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1945 VFL season

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Highest attendance
  
62,986

Start date
  
1945

Matches played
  
124

Brownlow Medallist
  
Not awarded

Teams
  
12

Premiers
  
Carlton (7th premiership)

Minor premiers
  
South Melbourne (6th minor premiership)

Leading Goalkicker Medallist
  
Fred Fanning (Melbourne)

Similar
  
1943 VFL season, 1942 VFL season, 1947 VFL season, 1946 VFL season, 1934 VFL season

The 1945 Victorian Football League season was the 49th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Contents

Premiership season

In 1945, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 20 rounds; matches 12 to 20 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 9.

The determination of the 1945 season's fixtures were greatly complicated by the fact that both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Lake Oval were appropriated for military use and, because of this, Melbourne shared the Punt Road Oval with Richmond as their home ground, and South Melbourne shared the Junction Oval with St Kilda as their home ground.

Once the 20 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1945 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page-McIntyre System.

Grand final

Carlton defeated South Melbourne 15.13 (103) to 10.15 (75), in front of a crowd of 62,986 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Awards

  • The 1945 VFL Premiership team was Carlton.
  • The VFL's leading goalkicker was Fred Fanning of Melbourne with 67 goals.
  • No Brownlow Medal was awarded in 1945.
  • St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1945.
  • The seconds premiership was won by Footscray. Footscray 9.16 (70) defeated Fitzroy 9.3 (57) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday 22 September at Victoria Park before a crowd of 6,000.

    • Notable events

  • The home-and-away season was expanded to 20 rounds.
  • The VFL adopted the "downfield free kick" rule, such that if a player is fouled after disposing of the ball, the free kick is taken at the spot where the ball lands by the nearest team-mate, not at the spot of the foul.
  • South Melbourne's captain and Brownlow Medal winner Herbie Matthews and South Melbourne forward Keith Smith were dropped from the Round 13 match by their club for refusing to play in the positions they were directed to play in.
  • After its Round 14 loss to Essendon, Carlton won its next nine consecutive matches (including the Grand Final).
  • North Melbourne made the Finals for the first time since entering the VFL in 1925. Of the three clubs to enter the league in 1925, only Hawthorn had not yet made the Finals, and would not do so until 1957.
  • Carlton's 1945 premiership win was the first time since the Page-McIntyre System had been adopted in 1931 that a team from fourth place on the home-and-away ladder won the Grand Final.
  • The Grand Final was held at Princes Park for the last time. It has been held at the MCG every year since, except 1991.
  • The Grand Final, played in extremely wet, muddy conditions, is remembered as "the Bloodbath" for its overall continuous violence (on the field and amongst the fans), and its plethora of crude king hits and brawls (many of which were broken up with the assistance of team officials and the police). The Melbourne tabloid newspaper, The Truth, called it "the most repugnant spectacle League football has ever known", with ten players reported for a total of sixteen offences.

    • References

    1945 VFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA