1918 VFA season

Australian football seasonDecember 2017 December 2017 VFA Premiership season 1918 VFA Nort melbourne fc 1918.jpg 250px North Melbourne, premier team 6 6 5 1917 1919 The 1918 Victorian Football Association season was the 40th season of the Australian rules football competition. Played during the final year of hostilities in World War I, the 1918 season was the first to be played since 1915; but it was a short season, played with only six clubs, and with only ten rounds of matches before the finals. The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Prahran by 93 points in the final on August 10. It was the club's sixth VFA premiership, and its third in a sequence of three premierships won consecutively between 1914 and 1918. North Melbourne won all twelve premiership matches it played during 1918, repeating its feat from 1915 of going through the season unbeaten (albeit over shortened seasons on both occasions); it was the last time a club would achieve the feat until Geelong West in 1972. The season was part of a 58-match winning streak for North Melbourne which lasted from 1914 to 1919.The Argus 15 September 1919 3 Melbourne Association Semi-Final – North Melbourne's Waterloo Old Boy Re-commencement of play To support the war effort in World War I, the Association had curtailed its 1915 season by five weeks,The Argus Melbourne Association season curtailed 15 July 1915 8 and then cancelled its 1916 and 1917 seasons entirely.The Argus 6 February 1917 Melbourne 8 Sport and war Despite the fact that the circumstances of the war had not changed since 1916, several clubs were keen to resume playing in 1918, and at the Association meeting on 15 April, a resolution to play the season was passed by a majority of 10–5.The Argus 15 April 1918 Melbourne 4 Wartime football – Association's decision Six clubs – Brunswick, , , Northcote, Port Melbourne and Prahran – opted to play in 1918.The Argus 5 April 1918 Melbourne 8 Wartime football – Association's position The remaining four clubs – Brighton, Essendon, and Williamstown – did not play, and ultimately returned to competition the following year after hostilities ceased.The Argus 21 January 1919 Melbourne 7 Football – Association meeting The Argus suggested that the Association clubs were motivated to return to playing in spite of the war due to the impending expiration of a wartimeThe Australasian 3 May 1919 Football – the opening day 807 Melbourne J.W. CVI 2770 agreement between the League and Association regarding player clearances. Before the war, the two bodies generally did not recognise each other's transfer permits, so if an Association player transferred to a League club without a permit from the Association, he would be disqualified from playing in the Association for a period of time, but the League would allow him to play without penalty; but under the wartime agreement, the rival competitions did recognise each other's permits, so in the above example the player would be barred from playing in the League, or his League club penalised for fielding him. The Argus contended that there was a fear that when this agreement ended on 1 July 1918, the lack of an Association premiership to contest would result in an exodus of senior players to the League from which the Association might not recover.The Argus 16 March 1918 Melbourne 19 Wartime football Premiership The short home-and-home season was played over only ten rounds, 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 1918 VFA ladder true points y 4 2 Premiers NOR PRA Prahran BRU Brunswick PMB Port Melbourne NCT Northcote FOO 10 0 0 851 405 P 6 4 0 701 613 5 5 0 609 608 4 6 0 541 638 3 7 0 592 597 2 8 0 406 715 8 8 bonus points #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Argus 22 July 1918 Association Matches 7 Melbourne Observer Finals Semi Finals Saturday, 27 July Prahran 8.10 (58) H Port Melbourne 8.8 (56) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 3,000 The Argus Melbourne Association Semi-Final 29 July 1918 8 Observer Saturday, 3 August 10.23 (83) H Brunswick 4.11 (35) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 5,000 The Argus Melbourne Association Semi-Final 5 August 1918 4 Observer 1918 VFA Final Saturday, 10 August 6.2 (38) 11.6 (72) 15.7 (97) 18.13 (121) Stevens 9 H Prahran 0.2 (2) 1.6 (12) 3.7 (25) 3.10 (28) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 7,000 The Argus Melbourne The Association Clubs – North Melbourne premiers 12 August 1915 10 ObserverThe Australasian Melbourne Association – final match 17 August 1918 307 J.W. 2733 CVThe Age Melbourne Association final – North Melbourne wins premiership 12 August 1918 7 Hurley Had Prahran won, minor premiers North Melbourne would have been entitled to a rematch the following Saturday to decide the premiership. Awards Stevens () was the leading goalkicker for the season, kicking 54 goals. See also List of VFA premiers References Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL