The 1981 VFL season was the 85th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 28 March until 26 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.
| 1981 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Carlton 13th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Carlton 15th minor premiership |
| Night series | Essendon 1st Night series win |
| Brownlow Medallist | Bernie Quinlan (Fitzroy) Barry Round (South Melbourne) |
| Coleman Medallist | Michael Roach (Richmond) |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 138 |
| Total attendance | 3,830,231 (27,755 per match) |
| Highest | 112,964 |
The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the 13th time, after it defeated Collingwood by 20 points in the 1981 VFL Grand Final.
Night series
editEssendon defeated Carlton 9.11 (65) to 6.5 (41) in the final.
Home-and-away season
editRound 1
editRound 2
editRound 3
editRound 4
editRound 5
editRound 6
edit| Round 6 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) | Carlton 12.15 (87) | def. by | Collingwood 22.12 (144) | Princes Park (crowd: 36,343) | Report |
| Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) | Footscray 13.13 (91) | def. | Essendon 12.11 (83) | Western Oval (crowd: 19,624) | Report |
| Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) | North Melbourne 27.17 (179) | def. | Fitzroy 19.12 (126) | Arden Street Oval (crowd: 16,219) | Report |
| Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) | Richmond 10.19 (79) | def. by | Hawthorn 23.16 (154) | MCG (crowd: 45,750) | Report |
| Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) | St Kilda 13.15 (93) | def. by | South Melbourne 15.13 (103) | VFL Park (crowd: 27,250) | Report |
| Sunday, 3 May (2:10 pm) | Geelong 22.21 (153) | def. | Melbourne 16.8 (104) | SCG (crowd: 11,077) | Report |
Round 7
editRound 8
editRound 9
editRound 10
editRound 11
editRound 12
editRound 13
editRound 14
editRound 15
editRound 16
editRound 17
editRound 18
editRound 19
editRound 20
editRound 21
editRound 22
editLadder
edit| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlton (P) | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 2303 | 1768 | 130.3 | 68 |
| 2 | Collingwood | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 2399 | 1957 | 122.6 | 68 |
| 3 | Geelong | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 2224 | 1714 | 129.8 | 64 |
| 4 | Essendon | 22 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 2323 | 1821 | 127.6 | 64 |
| 5 | Fitzroy | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 2413 | 2152 | 112.1 | 56 |
| 6 | Hawthorn | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2313 | 2114 | 109.4 | 52 |
| 7 | Richmond | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2323 | 2207 | 105.3 | 52 |
| 8 | North Melbourne | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 2386 | 2293 | 104.1 | 40 |
| 9 | South Melbourne | 22 | 8 | 14 | 0 | 2165 | 2522 | 85.8 | 32 |
| 10 | St Kilda | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 1930 | 2266 | 85.2 | 20 |
| 11 | Footscray | 22 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 1764 | 2680 | 65.8 | 8 |
| 12 | Melbourne | 22 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 1824 | 2873 | 63.5 | 4 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 99.9
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
editFinals week 1
edit| Elimination final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 5 September (2:30 pm) | Essendon 13.16 (94) | def. by | Fitzroy 16.13 (109) | VFL Park (crowd: 58,598) | Report |
| Qualifying final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 5 September (2:30 pm) | Collingwood 13.20 (98) | def. by | Geelong 16.16 (112) | MCG (crowd: 83,899) | Report |
Finals week 2
edit| Semi-finals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF1: Saturday, 12 September (2:30 pm) | Collingwood 19.19 (133) | def. | Fitzroy 19.18 (132) | MCG (crowd: 85,133) | Report |
| SF2: Saturday, 12 September (2:30 pm) | Carlton 16.17 (113) | def. | Geelong 11.7 (73) | VFL Park (crowd: 66,078) | Report |
| |||||
Preliminary final
edit| Preliminary final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 19 September (2:30 pm) | Geelong 11.9 (75) | def. by | Collingwood 12.10 (82) | VFL Park (crowd: 69,536) | Report |
| |||||
Grand final
edit| Grand final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 26 September (2:50 pm) | Carlton 12.20 (92) | def. | Collingwood 10.12 (72) | MCG (crowd: 112,964) | Report |
| |||||
Season notes
edit- In the 1980/81 offseason, the East Perth Football Club from the West Australian Football League made a unilateral bid to join the VFL, potentially as early as 1983. East Perth's vision was for two WAFL clubs to join the league, as part of a transition to a national competition, and to limit the drain of talent from and provide an opportunity to play the highest level of football in Western Australia. The application was rejected.[3][4]
- A protest by Richmond against the eligibility of defender Doug Cox to play for St. Kilda led to the Saints temporarily losing the points for their first two wins after Round 8. They were reinstated after Round 17 due to changes in the relevant rules, but a fine of $5000 remained.
