1975 VFA season

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1975 VFA premiership season
Division 1
Teams10
PremiersGeelong West
1st premiership
Minor premiersGeelong West
1st minor premiership
Division 2
Teams10
PremiersBrunswick
1st D2 premiership
Minor premiersBrunswick
1st D2 minor premiership
Attendance
Matches played188
Total attendance880,914 (4,686 per match)[1]
← 1974
1976 →

The 1975 Victorian Football Association season was the 94th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 15th season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Geelong West Football Club, after it defeated Dandenong in the Grand Final on 21 September by 28 points; it was the first and only Division 1 premiership won by Geelong West in its time in the Association. The Division 2 premiership was won by Brunswick; it was Brunswick's first premiership in either division since 1938.

Division 1[edit]

The Division 1 home-and-away season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals were played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.

Ladder[edit]

1975 VFA Division 1 Ladder
TEAM P W L D PF PA Pct PTS
1 Geelong West (P) 18 15 3 0 2125 1596 133.1 60
2 Port Melbourne 18 14 4 0 2209 1680 131.4 56
3 Dandenong 18 12 6 0 1893 1690 112.0 48
4 Coburg 18 11 7 0 2051 1765 116.2 44
5 Preston 18 8 10 0 1831 1930 94.8 32
6 Prahran 18 8 10 0 1776 2070 85.7 32
7 Oakleigh 18 7 11 0 1795 2003 89.6 28
8 Caulfield 18 6 12 0 1919 2213 86.7 24
9 Sandringham 18 5 13 0 1758 1889 94.0 20
10 Williamstown 18 4 14 0 1599 2120 75.4 16
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[2]

Finals[edit]

Semi-finals
Sunday, 31 August Dandenong 18.16 (124) def. Coburg 17.18 (120) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 11,264) [3]
Sunday, 7 September Geelong West 16.17 (113) def. Port Melbourne 11.15 (81) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 16,928) [4]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 14 September Port Melbourne 16.13 (109) def. by Dandenong 17.11 (113) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 17,827) [5]


1975 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Sunday, 21 September Geelong West def. Dandenong St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 27,582) [6]
7.4 (46)
10.5 (65)
15.12 (102)
 18.13 (121)
Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final
1.2 (8)
6.7 (43)
7.7 (49)
 14.9 (93)
Umpires: Rex Wenn
Radojevic 4, Wells 3, Bright 2, Lynch 2, Stephens 2, Yates 2, Gilmore, Hughes, Woolfe Goals Briese 3, Miller 3, Payze 2, Castricum, Flaherty, Hibbert, Moran, Orchard, Shinners
Reports Walker, for striking Hughes in the second quarter
Walker, for striking Lynch in the second quarter
Shinners, for striking Manson in the second quarter
Melai, for misconduct against Manson in the second quarter

Awards[edit]

  • The leading goalkicker for the season was Joe Radojevic (Geelong West), who kicked 110 goals in the home-and-away season[2] and 119 goals overall.[4][6]
  • The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Derek King (Oakleigh), who polled 32 votes. King finished ahead of Peter Marshall (Preston), who finished second with 30 votes, and Alan Mannix (Coburg), who finished third with 24 votes.[7]
  • Coburg won the seconds premiership; it was the second consecutive season that Coburg had won the seconds premiership, with the first of those coming in Division 2. Coburg 17.13 (115) defeated Port Melbourne 9.13 (67) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday 13 September.[5]
  • Prahran won the lightning premiership. Prahran 7.2 (44) defeated Northcote 3.5 (23) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior Grand Final on Sunday 21 September.[6]

Division 2[edit]

The Division 2 home-and-away season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park.

Ladder[edit]

1975 VFA Division 2 Ladder
TEAM P W L D PF PA Pct PTS
1 Brunswick (P) 18 15 3 0 2264 1565 144.6 60
2 Camberwell 18 13 4 1 2134 1622 131.5 54
3 Sunshine 18 13 5 0 2155 1679 128.3 52
4 Frankston 18 12 6 0 2088 1758 118.6 48
5 Northcote 18 12 6 0 2068 1991 101.8 48
6 Mordialloc 18 8 9 1 1752 1771 98.9 34
7 Yarraville 18 7 11 0 1937 2166 89.4 28
8 Waverley 18 6 12 0 2073 2180 95.0 24
9 Werribee 18 2 16 0 1429 2475 57.7 8
10 Box Hill 18 1 17 0 1578 2229 70.7 4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[8]

Finals[edit]

Semi-finals
Sunday, 17 August Sunshine 17.15 (117) def. Frankston 13.15 (93) Toorak Park [9]
Sunday, 24 August Brunswick 24.31 (175) def. Camberwell 14.14 (98) Toorak Park (crowd: 11,268) [2]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 31 August Camberwell 15.12 (102) def. Sunshine 15.9 (99) Toorak Park (crowd: 5,000) [3]


1975 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 7 September Brunswick def. Camberwell Toorak Park (crowd: 9,000) [4]
6.8 (44)
9.14 (68)
14.21 (105)
 18.22 (130)
Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final
1.3 (9)
5.4 (34)
9.7 (61)
 12.11 (83)
Umpires: Rex Wenn
Baird 5, Brigham 2, O'Connor 2, Valentine 2, Warden 2, Laker, Nunn, Orton, Rowe, Woodham Goals Hammond 4, Stone 3, Kennedy 2, Andrews, Sauerberg, Simpson
Nunn (shoulder) Injuries

Awards[edit]

  • The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was Garry Hammond (Camberwell) who kicked 103 goals in the home-and-away season,[8] and 112 goals overall.[2][3][4]
  • The J. Field Medal was won by Geoff Bryant (Box Hill), who polled 49 votes; it was Bryant's second Field medal in three years, each won by a considerable margin, and each won despite Box Hill finishing last on the ladder. Bryant finished ahead of Barry Nolan (Brunswick), who finished second with 26 votes, and George Stone (Camberwell), who finished third with 24 votes.[7]
  • Northcote won the seconds premiership. Northcote 15.18 (108) defeated Brunswick 13.12 (90) in the Grand Final on Saturday, 6 September.[4]

Notable events[edit]

Interleague matches[edit]

For the first time since 1968, and the first time since its expulsion from the Australian National Football Council, the Association played an interleague representative match.[10] The match was played in Wangaratta against the Ovens and Murray Football League. The match was played during the lean half of a split-round in the Association fixture, and selection in the team was controversially limited to players from the twelve clubs which were idle that weekend – which automatically excluded 40% of Association players from eligibility. Colin Hobbs (Coburg) captained the team.

1975 Interleague Matches
Sunday, 15 June O&M 24.23 (167) def. V.F.A. 17.9 (111) City Oval, Wangaratta [11]

Other notable events[edit]

  • On 18 May, Werribee ended a long losing streak against Frankston; Frankston had won its previous seventeen matches against Werribee.[12]
  • During the season, Sandringham became the first Association club to hold a full liquor licence.[13]
  • On 27 July, Northcote trailed Yarraville by 50 points at quarter time, before coming from behind to win by 32 points; Northcote 22.15 (147) d. Yarraville 17.13 (115).[14]
  • Camberwell opened the season with thirteen consecutive victories, but failed to win another home-and-away match season and fell to second on the ladder.[15] It fared little better in the finals, barely holding on for a three-point preliminary final win after leading by 40 points during the final quarter,[3] but losing its other two finals comfortably.
  • Eighteen minutes into the final quarter of the Division 1 preliminary final, Port Melbourne led Dandenong by 22 points; Dandenong kicked four goals in the time that remained to steal the match by two points.[5]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Marc Fiddian (25 June 1976). "Crowds up at VFA". The Age. Melbourne. p. 23.
  2. ^ a b c d Ken Piesse (25 August 1975). "Port's Holt ruffles Roosters". The Age. Melbourne. p. 31.
  3. ^ a b c d Ken Piesse (1 September 1975). "Dandy day for VFA veterans". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25.
  4. ^ a b c d e Ken Piesse (8 September 1975). "Roosters crowing". The Age. Melbourne. p. 23.
  5. ^ a b c Ken Piesse (15 September 1975). "Moran the spark to Dandy". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25.
  6. ^ a b c Ken Piesse (22 September 1975). "Roosters unruffled". The Age. Melbourne. p. 27.
  7. ^ a b Ken Piesse (28 August 1975). "King Derek". The Age. Melbourne. pp. 28, 26.
  8. ^ a b Ken Piesse (11 August 1975). "VFA stars 100 up". The Age. Melbourne. p. 14.
  9. ^ Ken Piesse (18 August 1975). "Miller kicks another 12". The Age. Melbourne. p. 13.
  10. ^ Ken Piesse (14 June 1975). "Geelong West to gain revenge". The Age. Melbourne. p. 21.
  11. ^ Ken Piesse (16 June 1975). "Fighting Roosters cock o' the walk". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 16.
  12. ^ Ken Piesse (19 May 1975). "Cook gets 12 of Port's 30.17". The Age. Melbourne. p. 27.
  13. ^ Ken Piesse (27 July 1975). "Waverley exercises right to Cruse". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25.
  14. ^ Ken Piesse (28 July 1975). "Dandenong revives to beat Coburg". The Age. Melbourne. p. 23.
  15. ^ Ken Piesse (23 August 1975). "Port to take flag rehearsal". The Age. Melbourne. p. 31.