1980 VFL season

The 1980 VFL season was the 84th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 29 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

1980 VFL Premiership season
Teams12
PremiersRichmond
(10th premiership)
Minor premiersGeelong
(10th minor premiership)
Night seriesNorth Melbourne
(1st Night series win)
Matches played138
Attendance3,770,917 (27,325 per match)
Highest attendance113,461
Coleman MedallistMichael Roach (Richmond)
Brownlow MedallistKelvin Templeton (Footscray)

The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club for the tenth time, after it defeated Collingwood by 81 points in the 1980 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

North Melbourne defeated Collingwood 8.9 (57) to 7.12 (54) in the final.

Premiership season

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

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

1980 VFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Geelong 22 17 5 0 2362 1888 125.1 68 Finals
2 Carlton 22 17 5 0 2576 2128 121.1 68
3 Richmond (P) 22 16 5 1 2754 1990 138.4 66
4 North Melbourne 22 14 7 1 2345 1894 123.8 58
5 Collingwood 22 14 7 1 2491 2178 114.4 58
6 South Melbourne 22 13 9 0 2211 2174 101.7 52
7 Essendon 22 10 12 0 2268 2151 105.4 40
8 Hawthorn 22 10 12 0 2249 2381 94.5 40
9 Melbourne 22 5 17 0 2140 2709 79.0 20
10 Footscray 22 5 17 0 2056 2737 75.1 20
11 St Kilda 22 4 16 2 1872 2704 69.2 20
12 Fitzroy 22 4 17 1 2398 2788 86.0 18
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals

Qualifying & Elimination Finals

Semi finals

Preliminary Final

Grand final

Richmond defeated Collingwood 23.21 (159) to 9.24 (78), in front of a crowd of 113,461 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Awards

  • The leading goal kicker was Michael Roach of Richmond with 112 goals
  • The Brownlow Medal was won by Footscray's Kelvin Templeton
  • The Richmond Football Club set a unique record, with the club's three full-forwards each kicking more than 100 goals in the 1980 season.
    • The full-forward of its Senior team, Michael Roach, kicked 112 goals.
    • The full-forward of its Reserve team, Mark Jackson, kicked 131 goals (a record for the Reserve competition).
    • The full-forward of its Under-19 team, Peter Lane, kicked 116 goals.
  • The under 19s premiership was won by Richmond 15.13 (103) against Fitzroy 13.11 (89) in the under 19s Grand Final on 27 September.
  • The reserves premiership was won by Geelong 24.15 (159) against South Melbourne 19.12 (126) in the reserves Grand Final on 27 September.[1]
  • The seniors premiership was won by Richmond 23.21 (159) against Collingwood 9.24 (78) in the seniors Grand Final on 27 September.

Notable events

  • Following persistent wrestling between ruckmen Peter Moore and Gary Dempsey at centre bounces during the 1979 Preliminary Final between Collingwood and North Melbourne, the VFL introduced for the 1980 season a dividing line drawn across the centre circle in the wing-to-wing direction; under the new rules, each ruckman was forced to begin and run from his side of the line at a centre bounce, to eliminate wrestling.[2] The rule was officially adopted at the national level in November 1982.[3]
  • In Round 4, Essendon's Phil Carman was reported for striking St. Kilda's Garry Sidebottom and headbutting boundary umpire Graham Carberry at Moorabbin. He was suspended for a total of 20 matches—4 for striking Sidebottom and 16 for headbutting Carberry.
  • North Melbourne's Kerry Good scored the winning goal after the final siren had sounded in the 1980 Escort Championships Night Grand Final at VFL Park—a goal that was highly controversial as the umpires had not heard the siren seconds before Kerry Good had marked the ball from a kick by Malcolm Blight. Collingwood lost the match by only three points.
  • The league threatened to kick Footscray off the Western Oval and force it to play its games away from home, after the Footscray Council granted the Footscray J.U.S.T. (a soccer team playing in the NSL) a lease to play games at the ground on Sundays – in defiance of a League stipulation that League grounds could not be shared with other codes during winter. In the end, Footscray-J.U.S.T. played most of its games elsewhere, and the League was not forced to follow through on its ultimatum.[4]
  • On 5 July, the VFL put together three separate Victorian representative teams to compete in different interstate games. The No. 1 team recorded a 21-point victory against Western Australia at VFL Park, and the No. 2 team recorded an 80-point win against Queensland at the Gabba; but, the No. 3 team suffered an upset 13-point loss against the A.C.T. at Manuka Oval, prompting league president Dr Allan Aylett to describe it as the worst team ever to represent Victoria.[5]
  • 1980 was the first season in which neither of the top two teams of the home-and-away season reached the Grand Final. It would be the only such instance for nearly four decades, until the 2019 AFL season.
  • To date, this is the only season in which the bottom placed side scored more points during the home & away season than the top finishing side.

See also

References

  1. Andrew Rule (29 September 1980). "Cats settle for seconds best". The Age. Melbourne. p. 34.
  2. Atkinson, Graeme (1989). 3AW Book of Footy Records. South Melbourne: Magistra Publishing Company Pty Ltd. p. 278. ISBN 1863210091..
  3. Gerry Carmen (23 November 1982). "Centre line – it's official". The Age. Melbourne. p. 42.
  4. "Ultimatum by VFL". The Age. Melbourne. 23 May 1980. p. 26.
  5. Tony Bourke (7 July 1980). "Qld: thanks for the thrashing". The Age. Melbourne. p. 26.

Bibliography

  • Stephen Rogers and Ashley Browne (1998). Every Game Ever Played. 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.
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