1951 VFA season
# 1951 VFA season

The 1951 Victorian Football Association season was the 70th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by nine points in the Grand Final on 6 October. It was Prahran's second VFA premiership.

## Association membership

For the first time since 1929, the membership of the Association changed, expanding from twelve clubs to fourteen. The Association saw itself in a strong enough position to provide the opportunity for top level senior football in the booming outer suburbs which were experiencing strong post-war growth. In August 1950, the Association delegates unanimously voted to admit two new clubs for 1951:

* Box Hill Football Club – winners of three Eastern Suburban League premierships since 1945, and tenants of the high quality Box Hill City Oval.
* Moorabbin Football Club – nicknamed the Kangaroos, winners of six Federal District League premierships in the previous seven seasons. Moorabbin played its home games at the Cheltenham Recreation Reserve in 1951, but as a condition of admission and with the support of the city council, it developed the Moorabbin Oval to use as its home ground from 1952 onwards.

## 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.

### Ladder

1951 VFA ladder :

| | TEAM | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | Pct | PTS |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Port Melbourne | 20 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 2028 | 1322 | 153.4 | 66 |
| 2 | Prahran (P) | 20 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 1899 | 1560 | 121.7 | 64 |
| 3 | Sandringham | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 2017 | 1568 | 128.6 | 60 |
| 4 | Oakleigh | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 2015 | 1537 | 131.1 | 54 |
| 5 | Brighton | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 1874 | 1685 | 111.2 | 48 |
| 6 | Northcote | 20 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 1418 | 1384 | 102.5 | 44 |
| 7 | Williamstown | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1788 | 1528 | 117.0 | 42 |
| 8 | Brunswick | 20 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1443 | 1436 | 100.5 | 42 |
| 9 | Coburg | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1770 | 1688 | 104.9 | 40 |
| 10 | Preston | 20 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 1627 | 1683 | 96.7 | 36 |
| 11 | Yarraville | 20 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 1554 | 1724 | 90.1 | 36 |
| 12 | Camberwell | 20 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 1409 | 1949 | 72.1 | 14 |
| 13 | Moorabbin | 20 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 1571 | 2133 | 73.7 | 12 |
| 14 | Box Hill | 20 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 1121 | 2334 | 48.0 | 2 |
| Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points | Source | Source |

### Finals

| | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 15 September | Sandringham 11.16 (82) | def. by | Oakleigh 15.11 (101) | St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 20,000) |
| Saturday, 22 September | Port Melbourne 12.13 (85) | def. by | Prahran 19.19 (133) | St Kilda Cricket Ground |
| | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | Preliminary Final | |
| Saturday, 29 September | Port Melbourne 9.10 (64) | def. | Oakleigh 8.9 (57) | St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 20,000) |
| | 1951 VFA Grand Final | 1951 VFA Grand Final | 1951 VFA Grand Final | | |
| Saturday, 6 October | Prahran | def. | Port Melbourne | St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 32,500) | |
| | 1.6 (12) 4.8 (32) 8.9 (57) 11.13 (79) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.1 (13) 4.2 (26) 8.6 (54) 10.10 (70) | Umpires: Merrington | Umpires: Merrington |
| Burgess 3, McCullock 2, Shillabeer 2, Grambeau, Harvey, Walsh, Worrall | Burgess 3, McCullock 2, Shillabeer 2, Grambeau, Harvey, Walsh, Worrall | Goals | Miller 5, Walsh 2, Laffey, Lowrie, Murray | Miller 5, Walsh 2, Laffey, Lowrie, Murray |
| Shillabeer (shoulder) | Shillabeer (shoulder) | Injuries | Walsh (leg/ankle), Tucker (cramp) | Walsh (leg/ankle), Tucker (cramp) |

## Awards

* The leading goalkicker for the season was Bruce Harper (Sandringham), who kicked 101 goals in the home-and-home season and 104 goals overall.
* The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Cec Hiscox (Northcote), who polled 40 votes. Frank Johnson (Port Melbourne) and Walsh (Prahran) were equal second with 28 votes.
* Port Melbourne won the seconds premiership. Port Melbourne 9.17 (71) defeated Yarraville 9.10 (64) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 6 October.

## Notable events

* After increasing factional in-fighting within the Board of Management, former Brighton president Lewis Page took over the presidency of the Association, after he challenged and defeated incumbent Dr Frank Hartnett, who had served as president since August 1949, at the annual general meeting in February 1951. After the original vote was tied 16–16, Hartnett stepped aside by giving his casting vote to Page. Page served as president from 1951 until 1954.
* Because the Association had finished last in the top division of the 1950 Brisbane Carnival, it was required to play off against the winners of the lower division, the Australian Amateurs, to determine which team qualified for the top division at the next carnival, held in Adelaide in 1953. The play-off match was held at Manuka Oval, Canberra, on Saturday 14 July. The Association 20.17 (137) defeated the Amateurs 12.12 (84), to retain their place in the 1953 Carnival. The crowd was 2,500, and Prime Minister Robert Menzies executed the opening bounce of the match.
* Association representative teams played two other interstate matches during the season:
   * On Wednesday 9 May, South Australia 28.19 (187) defeated the Association 13.14 (92) at Adelaide Oval before a crowd of 21,000.
   * On Saturday 30 June, the Association 26.15 (171) defeated Tasmania 12.11 (83) at North Hobart Oval, before a crowd of 6,949.
