1953 VFA season explained

Competition:	VFA Premiership season
Year:	1953 VFA
Teams:	14
Premiers:	Port Melbourne
Count:	7
Minor Premiers:	Port Melbourne
Mpcount:	5
Prevseason:	1952
Nextseason:	1954

The 1953 Victorian Football Association season was the 72nd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Yarraville by 60 points in the Grand Final on 3 October. It was Port Melbourne's seventh VFA premiership, and it was the only premiership that the club won during a sequence of eight consecutive Grand Finals played from 1950 until 1957, and five consecutive minor premierships won from 1951 until 1955.

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.

Finals

Awards

• The leading goalkicker for the home-and-home season was Johnny Walker (Williamstown), who kicked 98 goals.^[1]
• The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Ted Henrys (Preston), who polled 37 votes. Vic Hill (Oakleigh) was second with 33 votes, and Harry Simpson (Williamstown) and Colin Boyd (Prahran) were equal-third with 31 votes.^[2]
• Yarraville won the seconds premiership. Yarraville 10.13 (73) defeated Moorabbin 8.11 (59) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 3 October.

Notable events

Adelaide Carnival

The Association competed in the 1953 Adelaide Carnival, and finished in fourth place with a record of 1–3. Two Association players were named in the inaugural All-Australian team, which was named based on performances at the carnival: Frank Johnson and Ted Henrys.^[3]

Other notable events

• Early in the V.F.A. Sub-Districts season, the Port Melbourne Thirds team lost its first match since 1946, ending a 127-game winning streak. The team lost its first match in its inaugural season of 1946, before embarking on the record-breaking winning streak, which incorporated seven consecutive premierships.^{[4] [5] [6]}
• On 16 May, a premiership match between 1952 Grand Finalists Oakleigh and Port Melbourne was played at Bolton Park, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The match was arranged by the Australian National Football Council to help spread the game to the New South Wales riverina district.^[7] Port Melbourne 11.13 (79) defeated Oakleigh 8.13 (61) before a crowd of 4,000 people.^[8]
• On Tuesday 2 June (Coronation Day holiday), a representative match was played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground between teams representing the six North-of-the-Yarra clubs (Brunswick, Coburg, Northcote, Preston, Williamstown, Yarraville) and the eight South-of-the-Yarra clubs (Box Hill, Brighton, Camberwell, Moorabbin, Oakleigh, Port Melbourne, Prahran, Sandringham).^[9] North 11.20 (86) defeated South 10.9 (69), after overcoming an eighteen-point three-quarter time deficit.^[10] The North vs South game did not become a regular fixture in the VFA Senior competition, but later became the chief representative fixture in the VFL Thirds competition.
• In July, the Association was granted full voting rights within the Australian National Football Council for the first time. When the Association first affiliated with the ANFC in 1950, it had all rights of a full delegate except that it could not vote on motions.^[11]
• Several Association clubs encountered financial difficulties during the 1953 season. By July, Brighton, Camberwell and Northcote were all operating on an amateur basis, having lost the financial capacity to pay their players.^[12]
• In September, Ray Gibb (Box Hill) died in a motorcycle accident.^[13] A benefit game to raise money for his family was played on Show Day at Box Hill City Oval between a combined team of his two former VFL clubs, and, and a Box Hill team augmented with other VFL and VFA star players, including John Coleman and Bill Hutchison.^[14] Including the gate and donations, £400 was raised from a crowd of 6,000 people; Box Hill 17.11 (113) defeated Hawthorn–Richmond 12.8 (80).^[15]

See also

• List of VFA/VFL Premiers

Notes and References

1. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 7 September 1953. Jack Dunn. 24. Prahran takes 4th place from Coburg.
2. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. 10 September 1953. Henrys, Preston, wins J. J. Liston Trophy. 28. Melbourne.
3. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. 20 July 1953. National line-uplacks balance. 23. Melbourne. Kevin Hogan.
4. News: The Argus. 6 June 1951. And what a record!. 12. Melbourne. Ron Carter.
5. Web site: Jim Mahoney. 10 August 2013. Australian Football League Umpires Association. 2013.
6. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. Yarraville wins way to first V.F.A. semi-final. Gavin Cook. 25. 8 September 1952. Melbourne.
7. News: The Argus. Melbourne. 3 March 1953. Oakleigh to play Port at Wagga. 8.
8. News: The Argus. Melbourne. 18 May 1953. Oakleigh down by 18 pts.. 11.
9. News: The Argus. Melbourne. 5 December 1952. 10. V.F.A. plans unique game. Dave Andersen.
10. News: The Argus. Melbourne. 3 June 1953. 10. VFA North men finish too well. Dave Andersen.
11. News: The Canberra Times. Canberra, ACT. Vote granted to Football Association. 4. 8 July 1953.
12. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. Third VFA team to play as amateurs. Jack Dunn. 28. 17 July 1953. Melbourne.
13. The Age, "Appeal For Box Hill Footballer", 10 September 1953, p. 16
14. News: The Argus. Melbourne. Stars aid appeal. 12. 24 September 1953.
15. News: The Age. Melbourne. Big crowd at charity game. 8. 25 September 1953.