1955 VFL season
Encyclopedia
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League
season of 1955.
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 1955 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 1955.
Premiership season
In 1955, 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 1955 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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... |
3.1 | 6.4 | 7.6 | 9.7 (61) |
| Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
0.2 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 7.11 (53) |
| Attendance: 68,109 | ||||
Second 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.... |
2.4 | 4.7 | 7.8 | 8.8 (56) |
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
1.3 | 4.5 | 6.7 | 6.9 (45) |
| Attendance: 59,015 | ||||
Preliminary Final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
5.1 | 8.4 | 10.9 | 14.12 (96) |
| 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... |
3.3 | 5.3 | 9.6 | 13.6 (84) |
| Attendance: 70,430 | ||||
Grand 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.... |
2.3 | 3.1 | 4.13 | 8.16 (64) |
| Collingwood Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League... |
2.2 | 2.5 | 4.6 | 5.6 (36) |
| Attendance: 88,053 | ||||
Awards
- The 1955 VFL Premiership team was 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....
. - 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 Noel RaysonNoel RaysonNoel Rayson is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong and South Melbourne during his ten year career in the Victorian Football League ....
of GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe 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...
with 80 goals (including 3 goals in the final series). - The winner of the 1955 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 Fred GoldsmithFred Goldsmith (Australian rules footballer)Fred Goldsmith is a former Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League....
of South MelbourneSydney SwansThe Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...
with 21 votes. - St. Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1955.
Notable events
- The VFL introduce a new, "15-yard rule" designed to prevent time-wasting.
- Despite this, the high aggregate score for the year was only 207 points, which is the lowest for any V/AFL season since 1922. As in 1953, no match where both teams scored a century occurred in 1955.
- St. Kilda's Points For of 861 at an average of 47.8 per match is the lowest average by any team since 1919.
- Towards the end of the round 4 match between 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...
and GeelongGeelong Football ClubThe 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...
at the Brunswick Street OvalBrunswick Street OvalThe Brunswick Street Oval, currently known as WT Peterson Community Oval, also known as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria...
Fitzroy full-forward Tony OngarelloTony OngarelloTony Ongarello is a former Australian rules footballer of Italian heritage who played with Fitzroy in the VFL.He is believed to be the last player in the league to have scored a goal from a Place kick...
was so upset with his own inaccurate kicking that, upon taking a mark, he indicated to the field umpire that he was going to kick a place-kick. He scored a goal. He was so impressed that he kicked one more goal in that match (lost by Fitzroy) with a place kick. Although he made several attempts to kick goals with place-kicks in other matches during 1955, he was never successful again. Thus, although it has never been (and is still not) against the rules to do so, he is on record as the last player ever to score a goal with a place kick in a senior VFL match. - After North Melbourne'sNorth 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...
humiliating round 11 (2 July 1955) loss to St Kilda — who had not won a match since 21 August 1954 and were now captain-coached by former North Melbourne star Les FooteLes FooteLeslie Roy Foote was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.-Football career:A local lad, and recruited from the North Melbourne Colts, Foote played his first match with the North Melbourne Football Club in 1941 at just 16 years of age.He was able to kick equally well with...
— the North Melbourne committee suspend two of its senior players (Mick Grambeau and Laurie Icke) indefinitely from both playing and training with the club for "not having tried hard enough" in the match. - FootscrayWestern BulldogsThe Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
misses out on a place in the Final Four by just 0.6%. - In the dying minutes of 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...
, Melbourne'sMelbourne Football ClubThe Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
19th man Frank "Bluey" AdamsFrank 'Bluey' AdamsFrank 'Bluey' Adams is a former Australian rules football player, who played in the Victorian Football League for the Melbourne Football Club....
rushed from the bench to take his place on the field and collided with the (unsighted by Adams) CollingwoodCollingwood Football ClubThe Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
winger Des HealeyDes HealeyDes Healey was an Australian rules footballer, who played in the VFL/AFL with the Collingwood Football Club.After spending 3 years in the reserves team, Healey finally broke into the senior side in 1948...
who, up to that stage, had been one of the best on the ground. Both participants in this horrific head clash were carried off unconscious. "Bluey" Adams 15-second playing time is the shortest in VFL history (Ross, 1996, p. 202).