1923 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1923.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1923 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
season of 1923.
Premiership season
In 1923, the VFL competition had nine teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds (i.e., 16 matches and 2 byes).
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1923 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".
Awards
- The 1923 VFL Premiership team was EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. - The VFL's leading goalkickerColeman MedalThe Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
was Greg StockdaleGreg StockdaleGreg Stockdale was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League during the 1920s....
of EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
with 68 goals. - MelbourneMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
took the "wooden spoonWooden spoon (award)A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
" in 1923.
Notable events
- New scoreboards are erected at each home ground by the VFL's publication, The Football Record. With the help of a key published in that Saturday afternoon's Record, spectators can decipher the coded quarter-by-quarter scores of the other three matches as they appear on these scoreboards throughout the afternoon.
- After the round 13 match against EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
at Windy HillWindy Hill, EssendonWindy Hill is an Australian rules football ground located in Essendon, a northwestern suburb of the Melbourne metropolitan area....
, at an after-match function in the Essendon rooms, CarltonCarlton Football ClubThe Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
rover George Bolt and backman Jack Morrissey (who had not played in that game) came to blows. The Carlton Committee met the next day and suspended both players indefinitely. Bolt never played for Carlton again (he reappeared with Hawthorn in 1925, then he played for North Melbourne in 1926 and 1927); Jack Morrissey played his next game for Carlton on 27 June 1925 (round 9). - The 1922 Victorian Interstate team captain, and Carlton star ruckman, Bert Boromeo was overheard being intensely critical of the Carlton captain-coach Horrie CloverHorrie CloverHorrie Clover was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .A high-marking centre half-forward who was Carlton’s key player during his career...
at the same function. The Carlton Committee was upset at such behaviour occurring on the premises of another club, and suspended Boromeo immediately; eventually, in 1926, Carlton cleared Boromeo to Richmond for whom he played 14 games. - The Essendon Premiership team was known as the "Mosquito Fleet", due to the number of small, very fast players in the side. Six were 5'6" (167 cm) or less: Charlie HardyCharlie HardyCharlie Hardy was an Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the VFA during the 1910s and Essendon in the VFL during the early 1920s.-VFA:...
5'1" (155 cm), who played his first VFL game at the age of 34, George ShortenGeorge ShortenGeorge 'Tich' Shorten was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon in the VFL during the 1920s....
5'5" (165 cm), Jack GardenJack GardenJack Garden was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL.A wingman, Garden debuted for Essendon in 1915 but didn't play again 1920 due to war service. He won the Essendon Best and Fairest award in his first year back and the following season made his first appearance for...
5'5" (165 cm), Frank MaherFrank Maher (footballer)Frank H. Maher , is a former Australian footballer, and coach in the Victorian Football League.He served in the army in World War I from 1916 to 1919, and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry for his actions in France on 19 May 1918.He only began playing football when serving overseas with...
5'6" (167.5 cm), Vince IrwinVince IrwinVince 'Vin' Irwin was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League during the 1920s....
5'6" (167.5 cm), and Jimmy SullivanJimmy Sullivan (footballer)James 'Jimmy' Sullivan was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League ....
5'6" (167.5 cm). - In Round 10 against St. Kilda, Essendon kicked the season's lowest score, but they still won the premiership. They became the first premier team to have also kicked the season's lowest score, an occurrence replicated in 1968, 1970, 1992 and 1995.
- The Challenge Final match had to be postponed for a week as the Melbourne Cricket GroundMelbourne Cricket GroundThe Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
was under water due to intense rain. This meant that the Challenge Final was played on Saturday 20 October 1923, Caulfield Cup DayCaulfield CupThe Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...
.