1963 VFA season

none December 2017 December 2017 1963 10 Moorabbin 2 Moorabbin 3 9 Preston 1 Waverley 1 white 1962 VFA season 1962 white 1964 VFA season 1964 The 1963 Victorian Football Association season was the 82nd season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the third season of its second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Moorabbin Football Club, after it defeated Sandringham in the Grand Final on 21 September by 64 points; it was Moorabbin's second and last VFA premiership, before its suspension from the Association prior to the following season. The Division 2 premiership was won by Preston; it was the club's first premiership in either division since joining the Association. Association membership On 12 December 1962, the Geelong West Football Club was admitted to Division 2 of the Association. Geelong West had a long and successful history prior to World War II in the Geelong & District Football League, then since 1946 in the higher standard Ballarat Football League; but, after 1962 they were encouraged by leave by the Ballarat clubs, who did not like the lower home crowds and the long travelling distances that came with the Geelong-based team in their league; so, Geelong West sought out the VFA, which was prepared to admit the club.Marc Fiddian 2004 The VFA: a history of the Victorian Football Association, 1877–1995 189 Geelong West played its games at the Western Oval in Church Street.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 64 Scot Palmer 13 December 1962 League outpost "invaded" It was the first time an Association club had been based in Geelong since 1927. Geelong West's admission brought the size of the Association to nineteen clubs, the highest to that stage in Association history. The Association had already released its Division 2 fixture for 1963, so Geelong West's admission forced the fixture to be re-drawn. The Association intentionally fixtured Geelong West to play home on weekends when the Geelong VFL team was playing away, to maximise potential attendances. Scheduling of finals The Division 1 Grand Final was scheduled for the Saturday prior to the VFL Grand Final1 Note 1;The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 57 22 November 1962 VFA draw for 1963 this was a break from the established tradition, which had every Grand Final since 1939 scheduled for the weekend after the VFL Grand Final. This change of scheduling also forced a change of venue from the St Kilda Cricket Ground, which had hosted all VFA finals since 1945: because the VFA first semi-final now clashed with the final round of VFL home-and-home matches, the St Kilda Cricket Ground would still be in active use as the home ground of the VFL's St Kilda Football Club. As such, the entire Division 1 finals series was played at North Port Oval.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne Scot Palmer 4 March 1963 Clubs act on VFA finals In Division 2, the Board of Management agreed that all finals were to be played on Sundays at Toorak Park; this was different from previous years, when the finals were played on Sunday only with the agreement of the clubs involved. Waverley was one of four clubs opposed to Sunday football, and it appealed to the Association to play its finals on Saturdays, but its requests were rejected.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 46 24 August 1963 It's Sundays for Waverley The promotion-relegation challenge match between the Division 2 runners-up and the 9th placed team in Division 1 was abandoned from the 1963 season. As such, only the Division 2 premier was promoted, and only the Division 1 wooden spooner was relegated. Division 1 The Division 1 home-and-home season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. Ladder main WDL Q 1963 VFA Division 1 Ladder points 4 2 y y Premiers MOO Moorabbin SAN Sandringham COB Coburg YAR Yarraville PMB Port Melbourne OAK Oakleigh DAN Dandenong WIL Williamstown BRU Brunswick NOR Northcote 13 5 0 1441 1083 P 12 6 0 1805 1486 12 6 0 1569 1373 12 6 0 1468 1297 10 8 0 1496 1399 10 8 0 1394 1374 6 11 1 1379 1429 6 11 1 1227 1387 6 12 0 1354 1569 2 16 0 952 1796 #CCFFCC A A A A #FFCCCC R 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Sun News-Pictorial 26 August 1963 All the VFA details 40 Melbourne Finals Semi-finals Saturday, 31 August Coburg 14.20 (104) A Yarraville 16.15 (111) North Port Oval 8,000 The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 40 Scot Palmer 2 September 1963 It's Yarraville – but at a cost Saturday, 7 September Moorabbin 14.14 (98) H Sandringham 13.11 (89) North Port Oval 9,000 The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 40 Scot Palmer 9 September 1963 Moorabbin shows its class Preliminary Final Saturday, 14 September Sandringham 17.11 (113) H Yarraville 10.13 (73) North Port Oval 10,000 