1979 VFA season

none December 2017 December 2017 1979 VFA season Teams 20 Division 1 Teams 10 Premiers Coburg(4th premiership) Minor premiers Geelong West(2nd minor premiership) Division 2 Teams 10 Premiers Camberwell(1st D2 premiership) Minor premiers Camberwell(1st D2 minor premiership) left ← 1978 right 1980 → The 1979 VFA season was the 98th season of the top division of the Victorian Football Association (VFA), an Australian rules football competition based in the state of Victoria, and the 19th season of the VFA's second division. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Coburg Football Club, after it defeated Geelong West in the grand final on 23 September by eight points; it was Coburg's fourth Division 1 premiership, and its first since 1928, ending a 51-year Division 1 premiership drought. The Division 2 premiership was won by Camberwell; it was the first premiership in either division ever won by the club since its admission to the Association in 1926, 53 years earlier. Division 1 The Division 1 home-and-away season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals were played at the Junction Oval. Ladder main WDL Q 1979 VFA Division 1 Ladder true points y 4 2 GLW Geelong West COB Coburg PRA Prahran PMB Port Melbourne CAU Caulfield DAN Dandenong PRE Preston SAN Sandringham FRA Frankston BRU Brunswick 15 3 0 2397 1908 12 6 0 2157 1915 P 10 8 0 2225 2130 10 8 0 2063 2119 9 9 0 2007 2266 8 10 0 2187 1983 8 10 0 2343 2238 8 10 0 2104 2167 6 12 0 2202 2625 4 14 0 1919 2253 #CCFFCC A A A A Premiers #FFCCCC R 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Age 27 August 1979 Anything but Dandy 27 Melbourne Marc Fiddian Finals Semi-finals Sunday, 2 September Prahran 13.11 (89) A Port Melbourne 14.17 (101) Junction Oval 8,734 The Age 29 Marc Fiddian Vic reigns with Port 3 September 1979 Melbourne Sunday, 9 September Geelong West 14.12 (96) A Coburg 16.21 (117) Junction Oval 5,786 The Age 28 Marc Fiddian 10 September 1979 Coburg wins see-saw clash Melbourne Preliminary Final Sunday, 16 September Geelong West 16.11 (107) H Port Melbourne 11.11 (77) Junction Oval 10,566 The Age 26 Marc Fiddian Roosters the wake-up boys 17 September 1979 Melbourne 1979 VFA Division 1 Grand Final Sunday, 23 September Coburg 1.6 (12) 5.8 (38) 13.13 (91) 16.15 (111) Halbert 3, Smith 3, Cleary 2, Dohnt 2, Halsall 2, Beattie, Fisher, Hartigan, Milroy H Geelong West 5.8 (38) 8.9 (57) 11.11 (77) 14.19 (103) Radojevic 4, Gilmore 3, Lunn 2, S. Wells 2, Arklay, Scarlet, G. Wells Junction Oval 17,947 At last the Lions roar Marc Fiddian 24 September 1979 The Age 26 Melbourne Maurie Stabb Awards The leading goalkicker for the home-and-away season was Renato Serafini (Frankston), who kicked 95 goals and did not participate in finals. Across the entire season including finals, the joint-leading goalkickers were Kim Smith (Prahran) and Joe Radojevic (Geelong West), who each finished with 97 goals; in the home-and-away season, Smith finished second with 94 goals, and Radojevic finished third with 81 goals. The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Vic Aanensen (Port Melbourne), who polled 38 votes. Aanenson finished ahead of Laurie Burt (Coburg), who was second with 28 votes, and Herman van de Beek (Dandenong), who polled 22 votes.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 32, 29 30 August 1979 Aanensen's Liston ends Port drought Sandringham won the seconds premiership. Sandringham 12.17 (89) defeated Preston 10.10 (70) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday 15 September at Toorak Park. Sandringham won the last ever lightning premiership. Sandringham 3.5 (23) defeated Yarraville 2.5 (17) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior Grand Final on Sunday 23 September. Division 2 The Division 2 home-and-away season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park. Ladder main WDL Q 1979 VFA Division 2 Ladder true points y 4 2 CAM Camberwell OAK Oakleigh MOR Mordialloc WIL Williamstown NOR Northcote YAR Yarraville WAV Waverley SUN Sunshine BOX Box Hill WER Werribee 14 4 0 2487 1698 P 14 4 0 2486 1837 12 6 0 2399 1796 12 6 0 2278 1888 12 6 0 2208 2020 11 7 0 2219 1848 6 12 0 2147 2356 4 14 0 1718 2415 3 15 0 1673 2710 2 16 0 1683 2730 Premiers #CCFFCC A A A A 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. complete The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 27 13 August 1979 Bears claw into four Finals Semi-finals Sunday, 19 August Mordialloc 14.12 (96) H Williamstown 3.10 (28) Toorak Park 3,000 The Age 31 Marc Fiddian Prahran faces threat to finals 20 August 1979 Melbourne Sunday, 26 August Camberwell 16.13 (109) A Oakleigh 17.15 (117) Toorak Park 6,500 Preliminary Final Sunday, 2 September Camberwell 19.14 (128) H Mordialloc 14.11 (95) Toorak Park 3,750 1979 VFA Division 2 Grand Final Sunday, 9 September Oakleigh 2.2 (14) 4.5 (29) 6.7 (43) 12.11 (83) Lennie 4, Wood 4, Thomas 2, Fryer, Leishman A Camberwell 6.5 (41) 12.7 (79) 15.10 (100) 18.13 (121) Cowley 6, Hammond 3, Simpson 3, Moore 2, Alexeeff, Chamberlain, Cook, Hirst Toorak Park 12,023 The Age 28 Marc Fiddian 10 September 1979 Cobras strike for first time Melbourne P. Snooks Awards The leading goalkicker for the Division 2 home-and-away season was Mark Fotheringham (Yarraville) who kicked 129 goals and did not participate in finals. The leading goalkicker across the whole season including finals was Peter Neville (Mordialloc), who was second behind Fotheringham with 125 goals in the home-and-away season, and kicked 132 goals overall. The J. Field Medal was won by a comfortable margin by Jeff Edwards (Northcote), who polled 58 votes. Edwards