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Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1940.

Premiership season

In 1940, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 1940 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre 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

Melbourne defeated Richmond 15.17 (107) to 10.8 (68), in front of a crowd of 69,061 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Ladder

Awards

• The 1940 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Jack "Skinny" Titus of Richmond with 92 goals (100 after finals).
• The joint winners of the 1940 Brownlow Medal were Herbie Matthews of South Melbourne and Des Fothergill of Collingwood with 32 votes each.
  • The rules of the award stated that there was only one medal to be awarded in any one season. A count-back revealed that each had the same number of 3, 2, and 1 votes; and, although the controversy associated with such a criterion being applied in the case of Stan Judkins in 1930 meant that it was never used again, having played the whole 18 home-and-away matches each, they could not have been separated on the basis of the number of matches played anyway.
  • The VFL announced the tied result and neither player received a medallion.
  • As a consequence of its 1981 decision to change its rules relating to tied Brownlow Medal contests, the AFL awarded retrospective medals to Herbie Matthews and Des Fothergill in 1989.
• North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1940.

Notable events

• The VFL suspends its round 15 matches and conducts a one-day "lightning" carnival at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday 3 August 1940 to raise money for the war effort. After a somewhat complex set of knock-out preliminary contests, Richmond defeated North Melbourne in the first semi-final, and St Kilda defeating Carlton. In the final, St Kilda thrashed Richmond (who were sorely missing the injured Jack Dyer 4.2 (26) to 0.2 (2). The trophy awarded to the victorious St Kilda team (which included Keith Miller) was the Victorian Football League Patriotic Match Cup.
  • The carnival raised almost £3,000 for the war effort.
• The ANFC decides to cancel the 1940 Carnival scheduled to be held in Hobart because of the war.
• In one of the most rugged seasons ever 47 players are reported to the VFL Tribunal.
• In the last quarter of the Grand Final, Jack Titus scores a goal with his last kick, bringing his season's total to 100 goals.

References

• Hogan, P., The Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
• 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

• 1940 Season - AFL Tables