1917 VFL season

The 1917 VFL season was the 21st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.

1917 VFL Premiership season
Collingwood, Premiers
Teams6
PremiersCollingwood
(4th premiership)
Minor premiersCollingwood
(5th minor premiership)
Matches played49
Highest attendance28,512
Leading Goalkicker MedallistDick Lee (Collingwood)

Played during the latter stages World War I, only six of the league's nine senior clubs competed, with Geelong and South Melbourne returning after being in recess the previous year. The season ran from 12 May until 22 September, and comprised a 15-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Collingwood Football Club for the fourth time, after it defeated Fitzroy by 35 points in the 1917 VFL Grand Final.

Premiership season

In 1917, the VFL competition consisted of six 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 of the six teams played each other three times in a 15 match home-and-away season (Geelong, Richmond, and South Melbourne each hosting eight games, while Carlton, Collingwood, and Fitzroy each hosted seven).

Once the 15 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1917 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

Round 15

Ladder
1917 VFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Collingwood (P) 15 10 4 1 1030 772 133.4 42 Finals
2 Carlton 15 9 5 1 843 724 116.4 38
3 South Melbourne 15 9 6 0 911 772 118.0 36
4 Fitzroy 15 6 8 1 832 963 86.4 26
5 Geelong 15 6 9 0 735 927 79.3 24
6 Richmond 15 3 11 1 761 954 79.8 14
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals

Semi finals

Preliminary Final

Grand final
Main article: 1917 VFL Grand Final

Awards

Notable events
  • Geelong and South Melbourne, having refused to compete in 1916 on "patriotic grounds" returned to the VFL competition, having concluded that the drop in the number of recruits in 1916 indicated that the VFL competition had no effect on military recruitment. The Geelong players met their own expenses and played as amateurs, with the club donating all of its 1917 profits to war funds.
  • On 12 May 1917, recruiting officers visiting VFL grounds were heckled by spectators.[1] On another occasion a Fitzroy crowd attacked a recruiting sergeant.[1]
  • On 4 August, the entire thirteenth round was put back a week, at the request of the State War Council, so that recruiting meetings could be held at each VFL ground.

References
  1. Ross, John (1996). 100 Years of Australian Football. Ringwood, Australia: Viking Books. p. 382. ISBN 9781854714343.
  • Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
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