Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

1971 VFL season

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Highest attendance
  
118,192

Start date
  
1971

Attendance
  
3,326,436

Brownlow Medallist
  
Ian Stewart (Richmond)

Teams
  
12

Matches played
  
136

Premiers
  
Hawthorn (2nd premiership)

Minor premiers
  
Hawthorn (3rd minor premiership)

Consolation series
  
Melbourne (1st Consolation series win)

Coleman Medallist
  
Peter Hudson (Hawthorn)

People also search for
  
1967 VFL season, 1972 VFL season

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

Contents

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.

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).

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.

    • 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.
  • 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

    1971 VFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA