| 1970 VFA premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Division 1 | |
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |
Prahran 3rd premiership |
| Minor premiers |
Prahran 3rd minor premiership |
| Division 2 | |
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |
Coburg 1st D2 premiership |
| Minor premiers |
Coburg 1st D2 minor premiership |
The 1970 Victorian Football Association season was the 89th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the tenth season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, marking the club's third Division 1 premiership; it defeated Williamstown, which qualified for the Grand Final in its first season after promotion to Division 1, on 20 September by 50 points. The Division 2 premiership was won by Coburg, in its second season since being relegated from Division 1.
Division 1
The Division 1 home-and-home season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals returned to the St Kilda Cricket Ground for the first time since 1966.
Ladder
| 1970 VFA Division 1 Ladder | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | Pct | PTS | ||
| 1 | Prahran (P) | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 2102 | 1561 | 134.6 | 60 | |
| 2 | Williamstown | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1962 | 1723 | 113.5 | 52 | |
| 3 | Port Melbourne | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1890 | 1531 | 123.5 | 44 | |
| 4 | Waverley | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 2045 | 1720 | 118.9 | 44 | |
| 5 | Sandringham | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 2083 | 1975 | 105.9 | 44 | |
| 6 | Preston | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1994 | 1700 | 105.4 | 44 | |
| 7 | Dandenong | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1936 | 1630 | 118.7 | 40 | |
| 8 | Oakleigh | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1656 | 2128 | 77.8 | 16 | |
| 9 | Geelong West | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1581 | 2337 | 67.6 | 12 | |
| 10 | Yarraville | 18 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 1585 | 2324 | 68.2 | 4 | |
| Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Source [1] | |||||||||
Finals
| Semi-finals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 30 August | Port Melbourne 10.15 (75) | def. by | Waverley 15.16 (106) | St Kilda Cricket Ground | [2] |
| Sunday, 6 September | Prahran 10.15 (75) | def. | Williamstown 9.15 (69) | St Kilda Cricket Ground | [3] |
| Preliminary Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 13 September | Williamstown 22.22 (154) | def. | Waverley 7.9 (51) | St Kilda Cricket Ground | [4] |
| 1970 VFA Division 1 Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 20 September | Prahran | def. | Williamstown | St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 26,000) | [5] |
| 3.5 (23) 9.7 (61) 16.15 (111) 17.18 (120) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
3.1 (19) 5.4 (34) 5.5 (35) 10.10 (70) |
Umpires: Anderson | ||
| Bartlett 4, Knox 4, Dowsing 3, Marinko 2, Emselle, Karanicolas, Kenneally, Parker | Goals | Hayward 2, Jackman 2, Hayward 2, Papley, Patterson, Smith, Stark | |||
| Culpin (ribs) | Injuries | ||||
Awards
- The leading goalkicker for the third consecutive season was Jim Miller ( Dandenong), who kicked 80 goals in the home-and-away season and did not participate in finals. [1]
- The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Fred Cook ( Yarraville). Cook, who later became the Association's all-time leading goalkicker, won the award as Yarraville's first choice ruckman and compared with the rest of his career kicked relatively few goals during the year; he polled 41 votes and won the award by a wide margin of 14 votes, despite Yarraville winning only one game for the season. Kevin Jackman ( Williamstown) was second with 27 votes, and Derek King ( Oakleigh) finished third with 22 votes. [6]
- Port Melbourne won the seconds premiership. Port Melbourne 16.18 (114) defeated Preston 14.9 (93) in the Grand Final, [4] played as a stand-alone match on Saturday 12 September at Toorak Park. [3]
Division 2
The Division 2 home-and-home 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
| 1970 VFA Division 2 Ladder | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEAM | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | Pct | PTS | ||
| 1 | Coburg (P) | 18 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2472 | 1379 | 179.1 | 64 | |
| 2 | Sunshine | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 2228 | 1496 | 148.8 | 60 | |
| 3 | Box Hill | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1859 | 1669 | 111.3 | 50 | |
| 4 | Brunswick | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1781 | 1714 | 103.9 | 40 | |
| 5 | Caulfield | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1892 | 1915 | 95.1 | 36 | |
| 6 | Frankston | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 1715 | 1987 | 86.3 | 32 | |
| 7 | Mordialloc | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 1449 | 1798 | 80.5 | 30 | |
| 8 | Northcote | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1621 | 1853 | 87.4 | 28 | |
| 9 | Werribee | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1524 | 2022 | 75.3 | 12 | |
| 10 | Camberwell | 18 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 1284 | 2010 | 63.8 | 8 | |
| Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Source [7] | |||||||||
Finals
