1922 VFA season

44th season of the Australian rules football competition December 2017 December 2017 VFA Premiership season 1922 VFA Port melbourne fc 1922.jpg 250px Port Melbourne, premiers 10 Port Melbourne 3 6 1921 1923 The 1922 Victorian Football Association season was the 44th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated by two points on 23 September, in a controversial Grand Final which several of its players were offered money to throw. It was the club's third VFA premiership. Association membership Following the closure of the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1921, the Essendon (Association) Football Club left the Association, due to the Essendon (League) Football Club moving into its home ground. had disbanded midway through the 1921 season as it tried to capitalise on Essendon's (L.) move, but reformed at the end of the year, amalgamated with the Essendon (A.) club, and resumed its place in the Association, albeit missing many of its best players which had left the club when it disbanded. To replace Essendon (A.), a new senior club based in Geelong was admitted to the Association. The new club was administered by the Geelong & District Junior Football Association, and was called the Geelong Football Club; it was typically called Geelong (Association) or Geelong (A.) when required to distinguish it from the Geelong Football Club affiliated with the Victorian Football League. The Geelong (A.) team played its matches at Kardinia Park (at the time, Geelong (L.) played at Corio Oval).The Australasian Melbourne 3 December 1921 Football – turning the tables J.W. CXI 2905 These changes were seen as a rare strategic victory for the Association over the League. The Association had managed to gain a slightly stronger foothold over inner city Melbourne by forcing Essendon (L.) into the outer suburbs; and it had then established a club in Geelong, which had previously been served by only a League team, in the hope of attracting some Geelong-grown talent towards the Association. The victory would be short-lived, as was admitted to the League after three years and Geelong (A.) was out of the Association after six years. Before the season, , Prahran and Williamstown all applied to join the League;The Australasian Melbourne 19 December 1921 Football 988 J.W. CXI 2903 and Camberwell, Coburg and Geelong West all applied to join the Association.The Australasian Melbourne 28 January 1922 Football – Victorian Association clubs J.W. 158 All six applications were rejected. Premiership The home-and-home season was played over eighteen 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 1922 VFA ladder true points y 4 2 Premiers FOO PMB Port Melbourne NOR WIL Williamstown BRU Brunswick HAW NCT Northcote BRI Brighton GEE Geelong PRA Prahran 16 2 0 1539 809 14 4 0 1421 1035 P 12 6 0 1179 996 10 7 1 1246 1016 10 7 1 1369 1167 10 7 1 1304 1126 7 10 1 1287 1336 6 12 0 1100 1273 2 16 0 935 1620 1 17 0 829 1827 #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Argus 28 August 1922 The Association – final four fixed 14 Melbourne Old Boy Finals Semifinals Saturday, 2 September Port Melbourne 13.14 (92) H Williamstown 8.3 (51) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 14,500 The Argus Melbourne The Association – first semi-final 4 September 1922 12 Old Boy Saturday, 9 September 6.12 (48) A 10.8 (68) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 12,000 The Argus Melbourne The Association – amateurs triumph 11 September 1922 5 Old Boy Preliminary Final Saturday, 16 September Port Melbourne 9.12 (66) H 5.8 (38) North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 13,500 The Argus Melbourne The Association – Port Melbourne succeed 18 September 1922 12 Old Boy 1922 VFA Grand Final Saturday, 23 September 0.2 (2) 4.7 (31) 5.7 (37) 8.10 (58) O'Brien 4, Samson 2, Holden, Outen A Port Melbourne 6.2 (38) 7.2 (44) 9.6 (60) 9.6 (60) Taylor 3, Barfoot, Dobrigh, O'Brien, Rees, Stanford, Walton North Melbourne Recreation Reserve 20,000 The Argus Melbourne The Association – Port Melbourne premiers 25 September 1922 6 McKinnon Grand Final bribery scandal Four Port Melbourne players, George Ogilvie, Bill Rudd, Bill Walton and captain Gus Dobrigh reported to the club that they were separately offered large sums of money, as much as £100, to play dead in the Grand Final to fix the result in Footscray's favour.The Argus Melbourne Football "Squaring" – serious allegations 25 September 1922 11 Additionally, Mr Sinclair of the Port Melbourne club reported that he had received a telephone call from a man in the lead-up to the match who claimed to be a Port Melbourne supporter, asking for details of Port Melbourne tactics, but the man had left a false telephone numberThe Argus Melbourne Football Squaring – Association inquiry 3 October 1922 10 and Sinclair also reported that he had received an unusually large volume of requests for wagers on Footscray to win the match.The Argus Melbourne Football "Squaring" – Association meeting 26 September 1922 19 All four players refused to throw the match, and Port Melbourne won by two points. Port Melbourne referred the matter to the Association, who investigated and charged three men – all connected with the Footscray Football Club – with attempted bribery: Club President George Sayer and player Vern Banbury were both alleged to have attempted to bribe Dobrigh, Rudd and Walton in the lead-up to the match. Player Matthew O'Donohue was alleged to have attempted to bribe Ogilvie on the field during the Grand Final. Both O'Donohue and Sayer were found not guilty, with the Association ruling that Sayer had no involvement, much less knowledge, of the attempted bribery, while no witnesses could corroborate the allegation against O'Donohue. Banbury was found guilty and suspended from the Association for life.The Mercury Hobart, TAS Victorian Football – the charge of bribery 28 October 1922 7The Independent Footscray, VIC Football scandal 18 November 1922 2 Banbury is considered to have acted on his own accord, without any direction from the club, with Footscray itself found not guilty of any wrongdoing. Notable events Bill Walton was appointed captain-coach of Hawthorn in 1922. He was, however, refused a clearance by Port Melbourne and as a result spent the season playing for them, while coaching Hawthorn during the week. Twice that season, he had the unusual situation of playing a VFA game against the club that he coached. In one of those matches a Port Melbourne teammate had to be restrained from striking Walton over Walton's vocal support for the player's opponent. On 5 August, set a new record for the highest score in Association history. Hawthorn scored 30.31 (211) against Prahran 6.9 (45).The Argus Melbourne Prahran's debacle 7 August 1922 12 See also List of VFA premiers References Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL