1907 VFL season

The 1907 VFL season was the eleventh season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured eight clubs, ran from 27 April until 21 September, and comprised a 17-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

1907 VFL Premiership season
Carlton, Premier team
Teams8
PremiersCarlton
(2nd premiership)
Minor premiersCarlton
(2nd minor premiership)
Matches played71
Highest attendance45,477
Leading Goalkicker MedallistDick Lee (Collingwood)

The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the second time and second time consecutively, after it defeated South Melbourne by five points in the 1907 VFL Grand Final.

Premiership season

In 1907, the VFL competition consisted of eight 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 14 rounds. Then, based on ladder positions after those 14 rounds, three further 'sectional rounds' were played, with the teams ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th playing in one section and the teams ranked 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th playing in the other.

Once the 17 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1907 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus 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

Sectional Rounds

Sectional Round 1 (Round 15)

Sectional Round 1 (Round 15)
Saturday, 17 August South Melbourne 8.9 (57) def. Carlton 4.16 (40) Lake Oval
Saturday, 17 August St Kilda 8.19 (67) def. Collingwood 3.8 (26) Junction Oval
Saturday, 17 August Essendon 10.11 (71) def. Melbourne 8.8 (56) East Melbourne Cricket Ground
Saturday, 17 August Fitzroy 12.16 (88) def. Geelong 5.8 (38) Brunswick Street Oval

Sectional Round 2 (Round 16)

Sectional Round 2 (Round 16)
Saturday, 24 August Carlton 11.12 (78) def. Essendon 7.5 (47) Princes Park
Saturday, 24 August Collingwood 11.16 (82) def. by Fitzroy 15.4 (94) Victoria Park
Saturday, 24 August Geelong 5.8 (38) def. by St Kilda 4.17 (41) Corio Oval
Saturday, 24 August Melbourne 7.8 (50) def. by South Melbourne 10.14 (74) Melbourne Cricket Ground

Sectional Round 3 (Round 17)

Sectional Round 3 (Round 17)
Saturday, 31 August Carlton 9.8 (62) def. Melbourne 4.12 (36) Princes Park
Saturday, 31 August Collingwood 9.17 (71) def. by Geelong 12.4 (76) Victoria Park
Saturday, 31 August Essendon 6.7 (43) def. by South Melbourne 15.9 (99) East Melbourne Cricket Ground
Saturday, 31 August St Kilda 3.14 (32) def. by Fitzroy 6.9 (45) Junction Oval

Ladder

1907 VFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Carlton (P) 17 13 4 0 1060 681 155.7 52 Semi finals
2 South Melbourne 17 11 6 0 915 773 118.4 44
3 St Kilda 17 9 8 0 935 796 117.5 36
4 Collingwood 17 9 8 0 970 879 110.4 36
5 Fitzroy 17 7 10 0 864 1011 85.5 28
6 Geelong 17 7 10 0 844 989 85.3 28
7 Melbourne 17 7 10 0 800 987 81.1 28
8 Essendon 17 5 12 0 774 1046 74.0 20
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Semi finals

First Semi Final

Second Semi Final

Grand final

Carlton defeated South Melbourne 6.14 (50) to 6.9 (45). (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Team 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr Final
Carlton 1.4 4.6 6.10 6.14 (50)
South Melbourne 1.3 3.5 4.7 6.9 (45)

Awards

Notable events

  • The rules concerning kick-ins were amended, such that if the full back crossed outside the goal square before kicking the ball, a ball-up would be called on the top of the goal square. Previously, the full-back was given a second opportunity to kick legally, before a free kick would be awarded.[1]
  • Due to the "Special" football train arriving late, the start of the third match between Fitzroy and Geelong at Brunswick Street Oval was delayed by twenty minutes.
  • In round 6, St. Kilda defeated Melbourne 15.18 (108) to 7.9 (51); It was the first time in the club's 173 VFL matches to that point that St. Kilda scored 100 points.
  • The VFL played two representative matches on Saturday 8 June, in the week between Rounds 6 and 7: on the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the VFL 25.20 (170) defeated the Ballarat Football Association 3.7 (25); and at Bendigo, the VFL 14.10 (94) defeated the Bendigo Football League 7.11 (53).[2] The VFL played a return match against the Ballarat Association on the Ballarat City Oval on Saturday 27 July, the week between Rounds 12 and 13; in a rain-affected game, the VFL 8.4 (52) defeated Ballarat 3.7 (25).[3]
  • In Round 8, Fitzroy kicked eleven goals without a behind against Collingwood, before three misses in the last quarter. They did not score in the second and third quarters after kicking 7.0 (42) in the first quarter.
  • In Round 11, Geelong defeated St. Kilda despite having ten fewer scoring shots; before this, no VFL team had won with a deficit in scoring shots greater than eight. They repeated the feat of winning with ten fewer shots against Collingwood in the last round.
  • During that last match, Collingwood succumbed to Geelong despite being 38 points ahead at three quarter time; this record was not beaten until 1936.
  • The playing surface in each of the season's Semi-Finals that had been played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground (South Melbourne v. Collingwood, and Carlton v. St. Kilda) had been so rock hard and dusty that the two match winners demanded that the MCG be watered before the next Saturday, unless there was substantial rain. The VFL acquiesced to this request, and the ground was watered; the ensuing Premiership final, which Carlton won by 5 points, was on significantly softer ground.
  • In the 1907 pre-season, then VFA team Richmond played a practice match against VFL team Geelong at Corio Oval, in direct defiance of a VFA edict. On 22 October 1907, Richmond, who had become quite dissatisfied with the VFA, applied to join the VFL; their application was unanimously accepted at a meeting nine days later, and Richmond competed for the first time in the 1908 VFL season.
  • St Kilda qualify for their first VFL Finals appearance.

Footnotes

  1. "Victorian Football League – a Football Squabble". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 16 April 1907. p. 16.
  2. "Sporting News". The Ballarat Star. Melbourne, VIC. 10 June 1907. p. 4.
  3. Follower (29 July 1907). "Victorian League v Ballarat". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 10.

References

  • 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
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