The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 46 Scot Palmer 16 September 1963 Preston earns senior ranking 1963 VFA Division 1 Grand Final Saturday, 21 September Moorabbin 5.5 (35) 8.8 (56) 15.10 (100) 19.16 (130) Papley 6, Kee 4, Whalebone 4, Burns 2, Christie 2, Ryan Hoy (leg) H Sandringham 2.1 (13) 4.4 (28) 5.9 (39) 9.12 (66) Gleeson 2, O'Toole 2, Perovic 2, Wills 2, Strachan North Port Oval 15,000 The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 46 Scot Palmer 23 September 1963 Moorabbin has set VFA "problem' A. O'Neill Awards The leading goalkicker for the season was Robert Evans (Yarraville), who kicked 47 goals during the home-and-home season. The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by John Clegg (Yarraville), who polled 46 votes. Clegg was a comfortable winner over his Yarraville captain Don Whitten, who polled 28 votes, and Ian Abrahams (Dandenong), who polled 26 votes.The Sun News-Pictorial 29 August 1963 Year of the little man... 40 Melbourne Scot Palmer Brunswick won the seconds premiership. Brunswick 11.11 (77) defeated Coburg 11.10 (76) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 21 September. Division 2 The Division 2 home-and-home season was played over 16 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. Ladder main WDL Q 5 1963 VFA Division 2 Ladder points 4 2 y y Premiers WAV Waverley PRE Preston SUN Sunshine PRA Prahran BOX Box Hill MOR Mordialloc CAM Camberwell GLW Geelong West BRC Brighton–Caulfield 12 4 0 1459 934 12 4 0 1390 996 P 10 6 0 1167 1134 9 6 1 1338 1103 9 6 1 1103 1078 8 8 0 1443 1196 5 11 0 1078 1303 3 13 0 889 1474 3 13 0 941 1567 #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Sun News-Pictorial 19 August 1963 All the VFA details 44 Melbourne Finals Semi-finals Sunday, 25 August Sunshine 10.4 (64) A Prahran 10.17 (77) Toorak Park 5,000 The Age 26 August 1963 Association Details 19 Melbourne Sunday, 1 September Waverley 13.12 (90) H Preston 12.10 (82) Toorak Park 8,000 The Sun News-Pictorial 2 September 1963 Semi was easy for Waverley 40 Melbourne Scot Palmer Preliminary Final Sunday, 8 September Preston 15.16 (106) H Prahran 11.6 (72) Toorak Park 6,000 The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 40 Scot Palmer 9 September 1963 Preston close to "boost" 1963 VFA Division 2 Grand Final Sunday, 15 September Waverley 3.6 (24) 4.7 (31) 9.15 (69) 9.15 (69) Angus 2, McKindley 2, Scott 2, Ingwersen, Nash, Nation A Preston 1.3 (9) 5.7 (37) 6.9 (45) 11.14 (80) Mills 5, Murnane 3, Parris 2, Waddell Cataggio (leg) Toorak Park 15,000 C. Mance Awards The leading goalkicker for Division 2 was Frank Power (Mordialloc), who kicked 74 goals during the season. The Division 2 Best and Fairest was won by Dick Perry (Geelong West), who polled 45 votes; standing at 5'4", Perry was the smallest player in the Association at the time. Ray Besanko (Mordialloc) was second with 31 votes, and Larry Rowe (Brighton–Caulfield) was third with 27 votes.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 52 22 August 1963 BIG day for little man.. Camberwell won the seconds premiership. Camberwell 7.11 (53) defeated Sunshine 5.9 (39) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday, 7 September at Box Hill City Oval. It was Camberwell's first premiership in any of the VFA's three grades since joining the competition in 1926.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 40 Scott Palmer 9 September 1963 A real pennant at last Notable events At the recommendation of new coach Ian Thorogood, Waverley adopted Panthers as its nickname at the start of the season. Waverley had spent around £100 on signage, letterheads, etc. to promote the nickname before it was realised that Sunshine had adopted Panthers as its nickname in 1962 – Sunshine had not promoted the nickname as aggressively as Waverley, but had invested in some clothing bearing the new mascot.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 45 Scot Palmer 10 May 1963 Panthers are snarling Sunshine ultimately abandoned the Panthers nickname, and became known as the Crows instead. Following an argument at a committee meeting on 3 June, Moorabbin senior coach Bob Wilkie and seconds coach John Hirst resigned their positions. Two days later, thirds coach Graham Dunscombe was appointed senior coach, and Hirst apologised to the committee and was reinstated as seconds coach.The Sun News-Pictorial Melbourne 54 6 June 1963 Moorabbin post for Dunscombe Despite this off-field instability, Moorabbin was able to win the minor and major premierships for the season. See also List of VFA/VFL premiers Footnotes 1.1 Based on the original schedule; as it actually happened, the VFL postponed its Round 11 due to rain, so there ended up being a two-week gap between the two competitions‘ Grand Finals. References Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL