1910 VFL season explained

Year:	1910
Date:	30 April—1 October 1910
Teams:	10
Premcount:	3
Mpcount:	4
Leadinggoalkicker:	Percy Martini
Goals:	51
Matches:	94

The 1910 VFL season was the 14th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 30 April to 1 October, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

won the premiership, defeating by 14 points in the 1910 VFL grand final; it was Collingwood's third VFL premiership. Carlton won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 15–3 win–loss record. 's Percy Martini won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

In 1910, the VFL competition comprised ten 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 team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1910 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 14.15 (99)| | 4.12 (36)| Brunswick Street Oval| 14 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 13.9 (87)| | 5.16 (46)| Victoria Park| 14 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 16.18 (114)| | 5.7 (37)| Punt Road Oval| 14 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 8.10 (58)| | 15.17 (107)| EMCG| 14 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.9 (45)| | 10.15 (75)| Corio Oval| 14 May 1910

Round 3

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 7.11 (53)| | 9.13 (67)| Brunswick Street Oval| 21 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 13.13 (91)| | 2.6 (18)| Victoria Park| 21 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 10.13 (73)| | 7.10 (52)| EMCG| 21 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 10.7 (67)| | 11.7 (73)| Lake Oval| 21 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 5.6 (36)| | 9.15 (69)| MCG| 21 May 1910

Round 4

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.9 (45)| | 9.4 (58)| Corio Oval| 28 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.13 (49)| | 4.8 (32)| Princes Park| 28 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 7.9 (51)| | 8.6 (54)| Junction Oval| 28 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 7.19 (61)| | 4.8 (32)| Punt Road Oval| 28 May 1910|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.7 (43)| | 4.17 (41)| EMCG| 28 May 1910

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

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
bgcolor=FFFFBB		Qualified for finals

|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 1 || align=left | || 18 || 15 || 3 || 0 || 1167 || 729 || 160.1 || 60|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 2 || align=left | (P) || 18 || 13 || 5 || 0 || 993 || 812 || 122.3 || 52|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 3 || align=left | || 18 || 12 || 6 || 0 || 1080 || 884 || 122.2 || 48|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 4 || align=left | || 18 || 12 || 6 || 0 || 1113 || 963 || 115.6 || 48|-| 5 || align=left | || 18 || 10 || 7 || 1 || 1008 || 952 || 105.9 || 42|-| 6 || align=left | || 18 || 10 || 8 || 0 || 994 || 979 || 101.5 || 40|-| 7 || align=left | || 18 || 7 || 10 || 1 || 937 || 913 || 102.6 || 30|-| 8 || align=left | || 18 || 5 || 13 || 0 || 952 || 1048 || 90.8 || 20|-| 9 || align=left | || 18 || 4 || 14 || 0 || 802 || 1347 || 59.5 || 16|-| 10 || align=left | || 18 || 1 || 17 || 0 || 692 || 1111 || 62.3 || 4|}

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 54.1
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

All of the 1910 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the semi-finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

See main article: 1910 VFL Grand Final.

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Carlton	1.2	2.6	4.9	6.11 (47)
Collingwood	4.3	5.3	8.5	9.7 (61)

Season notes

Former Carlton coach Jack Worrall was appointed umpires' coach, with a view to raising standards and decreasing violence.^[1]
Round 2, originally scheduled for 7 May, was postponed by one week, and remaining rounds pushed back by one week, due to the death of Edward VII on 6 May.
In the last quarter of the round 4 match between Carlton and South Melbourne, Carlton's George Topping coward-hit South Melbourne's Bert Streckfuss behind the play, causing spectators to jump the fence and participate in an all-in melee with players and officials. Topping was suspended for the remainder of 1910 and all of 1911 as a result of the incident.^[1]
VFL conducted an inquiry into allegations that particular players from Carlton, Fitzroy, Melbourne, and South Melbourne had been paid to play "dead". In particular, Carlton's Doug Gillespie, Alex "Bongo" Lang, and Doug Fraser were investigated (the inquiry dealt with Lang and Fraser behind closed doors). Gillespie was exonerated, while Lang and Fraser were each suspended for five years.^[1]
St Kilda, after losing its first seventeen games, defeated minor premier Carlton in a major upset in the last round to avoid its expected fifth winless season. It remains the worst start by a VFL/AFL team that did not finish winless, equalled in 2001 by .
Carlton player and Secretary Arthur Charles "Shooter" Ford was charged with abusing and physically threatening the field umpire (off the field) after Carlton's round 14 match against Fitzroy; Ford was suspended for 12 months and debarred from his role as Club Secretary.^[1] There was speculation that the issue between the two was connected with the suspension of George Topping earlier in the season.
T.W Sherrin manufactured special footballs for the Premiership Finals.^[1]

Awards

The 1910 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Percy Martini of Geelong with 51 goals.
St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1910.

References

Player payments and the great bribery scandal

Sources

1910 VFL season at AFL Tables
1910 VFL season at Australian Football

Notes and References

Book: Ross. John. 100 Years of Australian Football. 1996. Viking Books. Ringwood, Australia. 9781854714343. 382.