The 1911 Victorian Football League season was the 15th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
In 1911, the VFL competition consisted of ten teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1911 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
All of the 1911 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the Semi Finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.
Grand final
Essendon defeated Collingwood 5.11 (41) to 4.11 (35), in front of a crowd of 43,905 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).
The 1911 VFL Premiership team was Essendon.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Vin Gardiner of Carlton with 47 goals.
University took the "wooden spoon" in 1911.
The VFL changed its laws so that payments other than "reimbursement of expenses" can be made to players, effectively making the competition professional (excluding Melbourne and University, whose laws at the time stated that any player found to be professional would be immediately expelled from the club).
In Round 4, Essendon became the first team to score 100 points against Collingwood. The Magpies were the last team to concede 100 points for the first time, but in the process Essendon kicked:
- only the third score of 20 goals
- the first score of 20 goals since 1901
- the first score of 20 goals against any team except St. Kilda
- 12 goals without a behind, a record unbroken until 1929
On 20 August, the SAFL Interstate team defeated Victoria 11.11 (77) to 5.4 (34) in the 1911 Adelaide Carnival.
In round 9, Fitzroy back-man Bill Marchbanks, a constable with the Victorian Police Force, was refused leave to play for Fitzroy against Richmond and was instead, assigned to the South Melbourne and Essendon match to patrol as a mounted policeman. Near the end of an exciting match, the home crowd roared as South Melbourne suddenly took the lead, causing his horse to rear and throw him against the iron fence. Marchbanks fractured his knee.
Essendon player Jim Martin received a 12-match suspension for allegedly striking Fitzroy player George Holden (see also [8]) during the round 8 match, despite there being no witnesses who saw Martin throw a punch; it appeared that Holden had thrown himself at Martin, who was stationary and braced himself for the collision. Martin was charged with assault, and was found not guilty on appeal when the case went to the District Court, but the tribunal's suspension cost him a place in Essendon's premiership team.
From Round 15, St. Kilda players went on strike to protest the club committee's barring of former player Joe Hogan and the father of star player Wels Eicke from the club, and the Saints had to use 62 players for the season, the most by any team in the history of the VFL/AFL; due to a series of long-running disputes with the committee, they used 55 players in 1909 and 60 players in 1910. These record numbers will most likely never be broken, as VFL/AFL teams have been limited to a 42 player roster since 1987.
In Round 15, Vin Gardiner of Carlton became only the second player to kick ten goals in a match. His 21 scoring shots (10 goals 11) has been beaten only by Norm Smith, Kelvin Templeton and Jason Dunstall.
In Round 16, Essendon broke the VFL record score of 23.24 (162) set by Geelong in 1899 (N.B.: For a time it was thought their score was 23.20 (158), which would only have been the second-highest score).
In the 1911 finals series, players wear numbers on their back for the first time in any VFL match played in Melbourne.
