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Results and statistics for the VFL/AFL season of 1970.

Premiership season

In 1970, 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 22 rounds; matches 12 to 22 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 11.

Once the 22 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1970 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

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Consolation Night Series Competition

The consolation night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the home and away rounds.

Final: Footscray 13.17 (95) defeated Melbourne 13.15 (93).

Premiership Finals

First Semi-Final

Second Semi-Final

Preliminary Final

Grand final

Crowd figures

Awards

• The 1970 VFL Premiership team was Carlton.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Peter Hudson of Hawthorn who kicked 146 goals.
• The winner of the 1970 Brownlow Medal was Peter Bedford of South Melbourne with 25 votes.
• North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1970.

Notable events

• Unhappy with their treatment over the three seasons they spent at Princes Park, Fitzroy move their home ground to the Junction Oval.
• Essendon's Don McKenzie, Geoff Gosper, Darryl Gerlach, Geoff Pryor, and Barry Davis, and Collingwood's Len Thompson and Des Tuddenham do not play in round 1 due to separate disputes over player payments with their respective clubs (see Dispute over player payments).
• In round 1, Richmond play Fitzroy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5 April 1970. This was the first-ever VFL Sunday match. Before the start of the third quarter the Richmond and Fitzroy players lined up in front of the Members' Stand and were introduced to the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and Princess Anne, who then watched the last half of the match. In one of the best football matches seen for decades, in terms of the technical skills displayed by both teams, Fitzroy went on to beat Richmond 16.20 (116) to 14.12 (96).
• In round 22, Carlton's Alex Jesaulenko kicks 5 goals and brings up his "century". 1970 is the first VFl season in which three full-forwards (Alex Jesaulenko, Peter McKenna, and Peter Hudson) have kicked at least 100 goals in a home-and-away season.
• In round 5, Ted Whitten plays his 321st senior VFL game, breaking the record set by Dick Reynolds. Whitten retires after this match.
• On Monday 31 August HSV-7 broadcasts the first "live" Brownlow Medal count.
• In the 1970 Second Semi-Final, Carlton's Syd Jackson was reported for striking Collingwood defender Lee Adamson. The wily Carlton President, George Harris, eager to have Jackson in his Grand Final team, devised the strategy of having the club's advocate to assert to the tribunal (on Jackson's behalf) that Jackson had been provoked by an extended series of racial taunts from Adamson, including repeatedly calling him "Sambo" and, furthermore, stating that Jackson would respond in the same way to any future vilification. The tribunal took the stance that the VFL had to be seen to protect its (in 1970) only top-level Aboriginal footballer, and they immediately exonerated him, stating that Jackson had no case to answer.
  • Jackson revealed much later that it had all been a set-up by George Harris. [1]

See also

• 1970 VFL Grand Final

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

• 1970 Season - AFL Tables