1918 VFL season explained

Year:	1918
Date:	11 May—7 September 1918
Teams:	8
Premcount:	2
Mpcount:	3
Leadinggoalkicker:	Ern Cowley
Goals:	35
Matches:	59

The 1918 VFL season was the 22nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. Played during the final year of World War I, eight of the league's nine clubs featured in 1918, with and returning after being in recess the previous two seasons and only absent. The season ran from 11 May to 7 September, comprising a 14-match home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

won the premiership, defeating by five points in the 1918 VFL grand final; it was South Melbourne's second VFL premiership. South Melbourne also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 13–1 win–loss record. 's Ern Cowley won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

In 1918, the VFL competition consisted of eight 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 14 rounds.

Once the 14 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1918 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Home-and-away season

Round 1

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 7.15 (57)| | 4.7 (31)| Lake Oval| 11 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 4.16 (40)| | 4.10 (34)| Junction Oval| 11 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 5.16 (46)| | 4.10 (34)| Punt Road Oval| 11 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 8.17 (65)| | 4.6 (30)| Victoria Park| 11 May 1918

Round 2

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 5.8 (38)| | 12.6 (78)| Brunswick Street Oval| 18 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 8.13 (61)| | 6.18 (54)| EMCG| 18 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 8.5 (53)| | 7.16 (58)| Princes Park| 18 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 5.6 (36)| | 7.6 (48)| Corio Oval| 18 May 1918

Round 3

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"| Home team| Home team score| Away team| Away team score| Venue| Date|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 11.11 (77)| | 7.9 (51)| Princes Park| 25 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.8 (44)| | 10.12 (72)| Punt Road Oval| 25 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 6.16 (52)| | 4.12 (36)| Corio Oval| 25 May 1918|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"| | 12.13 (85)| | 9.13 (67)| Lake Oval| 25 May 1918

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
bgcolor=FFFFBB		Qualified for finals

|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 1 || align=left | (P) || 14 || 13 || 1 || 0 || 970 || 678 || 143.1 || 52|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 2 || align=left | || 14 || 10 || 4 || 0 || 956 || 659 || 145.1 || 40|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 3 || align=left | || 14 || 8 || 6 || 0 || 862 || 740 || 116.5 || 32|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 4 || align=left | || 14 || 8 || 6 || 0 || 742 || 805 || 92.2 || 32|-| 5 || align=left | || 14 || 6 || 8 || 0 || 774 || 784 || 98.7 || 24|-| 6 || align=left | || 14 || 5 || 9 || 0 || 752 || 857 || 87.7 || 20|-| 7 || align=left | || 14 || 3 || 11 || 0 || 716 || 944 || 75.8 || 12|-| 8 || align=left | || 14 || 3 || 11 || 0 || 547 || 852 || 64.2 || 12|}

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 56.4
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

All of the 1918 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.

The second semi-final was scheduled to be played on the 24th of August, but heavy rain caused a postponement to the 31st of August the first postponement of a finals match in VFL history.^[1] ^[2]

Semi-finals

Grand final

See main article: 1918 VFL Grand Final. South Melbourne defeated Collingwood 9.8 (62) to 7.15 (57), in front of a crowd of 39,168 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Season notes

Essendon and St Kilda re-entered the VFL competition. The Essendon players met their own expenses and played as amateurs, with the club donating all of its 1918 profits (which amounted to £194-19-8) to "patriotic and charitable purposes".
In Round 2, Richmond recorded its first VFL win over Carlton after 23 consecutive losses, a losing streak dating back to Richmond's entry into the VFL in 1908.

Awards

The 1918 VFL Premiership team was South Melbourne.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Ern Cowley of Carlton with 34 goals.
Essendon took the "wooden spoon" in 1918.

References

Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.
Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998.
Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.

Sources

1918 VFL season at AFL Tables
1918 VFL season at Australian Football

Notes and References

Book: Atkinson . Graeme . The Complete Book of AFL Finals . 2002 . Five Mile Press . Noble Park, Australia . 186503892X . 608.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242727443 No League Game Today; Semi-Final Postponed owing to Bad Weather, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 24 August 1918), p.3.