1925 VFA season

none December 2017 December 2017 VFA Premiership season 1925 VFA 8 Brunswick 2 Brunswick 1 59 465500 1924 1926 The 1925 Victorian Football Association season was the 47th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Brunswick Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by 16 points in the final on 31 August. It was the club's second VFA premiership. Association membership 1925 VFL season#Expansion of the VFL Expansion of the VFL in 1925 During the 1924/25 offseason, the Victorian Football League looked towards the expansion of its numbers, as well as securing the new and strategically valuable Motordrome as a regular venue. While several Association clubs were keen to be admitted to the League, the 1923 agreement between the two bodies regarding player transfers effectively prevented any clubs from changing competition. The Association received applications from Camberwell, Coburg, Yarraville, and Public Service for admission in 1925.The Argus Melbourne Football – increasing Association clubs 4 4 December 1924 In December 1924, it decided to admit Coburg and to provisionally admit Public Service if it could secure a suitable playing ground, which it ultimately could not.The Argus Melbourne Association Football – Two new clubs 13 16 December 1924The Argus Melbourne Football – Position of Association 18 3 March 1925 However, by admitting new clubs, the League contended that the Association was no longer the same body which signed the player transfers agreement in 1923; the League now considered the agreement broken, and admitted , and to its senior ranks.The Argus Melbourne League Football – Three New Clubs 5 29 January 1925 The Association considered a legal challenge, but decided against it.The Argus Melbourne Football – Broken agreement 7 5 May 1925 The League also obtained the permission of the Minister for Lands to admit and allow it to use the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve, reversing a decision the Minister had made in 1921 that the venue should be reserved for Association use.The Australasian Football – More league clubs 24 January 1925 193 Melbourne The changes left the Association without three of its strongest clubs: on-field, and had between them won every minor premiership since 1912, and won fifteen of the twenty-six premierships since the breakaway of the League in 1897; off-field, the clubs were amongst the richest. The League stated on the record that it wanted to poach three strong clubs, rather than just one, to weaken the Association as much as possible, as it was concerned that with 'the agreement' broken, a strong Association would be in the position to recruit heavily from League clubs – as had occurred in the early 1920s before 'the agreement' was in place. Many Association delegates believed that Footscray's victory against League premiers in the previous year's end-of-season playoff charity match had contributed significantly to the League's fears and motivated its actions.The Argus Melbourne Football prospects – the broken agreement 9 28 January 1925 Old Boy Melbourne Carnivals Ltd, which owned the Motordrome, was keen to stage top level football on its venue. At one stage, it considered an ambitious scheme to install floodlights and stage night matches at the Motordrome, to establish three new clubs into the Association – Public Service, Melbourne City and Richmond City – as well as admitting Coburg and Camberwell, and to bankroll enormous wages of £5 per week to lure the best players away from the League, in an attempt to make the Association the dominant football competition in the state.The Argus Melbourne Football Control – Night Games Proposed 5 13 February 1925 Old Boy Nothing ever came of the scheme; but, fifty years later, a very similar set of circumstances played out when World Series Cricket changed the landscape of world cricket. The Association secured the Motordrome as its finals venue, having lost the North Melbourne Recreation Reserve in the League's expansion. As a result of the changes, the size of the Association was reduced to eight clubs. Premiership The home-and-home season was played over only fourteen rounds, compared with the eighteen matches that previous seasons had been played over, with each club playing the others twice; then, the top four clubs contested a finals series under the amended Argus system to determine the premiers for the season. Ladder main WDL Q 1925 VFA ladder true points y 4 2 BRU Brunswick NOR Northcote COB Coburg PMB Port Melbourne BRI Brighton WIL Williamstown PRA Prahran GEE Geelong 12 2 0 1138 704 P 11 3 0 1108 870 10 4 0 1061 850 8 6 0 1017 855 7 7 0 930 890 4 10 0 702 929 3 11 0 803 1091 1 13 0 691 1161 -4 4 points deducted Premiers #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Argus 3 August 1925 Football – sensational matches 16 Melbourne Old Boy Finals Semifinals Saturday, 8 August Northcote 9.12 (66) A Port Melbourne 14.12 (96) Motordrome 7,500 The Argus Melbourne The Association – first semi-final decided 10 August 1925 17 Onlooker Saturday, 15 August Brunswick 6.18 (54) H Coburg 7.9 (51) Motordrome 17,300 The Argus Melbourne The Association – second semi-final played 17 August 1925 16 Onlooker 1925 VFA Final Saturday, 29 August Brunswick 1.3 (9) 7.5 (47) 8.8 (56) 10.9 (69) Hassett 4, McInerney 3, Fitzgerald, McLatchie, O'Connor H Port Melbourne 4.1 (25) 5.3 (33) 6.7 (43) 7.11 (53) Froud 2, Lawson 2, Rees 2, Rudd Motordrome 15,000 The Argus Melbourne The Association – Brunswick's premiership 31 August 1925 16–17 Onlooker Leheny The match was originally scheduled for Saturday 22 August, but was postponed by one week due to heavy rain on the Friday and Saturday.The Argus Melbourne The Association – final match postponed 24 August 1925 12 Onlooker Had Port Melbourne won, minor premiers Brunswick would have been entitled to a rematch the following Saturday to decide the premiership. Notable events Tommy Downs (Northcote) won the Woodham Cup as the best and fairest player in the Association. Downs polled five votes, finishing ahead of Elston (Geelong) who polled four votes; seven players tied for third.The Argus Melbourne Downes (sic) wins Woodham Cup 12 11 August 1925 Leo McInerney (Brunswick) was the Association's leading goalscorer for the year, finishing with 75 goals in the home-and-home season, and 79 goals overall. See also List of VFA premiers References Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL