1988 VFL season

The 1988 VFL season was the 92nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria; and, as it featured clubs from New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, the de facto highest level senior competition in Australia. The season featured fourteen clubs, ran from 2 April until 24 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

1988 VFL Premiership season
Teams14
PremiersHawthorn
(7th premiership)
Minor premiersHawthorn
(6th minor premiership)
pre-season cupHawthorn
(1st pre-season cup win)
Matches played160
Attendance3,528,878 (22,055 per match)
Highest attendance93,754 (Grand Final, Hawthorn vs. Melbourne)
Coleman MedallistJason Dunstall (Hawthorn)
Brownlow MedallistGerard Healy (Sydney)

The premiership was won by the Hawthorn Football Club for the seventh time, after it defeated Melbourne by 96 points in the 1988 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

Hawthorn 10.10 (70) defeated Geelong 9.13 (67) in the Night Series, which for the first time was played entirely as a pre-season competition, rather than a concurrent competition to the Premiership season.

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
1988 VFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Hawthorn (P) 22 19 3 0 2791 1962 142.3 76 Finals
2 Collingwood 22 15 6 1 1948 1728 112.7 62
3 Carlton 22 15 7 0 2342 1961 119.4 60
4 West Coast 22 13 9 0 2199 1966 111.9 52
5 Melbourne 22 13 9 0 2003 1961 102.1 52
6 Essendon 22 12 10 0 2186 2017 108.4 48
7 Sydney 22 12 10 0 2169 2176 99.7 48
8 Footscray 22 11 11 0 1880 1803 104.3 44
9 Geelong 22 10 12 0 2356 2246 104.9 40
10 Richmond 22 8 14 0 2161 2540 85.1 32
11 North Melbourne 22 7 14 1 2361 2638 89.5 30
12 Fitzroy 22 7 15 0 2128 2538 83.8 28
13 Brisbane Bears 22 7 15 0 1806 2421 74.6 28
14 St Kilda 22 4 18 0 1708 2081 82.1 16
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals

Elimination finals

Qualifying final

Semi finals

Preliminary final

Grand Final
Main article: 1988 VFL Grand Final

Player statistics and awards

Leading goalkickers
Name Club Goals
1 Jason Dunstall Hawthorn 132
2 Simon Beasley Footscray 82
- Gary Ablett Geelong 82
4 Brian Taylor Collingwood 73
- Ross Glendinning West Coast 73

Brownlow Medal count
Name Club Votes
1 Gerard Healy Sydney 20
2 Simon Madden Essendon 16
- Jason Dunstall Hawthorn 16
4 Tony Hall Hawthorn 15
5 Darren Millane Collingwood 14
- Darren Kappler Fitzroy 14
- Peter Foster Footscray 14
  • The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Gerard Healy of the Sydney Swans.
  • The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Gary Ayres of Hawthorn.
  • North Melbourne 18.16 (124) defeated Essendon 06.05 (41) in the under 19's grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the reserves grand final on 24 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
  • Footscray 17.14 (116) defeated North Melbourne 14.12 (96) in the reserves Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final on 24 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[1]

Notable events
  • Three new rules aimed at encouraging a long-kicking style of play were introduced. These were:[2]
    • The length of the 15-metre penalty for wasting an opponent's time after he takes a mark was increased to fifty metres.
    • Players were required to take a kick if awarded a free kick. If the player played on by handpass, the ball would be returned for a ball-up; the penalty for playing on was originally a free kick to the opposition, but this was commuted to a ball up after proving unpopular during pre-season trials.
    • The full-back was required to kick the ball over a distance of at least two metres when kicking in after a behind.
  • The VFL banned lace-up guernseys starting from this season after Robert Flower and Brian Wilson both suffered broken fingers when they became tangled in the laces during tackles.[3] A handful of players had been wearing the tight-fitting guernseys which were laced up in the front in recent years.
  • The Brisbane Bears played two matches in Perth during the season. At the club's suggestion, Brisbane's home match against the West Coast Eagles in Round 3 was moved from Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast to the WACA Ground in Perth after persistent and heavy rain in south-eastern Queensland left the ground and its adjoining facilities unable to accommodate the game. Brisbane had expected the clubs' Round 16 match to be moved from Perth to Gold Coast in return, only to discover that the league considered the Round 3 match a home game for Brisbane, meaning that they would be required to travel for the Round 16 match in Perth as well.[4]
  • The VFL took over the operation of the financially crippled Sydney Swans during the year until its parent company, Powerplay, could find a buyer for the franchise. The VFL bought the club for a nominal $10 on 9 May, taking on its operating costs but not its debts.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Tattersalls Scoreboard". The Sun News-Pictorial (Grand Final Souvenir Liftout). Melbourne. 26 September 1988. p. 11.
  2. Daryl Timms (16 March 1988). "'Go' on footy rules". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 84.
  3. "Lace-ups get the boot". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 12 June 1987. p. 80.
  4. Paul Cunningham (13 April 1988). "Ground bugbear". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 82.
  5. Michael Davis (10 May 1988). "$4m for the Swans". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 74.

Bibliography
  • Stephen Rodgers: Every Game Ever Played VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991 3rd Edition 1992. Penguin Books Australia ISBN 0-670-90526-7.
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