polled more than double the votes of David Wenn (Oakleigh), who was second with 26 votes; Peter Kerr (Williamstown) and Kevin Sait (Yarraville), were equal-third with 23 votes each. Yarraville won the seconds premiership. Yarraville 17.16 (118) defeated Oakleigh 9.23 (77) in the Grand Final, played as a stand-alone match on Saturday, 8 September. Notable events NFL Night Series The top two Association clubs from 1977 – Prahran and Preston – were invited to participate in the NFL Night Series, known this year as the Escort Cup. Neither club progressed to the night portion of the series, both eliminated in the first round by their SANFL opponents in a double-header played at Preston City Oval on Anzac Day:http://www.hardballget.net/nfl-night-series-1977-79.html David Eastman NFL Night Series – 1977–79 5 June 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140315214511/http://www.hardballget.net/nfl-night-series-1977-79.html 15 March 2014 dead dmy-all Prahran lost to Port Adelaide by 45 points Preston lost to Central District by eight points It was the final NFL Night series, as it was entirely superseded by the rival AFC Night Series in 1980, in which the Association clubs were not invited to compete. Interleague matches The Association played an interleague representative match against Queensland for the third consecutive season; it was the Association's first home representative match on an Association ground since 1965.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 38 16 June 1979 VFA homes in on its image The team was coached by Mick Erwin (Prahran). After having lost away matches against Queensland in both 1977 and 1978, the Association won this year's match easily. Queensland did not register its first score until the second quarter, by which stage the Association had already scored 9.13 (67), and the final margin was 154 points. 1979 Interleague Matches Sunday, 17 June V.F.A. 28.26 (192) H Queensland 5.8 (38) Toorak Park 2,500 The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 22 18 June 1979 VFA puts freeze on Sunshine State Other notable events On 3 June, Prahran won its first game against Port Melbourne at North Port Oval since 1951, a streak lasting 28 years (in 21 of which the two clubs competed in the same division).The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 29 4 June 1979 Two-Blues charge in On 24 June, Frankston 26.19 (175) defeated Preston 25.18 (168) in an extremely high scoring game.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 27 25 June 1979 Bears in on last growl On 4 July, Preston was found guilty of having fielded an unregistered player, Greg Marshall, in matches early in the season; Marshall's Form 3A had not been completed when he played in two senior matches and three seconds matches at the start of the season. The two senior matches in which Marshall had illegally played were an eight-point win against Caulfield and a draw against Port Melbourne; as a result of the revelations, the win and four points from each match were awarded to Preston's opponent.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 28 5 July 1979 Preston loses points The penalty saw Port Melbourne reach the finals at Preston's expense: had the original results stood, ceteris paribus, Preston and Port Melbourne would have finished fourth and fifth respectively with 38 points each, Preston having the higher percentage. Preston was also fined $1150, comprising $500 for each senior match and $50 for seconds match in which Marshall played. It was the first case of points being stripped for playing an unregistered player since 1952. In July, the Association had discussions with the Bendigo Football League with the view to offering stalwart clubs Golden Square and Sandhurst admission, but the offer was rejected.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 26 20 July 1979 Bendigo 'no' to VFA In the final round of Division 2 home-and-away matches, Sunshine back-pocket Denis Strybosch was reported for the unusual misconduct charge of indecently exposing himself to an umpire. The incident occurred late in the final quarter of Sunshine's 119-point loss to Yarraville: dominant Yarraville full-forward Mark Fotheringham was lining up for goal from the behind post with Strybosch on the mark when Sunshine full-back Peter Simpson walked across the mark; umpire Bill Torney paid a 15-metre penalty, to which Strybosch turned around, lowered his shorts and mooned Torney; Strybosch was reported by all four umpires at that end of the ground, and was immediately benched by his coach. At his hearing on 14 August, Strybosch claimed the gesture was a tactic to distract Fotheringham; but he also criticised Torney's umpiring and Fotheringham's play, none of which particularly helped his case. Strybosch was suspended for ten weeks.The Age Melbourne Marc Fiddian 30 15 August 1979 Bottoms down – 10 Later in the evening of Strybosch's hearing, his Sunshine team-mate Brian Morley, who had been cleared of his own misconduct charge earlier in the night and had allegedly been drinking in the hours since, abused and threatened Torney as he left VFA House. Morley returned to face the honorary commission on August 28, and was initially suspended for the entire 1980 season; but this was increased to a life suspension after he threw an ashtray at the chairman of the honorary commission.Fiddian, Marc (2004); The VFA; A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877–1995; p. 41The Age Melbourne VFA player out for life 29 August 1979 30 Marc Fiddian See also List of VFA/VFL premiers References 2 Category:Victorian Football League seasons VFL