1926 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1926


imagesize = 120px
caption = Brownlow winner Ivor Warne-Smith
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Mel
count = 2nd
minor premiers = AFL Col
mpcount = 8th
matches =
top goal scorer = Gordon Coventry (AFL Col)
brownlow medalist = Ivor Warne-Smith (AFL Mel)

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1926.

Premiership season

In 1926, the VFL competition consisted of twelve 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.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 17 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 6, and match 18 the "home-and-way reverse" of match 9.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1926 VFL "Premiers" were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus" system".

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Grand Final

"See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list."

Melbourne defeated Collingwood 17.17 (119) to 9.8 (62), in front of a crowd of 59,362 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Ladder

Awards

* The 1926 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne.
* The VFL's leading goalkicker was Gordon Coventry of Collingwood with 83 goals; a VFL record.
* "The Argus" newspaper's "Player of the Year", Ivor Warne-Smith of Melbourne, was declared 1926 Champion of the Season.
* The winner of the 1926 (inaugural) Brownlow Medal was Ivor Warne-Smith of Melbourne with 9 votes.
* North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1926.

Notable Events

* In order to ensure that each team had nine home games in every season, the 17 game home-and-away season of 1925, was extended to 18 matches in 1926.
* Following the retirement due to ill-health of Sir Baldwin Spencer, former Melbourne footballer, club doctor, and VFL delegate Dr. William C. McClelland becomes President of the VFL. He serves from 1926 to 1956.
* Half way through the 1924 season, Carlton's champion Horrie Clover retired as a player due to a serious illness. He was subsequently appointed Secretary of the Carlton Club and, as well, he was made a member of the VFL's Umpire and permit Committee. By the start of 1926, Clover's health had improved to the extent that he resumed his career with Carlton, playing another 78 senior games from 1926 to 1931. Due to a perceived conflict of interest, he was made to resign from the VFL Committee.
* As the players were walking off the field for their half-time break in the closely contested Preliminary Final that was eventually won by Melbourne 6.6 (42) to Essendon's 5.9 (39), Melbourne's centreman Bob Corbett was viciously attacked from behind, suffering a broken jaw (Essendon's Charlie May was subsequently suspended for eight matches). With no replacements allowed, Melbourne continued with 17 men and were gamely defending against the Essendon onslaught in the last quarter when, with only minutes to go in the match, a barely conscious Corbett with his head swathed in bandages, staggered out onto the field, and took up his position in the centre, freeing up Ivor Warne-Smith to lead the Melbourne attack. In a mark of respect for Corbett's great courage, Essendon's tough-man and rugged full-back Harry Hunter who was racing up the ground towards the Essendon goals, saw a battered Corbett standing in his way. Under normal circumstances, Hunter (who was known to take no prisoners) would have run straight through Corbett; however, in what was described as an act of great chivalry by a sportsman and a gentleman, Hunter side-stepped Corbett, and delivered the ball down the ground through another avenue. This incident led to strong calls for substitute replacement players.

References

* Maplestone, M., "Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872-1996", Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-959-17402-8
* Rogers, S. & Brown, A., "Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997 (Sixth Edition)", Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
* Ross, J. (ed), "100 Years of Australian Football 1897-1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported", Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

External links

* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1926.html 1926 Season - AFL Tables]