geelong had withdrawn from the war-time competition. - No Brownlow MedalBrownlow MedalThe 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...
was awarded in 1942. - HawthornHawthorn Football ClubThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
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 1942.
Notable events
- In Round 2, MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
and 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,...
set the record for the highest aggregate score in a game, with the teams combining for 48.25 (313). This record would stand for thirty years, eventually broken in the 1972 Grand Final1972 VFL seasonResults and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1972.-Premiership season:In 1972, 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...
.- Melbourne was led on to the field by RAAFRoyal Australian Air ForceThe Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
air ace Squadron Leader Keith "Bluey" Truscott, DFC and BarKeith TruscottKeith William "Bluey" Truscott DFC & Bar was a World War II ace fighter pilot and Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club...
. Truscott unfurled Melbourne's 1941 premiership flag and, very obviously lacking match condition, played an average game, kicking a single goal in his team's 79 point loss (last of his 50 career senior VFL games).
- Melbourne was led on to the field by RAAF
- On Sunday 12 July 1942, 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....
, a Combined Services Team, which included Percy BeamesPercy BeamesPercy James Beames was an Australian rules footballer with Melbourne and first-class cricketer at state level for Victoria. He later became a distinguished journalist, covering both sports for Melbourne's The Age until 1976....
, Allan La FontaineAllan La FontaineAllan La Fontaine was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.Born in Victoria, La Fontaine attended St Kevin's College, Melbourne. He was recruited from University Blacks as a brilliant full-forward, and was to earn his fame playing with the Melbourne Football Club as a...
, Jack MuellerJack Mueller (footballer)Jack Mueller was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League...
, Alby PannamAlby PannamAlbert 'Alby' Pannam was an Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL between 1933 and 1943 and then again in 1945 for the Collingwood Football Club. He then was captain/coach for the Richmond Football Club Seconds side from 1946 to 1952, leading them to the premiership in 1946...
, and Norm Ware, played a match against a combined team of VFL players chosen by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, former Olympic swimming champion Sir Frank BeaurepaireFrank BeaurepaireSir Francis "Frank" Joseph Edmund Beaurepaire was an Australian distance freestyle swimmer from the 1900s to the 1920s, who won three silver and three bronze medals, from the 1908 Summer Olympics in London to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, setting 15 world records.He was also a decorated...
, which included Norm SmithNorm SmithNorman Walter "Norm" Smith was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League. After 200 games as a player with Melbourne and Fitzroy, Smith began a twenty year coaching career, including a fifteen year stint at Melbourne...
, Jack DyerJack 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...
, and Bob ChittyBob ChittyBob Chitty was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .Chitty made his debut for the Carlton Football Club in Round 7 of the 1937 season...
. - The second half of the 1942 Grand Final was delayed as the captains Jack DyerJack 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...
and Dick ReynoldsDick ReynoldsRichard Sylvannus 'Dick' Reynolds was an Australian rules footballer and coach who represented Essendon and Victoria with great distinction....
, both of whom were in "reserved" occupations and, therefore, exempt from military service (Dyer was a police officer, and Reynolds a munitions worker), made speeches to the crowd in support of the wartime Austerity Loan. - On Saturday, 26 September, the Premiers, Essendon play a "patriotic" match against a Combined Services Team that included Alby PannamAlby PannamAlbert 'Alby' Pannam was an Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL between 1933 and 1943 and then again in 1945 for the Collingwood Football Club. He then was captain/coach for the Richmond Football Club Seconds side from 1946 to 1952, leading them to the premiership in 1946...
, Bob PrattBob PrattHarold Robert "Bob" Pratt was a former Australian rules footballer from Mitcham, Victoria.Pratt played with South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1930–1939 and again in 1946, and with the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association from 1940 to 1941...
, and Ron ToddRon Todd (footballer)Ronald Walford Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in the 1930s, and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association in the 1940s. Todd was an acrobatic and pacy forward, possessing a strong overhead mark...
, and win 24.18 (162) to 20.15 (135). - HawthornHawthorn Football ClubThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
recorded its only win of the season over CollingwoodCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
in Round 5, the first time that the Hawks had beaten the Magpies since they joined the VFL in 1925 (Hawthorn had lost the previous 29 meetings). Hawthorn would beat Collingwood again in 1943, but then not record another victory over the Magpies until 1955. Hawthorn's first win over Collingwood on the road would not happen until 1960.