1920 VFA season

The 1920 Victorian Football Association season was the 42nd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Footscray Football Club, after it defeated Brunswick by 3 points in the final on 9 October. It was the club's seventh VFA premiership, drawing it level with Geelong for the most premierships in VFA history, and it was the club's second consecutive premiership.

1920 VFA premiership season
Footscray team, premiers
Teams10
PremiersFootscray
(7th premiership)
Minor premiersFootscray
(4th minor premiership)

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over eighteen rounds, with each club playing the others twice; then, the top four clubs contested a finals series under the amended Argus system to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder
1920 VFA Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Footscray (P) 18 16 2 0 1384 913 66.0 64
2 Brunswick 18 13 5 0 1209 903 74.7 52
3 North Melbourne 18 13 5 0 1072 864 80.6 52
4 Port Melbourne 18 12 6 0 1311 1021 77.9 48
5 Northcote 18 9 9 0 1139 1045 91.7 36
6 Williamstown 18 8 10 0 1040 1179 109.3 32
7 Prahran 18 7 11 0 1079 1175 108.9 28
8 Hawthorn 18 6 12 0 1027 1375 133.9 24
9 Essendon 18 5 13 0 994 1228 123.5 20
10 Brighton 18 1 17 0 872 1423 163.2 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
Saturday, 11 September Brunswick 5.15 (45) def. Port Melbourne 2.9 (21) East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 7,000) [2]
Saturday, 18 September (postponed) Footscray vs. North Melbourne East Melbourne Cricket Ground [3]
Saturday, 25 September Footscray 8.8 (56) vs. North Melbourne 6.15 (51) East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 10,000) [4][5]
Saturday, 2 October Footscray 10.9 (69) def. North Melbourne 9.11 (65) East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 20,000) [6]
1920 VFA Final
Saturday, 9 October Footscray def. Brunswick East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 18,000) [7]
3.3 (21)
5.4 (34)
6.7 (43)
 10.9 (69)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 1.5 (11)
3.12 (30)
6.15 (51)
 8.18 (66)		 Umpires: Hurley
Park 5, Craddock 3, Howell, Martin Goals Christie 3, Kieley 2, Alessio, Cahill, Moore
  • Had Brunswick won, minor premiers Footscray would have been entitled to a rematch the following Saturday to decide the premiership.

Notable events

Footscray vs North Melbourne unfinished semi-final

The semi-final played on 25 September between Footscray and North Melbourne ended with no result, due to the circumstances of its conclusion. Footscray was leading by five points, and North Melbourne forward Considine took a mark 30 yards out from goal directly in front, at almost the exact moment that the final bell rang. Umpire Hurley paid the mark to Considine, but much of the crowd which believed the game to be over flooded onto the field, preventing Considine from taking his kick for goal after the bell. After the crowd refused to subside, the players left the field.[5]

As Considine had been prevented from taking a potentially match-winning kick for goal, the match was declared unfinished for no result.[5] At a meeting on Monday 27 September, the Association agreed by a 10–5 majority that the match remained undecided, and that a full replay be played the following Saturday.[8]

The circumstances surrounding the conclusion to this semi-final were practically identical to those which surrounded the infamous 1967 Tasmanian State Premiership Final, in which North Hobart's David Collins was prevented by the crowd from taking a potential match-winning kick (a much easier kick than Considine's) after the final siren.

Other notable events
  • The Victorian Football League announced in October 1919 that it was seeking applications for a tenth team to join it for the 1920 season. It received applications from Brunswick, Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Prahran, but ultimately decided to remain at nine clubs for the season.[9]
  • The semi-final between Footscray and North Melbourne was postponed from 18 to 25 September due to heavy rain leading up to and on the day of the match.[3]

References
  1. Old Boy (6 September 1920). "The Association Clubs – Footscray leads". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  2. Old Boy (13 September 1920). "The Association – an unpleasant game". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
  3. Old Boy (20 September 1920). "The Association – semi-final postponed". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 12.
  4. Old Boy (27 September 1920). "The Association – abortive semi-final". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 10.
  5. "Football incident – when is time up?". The Argus. Melbourne. 27 September 1920. p. 6.
  6. Old Boy (4 October 1920). "Association Football – Footscray too good". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 4.
  7. Old Boy (11 October 1920). "Footscray premiers – success of the unbeatable". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 11.
  8. "Association Football – Semi-final game to be replayed". The Argus. Melbourne. 28 September 1920. p. 6.
  9. J.W. (4 October 1919). "Association – the final". The Australasian. CVII (2792). Melbourne. p. 718.
  • List of VFA/VFL Premiers
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