1939 VFA season

61st season of the Victorian Football Association December 2017 December 2017 1939 Williamstown fc 1939.jpg 250px Williamstown – 1939 VFA premiers 15 April – 7 October 1939 12 3 7 2 Pat Hartnett( – 5 votes) Arthur Cutting( – 32½ votes) George Hawkins( – 164 goals) 124 591,050VFA Crowd Numbers where Known https://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Crowds.php The VFA Project 26 September 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250926180749/https://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Crowds.php 26 September 2025 47,098 (Grand Final, vs ) white 1938 VFA season 1938 white 1940 VFA season 1940 The 1939 VFA season was the 61st season of the Victorian Football Association (VFA). won the premiership for the third time, defeating by nine points in the 1939 VFA Grand Final. The result was a strong revival for Williamstown, which had won the wooden spoon in 1938. Home-and-away season The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, a large increase from 1938 when sixteen matches were played, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season. This pushed the end of the season into October, the weekend after the Victorian Football League Grand Final. It became standard for the VFA Grand Final to be scheduled for the weekend after the VFL Grand Final until 1963. Ladder main WDL Q true points y 4 2 PRA Prahran BRU Brunswick NOR Northcote WIL Williamstown CAM Camberwell BRI Brighton COB Coburg NBU Preston YAR Yarraville SAN Sandringham PMB Port Melbourne OAK Oakleigh 15 5 0 2427 1849 15 5 0 2263 1751 14 6 0 1918 1549 14 6 0 2173 1773 P 13 7 0 2361 2045 11 9 0 2087 1987 10 10 0 2084 1958 9 11 0 1810 1854 7 13 0 1888 2462 6 14 0 1995 2131 5 15 0 1715 2293 1 19 0 1728 2797 Premiers #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Argus 11 September 1939 Williamstown in four; Prahran at top 13 Melbourne Rover Finals Semi-finals Semi-finals Saturday, 16 September Northcote 10.14 (74) A Williamstown 11.14 (80) Toorak Park 11,000 The Argus Melbourne Northcote loses – exciting game 18 September 1939 15 Rover Saturday, 23 September Prahran 16.13 (109) A Brunswick 16.17 (113) Toorak Park 10,000 The Argus Melbourne Brunswick's fine win 25 September 1939 11 Rover Preliminary final Preliminary final Saturday, 30 September Prahran 16.18 (114) A Williamstown 17.19 (121) Toorak Park 14,000 The Argus Melbourne Gallant win by W'Town 2 October 1939 13 Rover Grand Final 1939 VFA Grand Final Saturday, 7 October Brunswick 4.5 (29) 8.7 (55) 11.11 (77) 14.11 (95) Crawford 4, McInnes 4, Jones 3, Dowling, McGrath, McKay A Williamstown 3.2 (20) 4.9 (33) 12.15 (87) 14.20 (104) Vallence 5, Jamieson 2, Paterson 2, Thomas 2, McTaggart, Menzies, Quinn Melbourne Cricket Ground 47,098 The Argus Melbourne Williamstown triumphs 9 October 1939 12 Percy Taylor Awards George Hawkins (Prahran) was the leading goalkicker for the season, kicking 150 goals in the home-and-home season and 164 goals overall. Hawkins broke Frank Seymour's Association record of 130 goals in a season; he also exceeded Western Australian forward George Doig's national record of 152 goals in a season, although it was not recognised as a national record because the Association was not playing under ANFC rules at the time. In the parallel Association best and fairest awards: Pat Hartnett (Brighton) won the Recorder Cup, polling five votes. Laurie Nash (Camberwell), Arthur Cutting (Williamstown), George Hawkins (Prahran) and Cec Ruddell (Northcote) finished equal second with four votes apiece. The Association Medal was won for the second straight year by Arthur Cutting (Williamstown), who polled 32½ votes. Laurie Nash (Camberwell) finished second with 30 votes, and Pat Hartnett (Brighton) finished third with 26 votes.The Argus Melbourne Cutting wins medal 14 September 1939 18 Coburg won the seconds premiership. Coburg 11.22 (88) defeated Port Melbourne 7.7 (49) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the seniors Grand Final on Saturday 7 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Notable