1971 VFL season

The 1971 Victorian Football League season was the 75th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

1971 VFL Premiership season
Teams	12
Premiers	Hawthorn (2nd premiership)
Minor premiers	Hawthorn (3rd minor premiership)
Consolation series	Melbourne (1st Consolation series win)
Matches played	136
Attendance	3,326,436 (24,459 per match)
Highest attendance	118,192
Coleman Medallist	Peter Hudson (Hawthorn)
Brownlow Medallist	Ian Stewart (Richmond)

Premiership season

In 1971, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 22 rounds; matches 12 to 22 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 11.

Once the 22 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1971 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre System.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

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

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

1971 VFL ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Hawthorn (P)	22	19	3	0	2460	1601	153.7	76	Finals
2	St Kilda	22	16	6	0	2176	1554	140.0	64
3	Richmond	22	16	6	0	2318	1890	122.6	64
4	Collingwood	22	14	7	1	2331	1840	126.7	58
5	Carlton	22	14	8	0	2103	2014	104.4	56
6	Fitzroy	22	12	10	0	2047	1915	106.9	48
7	Melbourne	22	11	10	1	1962	1791	109.5	46
8	Footscray	22	11	11	0	1966	2217	88.7	44
9	North Melbourne	22	5	16	1	1705	2551	66.8	22
10	Geelong	22	5	17	0	2072	2523	82.1	20
11	Essendon	22	4	17	1	1705	2252	75.7	18
12	South Melbourne	22	3	19	0	1618	2315	69.9	12

Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers.

Consolation Night Series Competition

The consolation night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the home and away rounds.

Final: Melbourne 12.7 (79) defeated Fitzroy 9.9 (63).

Premiership Finals

First Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Richmond	4.4	8.8	11.10	18.13 (121)
Collingwood	4.1	5.5	11.8	11.11 (77)
Attendance: : 99,771

Second Semi-Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Hawthorn	2.7	8.12	11.16	12.18 (90)
St Kilda	1.4	4.5	7.7	12.16 (88)
Attendance: 99,822

Preliminary Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
St Kilda	1.2	6.7	11.10	16.12 (108)
Richmond	3.2	7.2	9.4	12.6 (78)
Attendance: 102,494

Grand final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Hawthorn	2.2	4.4	5.7	12.10 (82)
St Kilda	2.1	4.6	8.9	11.9 (75)
Attendance: 118,192

Awards

• The 1971 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Peter Hudson of Hawthorn who kicked 150 goals (including 10 goals in the finals).
• The winner of the 1971 Brownlow Medal was Ian Stewart of Richmond with 21 votes.
• South Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1971.
• The reserves premiership was won by Richmond. Richmond 14.14 (98) defeated Essendon 8.18 (66) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 25 September.[1]

Notable events

• Fitzroy winger Trevor McGregor won the 1971, 130-yard Stawell Gift in 11.7 seconds, off a handicap of 7¼ yards.
• Bill Barrot of Richmond and Ian Stewart of St Kilda swap clubs before the start of the 1971 season. Stewart went on to win his third Brownlow Medal at Richmond, while Barrott was so dissatisfied at St Kilda's demands that he play in defence that he requested, and was given, a clearance to Carlton during the season.
• The VFL sold its Harrison House headquarters and moved to 84 Jolimont Street.
• The Round 21 match between Fitzroy and Carlton at Junction Oval was played in a thick fog with terrible visibility – so much so that goal umpires could not see each other's flags, forcing the boundary umpires to convey messages between the goal umpires for scorekeeping purposes.[2]
• In the Grand Final, Peter Hudson could have broken Bob Pratt's season record of 150 goals except for three incidents:
  • He kicked what would have otherwise been an easy goal into the man on the mark (Barry Lawrence).
  • He kicked a goal on the run that was disallowed because the end of the quarter siren had gone before the ball hit his boot.
  • He ran into an open goal and kicked the ball out of bounds.
• The Committees of the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood decide not to renew the contracts of their respective coaches, Ron Barassi and Bob Rose.

References

1. "Tigers easily". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 27 September 1971. p. 20.
2. Simunovich, Peter (9 June 1982). "Swans home in fog". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne.

• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• 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. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

External links

• 1971 Season - AFL Tables