1950 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1950.
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1950 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre 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 1950.
Premiership season
In 1950, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1950 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".
First Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria.... |
2.2 | 3.2 | 5.4 | 6.8 (44) |
| Geelong Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also... |
1.1 | 4.5 | 8.6 | 13.10 (88) |
| Attendance: 54,817 | ||||
Second Semi-Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
5.5 | 6.8 | 9.11 | 11.14 (80) |
| North Melbourne North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world... |
0.3 | 5.7 | 8.9 | 11.11 (77) |
| Attendance: 75,433 | ||||
Preliminary Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Melbourne North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world... |
1.0 | 4.8 | 10.11 | 14.16 (100) |
| Geelong Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also... |
7.3 | 8.4 | 11.7 | 12.11 (83) |
| Attendance: 73,530 | ||||
Grand final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
7.3 | 7.6 | 10.11 | 13.14 (92) |
| North Melbourne North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world... |
4.0 | 5.5 | 7.9 | 7.12 (54) |
| Attendance: 87,801 | ||||
Awards
- The 1950 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 John Coleman of EssendonEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
with 120 goals (including 8 goals in the final series). - The winner of the 1950 Brownlow MedalBrownlow MedalThe Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
was Allan RuthvenAllan RuthvenAllan Ruthven was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. He played his entire 222 game career with Fitzroy. In 1950, Ruthven won the prestigious Brownlow medal.- Playing career :...
of FitzroyFitzroy Football ClubThe Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
with 21 votes. - HawthornHawthorn Football ClubThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
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 1950.
Notable events
- In the early 1950 pre-season, veteran CollingwoodCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
coach Jock McHaleJock McHaleJames Francis "Jock" McHale, was an Australian rules football player and coach for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League in a marathon career that extended from 1903 to 1949....
announces that he will retire. Collingwood called for applications for a non-playing coach. Champion ruckman Phonse KynePhonse KyneAlphonsius E. "Phonse" Kyne was an Australian rules footballer who played for and coached Collingwood in the Victorian Football League. He is an inductee of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a member of the official Collingwood Team of the Century...
, much loved by all at Collingwood (especially John WrenJohn WrenJohn Wren was an Australian businessman. He has become a legendary figure thanks mainly to a fictionalised account of his life in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, which was also made into a television series...
), immediately announced his retirement and applied for the job. On the Thursday before the last pre-season practice match (i.e., 13 April), the Collingwood committee announced that it had appointed the (then) coach of the Collingwood Second Eighteen team, Bervyn WoodsBervyn WoodsBervyn Woods was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood in the Victorian Football League during the late 1930s....
—who had been sold to Collingwood (along with Harold Jones) in 1935 by the cash-strapped VFA club BrunswickBrunswick Football ClubBrunswick Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1897 until 1990. They were originally nicknamed the Pottery Workers before being renamed the Magpies and were based in Brunswick, Victoria. The club wore black and white guernseys...
—as coach, by the casting vote of the President Harry Curtis. The announcement was greeted with incredulity, resentment, and anger, because the decision surely meant that Kyne (the supporters' choice for the job) would have to go elsewhere to realize his coaching ambitions. At Collingwood's final practice match (Saturday 15 April) the crowd continuously jeered at Woods, and those members of the Collingwood committee that had voted for him were in great physical danger. Meanwhile Kyne was carried around the ground in great majesty on the shoulders of the crowd. On Sunday (16 April) Woods withdrew his application and reverted to coaching the Second Eighteen. Thus, with a reign of 5 days, Woods remains the VFL/AFL coach with the shortest-ever tenure. Phonse Kyne was appointed coach following Woods' resignation. Over the 1950 season he played seven matches; he then retired. He coached Collingwood for 14 consecutive seasons (1950-1963). Within days of Woods' retirement, a special extraordinary meeting of Collingwood Football Club members was held at the Collingwood Town Hall, and those seen to be responsible for the appointment of Woods (viz., Harry Curtis, Frank Wraith, and Bob Rush) were voted out of office. Collingwood won nine matches and lost nine matches in the 1950 season despite all of these internal troubles. - In round 17, John Coleman kick his 100th goal for the season in his sixteenth match of the season (he did not play in the split round 14 because he was in Brisbane playing for Victoria).
- North Melbourne Football ClubNorth Melbourne Football ClubThe North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
reached the Grand FinalAFL Grand FinalThe AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
for the first time since joining the VFL in 1925. - Essendon Football ClubEssendon Football ClubThe Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
wins the First Eighteen, Second Eighteen, and Third Eighteen premierships in 1950.