events All matches on 26 August were postponed by one week due to heavy rain on the Friday night, coupled with persistent waterlogging throughout winter, making many grounds unplayable.The Sun News-Pictorial 28 August 1939 19 Blank Saturday for football public C. H. Gardner On 2 September, Brunswick 37.16 (238) defeated Oakleigh 7.10 (52) by 186 points. The score set a new record for the highest score ever in an Association match, beating 's record of 30.31 (211) set in 1922.The Argus Melbourne V.F.A. four decided 4 September 1939 11 Rover Reference erroneously states the previous record was set in 1924; a contemporary news report indicates it was set in 1922.The Argus Melbourne Prahran's debacle 7 August 1922 12 With the high scores from the throw pass, five separate players – Hawkins, Harry Vallence (Williamstown), Harold Jones (Brunswick), Lance Collins (Coburg) and Laurie Nash (Camberwell) – kicked more than 100 goals for the season.Atkinson, Graeme and Hanlon, Michael; 3AW Book of Footy Records: All the Great Players, Matches, Goals, Kicks, Brawls and Sensations from More Than 100 Years of Aussie Rules in Australia; p. 148. 1863210091 The fact that the Association had moved the end of the season to the week after the VFL grand final, coupled with the postponement of 26 August's matches, resulted in a scheduling clash between the football finals and preparations for the district cricket season. The Association scheduled the preliminary final for Toorak Park, where most finals had been held for the previous four seasons; but, the Prahran Cricket Club, which held the lease, refused to allow the match to be played, as it wanted to topdress the ground so that it was ready for the start of the cricket season on 7 October; the club was concerned that it would be excluded from the Victorian Cricket Association if the ground was not ready. The Prahran City Council, which leased the ground to the cricket club, preferred to see the high-drawing football final played on the ground, and overruled the cricket club to ensure that the game was played at Toorak Park. Both sides believed that the terms of the lease put them in the legal right.The Argus Melbourne Fight for ground 12 September 1939 12 In the week leading up to the final, the cricket club's curator began to harrow the field, and was removed – allegedly physically – by representatives of the council.The Argus Melbourne Football or cricket? 28 September 1939 16 The cricket club took the council to court to seek an injunction against the preliminary final being played at Toorak Park, but it was not granted and the match went ahead as scheduled.The Argus Melbourne Association final at Toorak Park 30 September 1939 12 In the preliminary final, Williamstown opened a 43-point advantage early in the final quarter, before Prahran kicked eight of the next nine goals over the next twelve minutes to bring the margin back to one point. In the final minutes, Hawkins kicked a goal (his fifth for the quarter) to put Prahran ahead, before Williamstown goals in the final minute to Vallence and Jamieson restored the lead and a seven-point victory.Fowler Xavier The Football War: the VFA and VFL's Battle for Supremacy 2024 Melbourne University Press Carlton, VIC 110–111 The grand ginal attracted an all-time Association record attendance of 47,098, despite drizzly weather.The Australasian Melbourne Australian Football problems Old Boy 14 October 1939 11 The attendance broke the record set in the 1908 Grand Final.Williamstown Chronicle Williamstown, VIC 12 October 1945 2 Victory premiership to Williamstown. On Saturday 14 October, Coburg played an exhibition match against a combined team from Tasmania's North Western Football Association – a competition which had adopted the Association's throw-pass rule – at Devonport Oval in front of a large crowd. Coburg 21.23 (149) defeated the NWFA 7.8 (50).The Argus, Supplement 16 October 1939 Coburg shows throw pass 5 Melbourne See also List of VFA/VFL Premiers References Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL