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Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1974.

Premiership season

In 1974, 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 1974 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "McIntyre Final Five 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

Grand final

Richmond defeated North Melbourne 18.20 (128) to 13.9 (87), in front of a crowd of 113839 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Awards

• The 1974 VFL Premiership team was Richmond.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Doug Wade of North Melbourne who kicked 103 goals (including 12 goals in the finals).
• The winner of the 1974 Brownlow Medal was Keith Greig of North Melbourne with 27 votes.
  • Many were even more surprised at Greig winning his second Brownlow than they had been at him winning his first (in 1973). In 1973 Barry Davis had won North Melbourne's best and fairest award, and in 1974 John Rantall won North Melbourne's best and fairest award. Greig had not even been the "runner-up" in North Melbourne's best and fairest in either 1973 or 1974.
• Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1974.

Notable events

• Hawthorn play their home games at Princes Park.
• A dis-satisfied Sam Kekovich commences negotiations with West Adelaide Football Club, only to be told that North Melbourne will not clear him. Kekovich returns to North Melbourne.
• Just before half-time in the round 7 (18 May) match between Essendon and Richmond at Windy Hill, Richmond's Mal Brown clashed with Essendon's badly out of form Graeme Jenkin. As the teams moved towards the players' races at the half-time siren, Essendon runner Laurie Ashley went out of his way to confront Brown and started abusing him; Brown took objection to this, and struck Ashley. Within seconds, one of the biggest brawls ever to take place in Australian rules football ensued, involving players, officials, trainers, spectators, and police. When the brawl was finally broken up, Richmond's Brian Roberts had a broken nose, and an Essendon trainer and a spectator were both left unconscious. The VFL immediately appointed an investigating officer to determine what had taken place, and, having received the officer's report, charged four players, one Richmond official, one Essendon runner, and one Essendon staff member with "conduct unbecoming or prejudicial to the interests of the League". The VFL tribunal met on Monday 3 June, and at the request of both clubs, it heard the charges behind closed doors. It took four and a half hours for the tribunal to hear all of the relevant evidence and submissions, and and there was a further delay of another thirty-five minutes before its chairman John Winneke announced its findings:
  • Laurie Ashley (Essendon runner): suspended for 6 matches after being held to be responsible for starting the brawl.
  • Mal Brown (Richmond player): suspended for one match for striking Ashley.
  • Jim Bradley (Essendon fitness adviser): suspended for 6 weeks for running into the brawl and striking Brown.
  • Steve Parsons (Richmond player): suspended for 4 weeks for striking Bradley.
  • Ron Andrews (Essendon player): suspended for 6 weeks for the "unjustified" king-hit that broke Roberts' nose.
  • Graeme Richmond (Richmond team manager): after being identified as a very active participant in the brawl, the tribunal referred his case to the VFL Board of Directors, who disqualified him until 31 December 1974 and fined him $2,000. On 18 September, the VFL demandrd that Richmond pay the fine or face indefinite suspension. On December 17, the VFL announced that it had dropped the $2,000 fine altogether.
  • John Cassin (Essendon player): cleared after the tribunal found that he was only trying to assist in breaking up the brawl.

As a result of a police investigation, assault charges were laid against Steve Parsons and Graeme Richmond. Both Parsons and Richmond were cleared of these charges on 11 September.

• North Melbourne full-forward Doug Wade kicked his 1,000th career goal in the Qualifying Final against Hawthorn at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 7 September. He also kicked his 100th goal of the season in the Grand Final.
• Richmond play North Melbourne in round 8, round 19, the Second Semi-Final, and the Grand Final, and defeat them four times by margins of 25, 25, 21, and 41 points respectively.

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

• 1974 Season - AFL Tables
• "Memories are made of this: 27. The Windy Hill Brawl, 1974" (Sunday Age, 15 September 2002)