| Semi-finals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 16 August | Box Hill 20.15 (135) | def. | Brunswick 16.7 (103) | Toorak Park | [8] |
| Sunday, 23 August | Coburg 25.12 (162) | def. | Sunshine 14.12 (96) | Toorak Park | [9] |
| Preliminary Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 30 August | Sunshine 12.12 (84) | def. by | Box Hill 16.7 (103) | Toorak Park | [10] |
| 1970 VFA Division 2 Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 6 September | Coburg | def. | Box Hill | Toorak Park (crowd: 8,000) | [11] |
| 5.4 (34) 11.13 (79) 16.15 (111) 20.17 (137) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
4.2 (26) 8.6 (54) 12.10 (82) 16.11 (107) |
Umpires: Anderson | ||
| Sporton 5, Hepper 4, McCarthy 3, Morrison 3, Kirkman 2, Gale, Marsh, Sullivan | Goals | Barnett 6, Dawson 3, Abbott 2, Baker 2, Smith 2, Crisp | |||
Awards
- The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was George Allen ( Sunshine), who kicked 73 goals in the home-and-away season, [7] and 80 goals overall. [10]
- The J. J. Field Medal was won by Greg Smith ( Mordialloc), who polled 39 votes. Smith finished ahead of Bob Kirkman ( Coburg), who was second with 33 votes. [12]
- Northcote won the seconds premiership. Northcote 15.19 (109) defeated Sunshine 13.14 (92) in the Grand Final, held as a stand-alone match on Saturday 29 August at Skinner Reserve. [10]
Notable events
- On 16 March, the Association was formally expelled from the Australian National Football Council as punishment for its refusal to establish a clearance reciprocity agreement with the Victorian Football League during the previous season. The expulsion passed by a vote of 6–3, and brought an end to the Association's twenty-year affiliation with the national body. As a consequence of the expulsion, the League was now free under ANFC rules to field Association players without a permit; likewise the Association could field League players without a permit, but it had already been doing so against ANFC rules. [13]
- Prior to the season, the Broadmeadows Football Club submitted an application to join the Association; but the application was rejected because Association was not interested in expanding beyond twenty teams. [14]
- On 26 April, Prahran defeated Preston to end Preston's 18-match winning streak. [15]
- The final round in Division 1 saw one of the closest finishes to the home-and-away in Association history, with five teams –
Sandringham,
Port Melbourne,
Dandenong,
Waverley and
Preston – battling in the final round for the last two positions in the final four. In the final round:
[1]
- Sandringham, which could have claimed third place with a victory, suffered a heavy loss against Williamstown, trailing by 57 points at quarter time before losing by 41 points
- Port Melbourne defeated Dandenong by 13 points to claim third place from Sandringham on percentage, and leave Dandenong out of the finals by four premiership points
- Waverley defeated Oakleigh by 93 points to claim fourth place from Sandringham on percentage
- Preston defeated Geelong West by 32 points, falling 0.5%pts short of passing Sandringham on percentage for fifth place; the percentage gap to Waverley for fourth place was in any case insurmountable, so Waverley's win eliminated Preston from finals contention.
- Williamstown reached the Division 1 Grand Final in its first season after promotion from Division 2. It was the best performance by a team in its first season after promotion in the history of Division 2. [16]
External links
References
- ^ a b c Murray Hubbard (24 August 1970). "Fiery Port in the four". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 58.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (31 August 1970). "Waverley strongly". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 54.
- ^ a b Murray Hubbard (7 September 1970). "Prahran wins by 6 points". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
- ^ a b Murray Hubbard (14 September 1970). "Easy, but not dull". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 56.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (21 September 1970). "'Town flops badly". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
- ^ "Cook takes VFA award". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 27 August 1970. p. 62.
- ^ a b "Scores in the VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 10 August 1970. p. 46.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (17 August 1970). "Sandy turns on 'power'". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 46.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (24 August 1970). "Coburg's claim". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 58.
- ^ a b c Murray Hubbard (31 August 1970). "Box Hill is not troubled". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 54.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (7 September 1970). "Flag to Coburg". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 52.
- ^ "VFA best". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 13 August 1970. p. 58.
- ^ Scot Palmer (17 March 1970). "Permits: VFA is expelled". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 62.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (10 April 1970). "New look in VFA teams". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 45.
- ^ Murray Hubbard (27 April 1970). "Prahran in upset win". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 57.
- ^ Fiddian, Marc (2004), The VFA: a history of the Victorian Football Association, 1877–1995, p. 40