- On 27 May, South Melbourne was fined $20,000 for poaching Stephen Allender from Carlton. Although Allender lived in South Melbourne's zone and was playing for VFA club Port Melbourne when recruited, he was residentially tied to Carlton and would remain as such until November 1983, because he had lived in Carlton's zone until February 1979. Carlton ended up granting him a clearance to South Melbourne, but South Melbourne was deemed to have broken the league's poaching laws by having "negotiated with an agent acting for a Carlton player".[5]
- In Round 11, Kevin Bartlett became the first to play 350 VFL games, after having broken John Rantall's record for most games played during 1980.
- Malcolm Blight (North Melbourne) and Alex Jesaulenko (St Kilda) became the final ever playing coaches in VFL/AFL history. Jesaulenko retired as player after Round 8,[6] becoming the last captain-coach;[7] Blight was sacked as coach after Round 16, making him the last person ever to be a playing coach of a club.[8] (Blight was not captain during his time as playing coach.[9]) Playing coaches have since been prohibited under salary cap regulations instituted in 1987.[citation needed]
- The State Government granted the VFL once-off permission to trial two Sunday matches in Victoria during the season; it was the first time the VFL had been granted this permission since the once-off Sunday match in 1970 which coincided with a royal visit. Under the conditions of the trial, alcohol was not allowed to be sold at or brought to the games, and the games could not be televised.[10] The two matches were Essendon vs Collingwood in Round 18, and South Melbourne vs Carlton in Round 19.
- On 7 August, the VFL's entire senior umpiring panel resigned over a contract dispute, due to the VFL's refusal to commit to negotiating a collective agreement with the Umpires' Association, rather than individual agreements with each umpire. The VFL hastily arranged for Round 19's matches to be umpired by a team of junior umpires, all aged between 18 and 22, from the state's minor leagues; both the junior umpires' association and the VFL umpires' association gave their approval for the juniors to serve as strikebreakers.[11] The dispute was resolved the following week, and the senior umpires returned for Round 20.[12]
- In Round 22, South Melbourne played its last senior VFL match at the Lake Oval (also known then as Lakeside Oval). The team relocated to Sydney in 1982 and eventually became known as the Sydney Swans.
Awards
edit- The leading goalkicker was Michael Roach of Richmond with 86 goals
- The Brownlow Medal was shared by Bernie Quinlan and Barry Round
- The reserves premiership was won by Geelong for the second consecutive season. Geelong 21.14 (140) defeated Essendon 18.6 (114) in the grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors grand final on 26 September.[13]
References
edit- ^ Atkinson, Graeme (1989). 3AW Book of Footy Records. South Melbourne: Magistra Publishing Company Pty Ltd. p. 278. ISBN 1863210091.
- ^ "AFL Grounds". Whirlpool.net.au. 30 August 1997. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Simunovich, Peter (16 October 1980). "13 teams? East Perth wants to join VFL". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.). Melbourne, VIC. p. 84.
- ^ Simunovich, Peter (30 October 1980). "Record finals a help". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.). Melbourne, VIC. p. 71.
- ^ Ron Carter (28 May 1981). "South is fined $20,000". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 30.
- ^ "AFL Tables - St Kilda v North Melbourne - 16-May-1981 - Match Stats". AFL Tables. 16 May 1981. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ "AFL Tables - Alex Jesaulenko - Statistics". AFL Tables. 2 August 1945. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ "AFL Tables - Fitzroy v North Melbourne - 18-Jul-1981 - Match Stats". AFL Tables. 18 July 1981. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ "Malcolm Blight - Past Players - Official AFL Website of the North Melbourne Football Club". Kangaroos.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
- ^ Mark Brolly; Geoff Slattery (6 May 1981). "Sunday football is here to stay". The Age. Melbourne, VIC.
- ^ Ron Carter; Neil Mitchell (8 August 1981). "Juniors to umpire matches". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 40.
- ^ Ron Carter (13 August 1981). "Umpires back with a winning score". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 28.
- ^ "Grand final details". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 28 September 1981. p. 38.
- Stephen Rogers and Ashley Brown (1998). Every Game Ever Played. 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.
Sources
edit- 1981 VFL season at AFL Tables
- 1981 VFL season at Australian Football