1903 VFA season

1903 Premiership season
Teams	10
Premiers	North Melbourne (1st premiership)
Minor premiers	Richmond (1st minor premiership)
← 1902 1904 →

The 1903 Victorian Football Association season was the 27th season of the Australian rules football competition. For the first time in its history, the VFA introduced an annual finals series to determine the premiership. The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club, after defeating Richmond in the challenge final; it was the first premiership in the club's history, after having competed in the Association since its inaugural seasion in 1877.

Association membership

The size of the association was increased from nine to ten teams in 1903, with the Preston Football Club – which had won the previous three Victorian Junior Football Association premierships – elevated to senior level and admitted to the competition.^[1]

Premiership

The Association introduced a finals system to determine the major premiership for the season. Finals had been used by the rival Victorian Football League since its establishment in 1897, but this was the first time it had been used by the Association. The finals were played according to the amended Argus system – the system which had been in use in the League since 1902, except with a slight variation that the League would not adopt until 1907; in summary:^[1]

The top four clubs after the eighteen home-and-home matches qualified for the finals
In the first week of finals, 1st played 3rd and 2nd played 4th
In the second week, the winners from the first week played against each other
In the third week, the minor premier (i.e. the club atop the ladder after the home-and-home matches) played against the winner from the second week to decide the major premiership – unless the winner from the second week was the minor premier, in which case the premiership was awarded automatically.

Ladder

1903 VFA Ladder

TEAM

PTS

Richmond

941

351

North Melbourne (P)

1017

444

Footscray

954

457

West Melbourne

924

488

Williamstown

814

620

Brunswick

727

692

Preston

686

825

Port Melbourne

555

824

Prahran

596

979

Essendon Town

334

1233

Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points

Source^[2]

Finals


	Semi Finals
Saturday, 5 September	North Melbourne 8.8 (56)	def.	West Melbourne 4.4 (28)	Port Melbourne Cricket Ground	^[3]
Saturday, 5 September	Richmond 4.5 (29)	def. by	Footscray 9.11 (65)	North Melbourne Recreation Reserve	^[3]


	Preliminary Final
Saturday, 12 September	North Melbourne 7.11 (53)	def.	Footscray 4.9 (33)	East Melbourne Cricket Ground	^[4]


	1903 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 19 September	Richmond	def. by	North Melbourne	East Melbourne Cricket Ground (Crowd: 18,000 – 20,000)	^[5]<ref name=GF2">{{cite news\|newspaper=North Melbourne Gazette\|publication-place=North Melbourne, VIC\|title=Victorian Football Association - Final Match\|date=25 September 1903\|page=3}}</ref>
	0.0 (0) 1.4 (10) 1.4 (10) 3.9 (27)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	3.4 (22) 3.4 (22) 7.6 (48) 7.6 (48)	Umpires: O'Loghlen

Johnston, Maine, Watson		Goals	Considine 3, Londrigan, McCann, Noonan, O'Brien




Owing to a very strong wind blowing during the game, neither team scored to the railway end of the ground.

Notable events

Mr James Hall, who had served as Association president since 1901,^[6] retired from his position prior to the start of the season. Footscray president, Mr Jason Cuming, was initially elected president in the annual general meeting in April 1903,^[7] but he declined the position; in a second election on 1 May, Essendon Town president Cr J. G. Aikman was elected president.^[8] Aikman served as president until his death in 1928.^[9]

External links

References

1 2 "Football". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia). 28 March 1903. p. 18. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
↑ Observer (31 August 1903). "The Association Clubs". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 9.
1 2 Observer (7 September 1903). "Football". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 7.
↑ Observer (14 September 1903). "Association Semi-Final". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 7.
↑ Observer (21 September 1903). "Football - The Association Premiership". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 7.
↑ "Short and sharp". Williamstown Chronicle (Williamstown, VIC). 20 April 1901. p. 2.
↑ "Victorian Football Association – Opinions on the Game". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). 18 April 1903. p. 15.
↑ "Victorian Football Association". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). 2 May 1903. p. 18.
↑ Onlooker (30 July 1928). "Association – All leaders win well". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 6.

VFA/VFL seasons

VFA seasons	1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

VFL seasons	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Victorian Football League clubs

Current clubs	Box Hill Casey Scorpions Coburg Collingwood reserves Essendon reserves Footscray reserves Frankston Geelong reserves North Ballarat Northern Blues Port Melbourne Richmond reserves Sandringham Werribee Williamstown

Former clubs	Albert Park Ballarat Ballarat Imperial Barwon Berwick Bendigo Brighton/Caulfield Brunswick Camberwell Carlton Carlton reserves Collingwood Dandenong East Melbourne Essendon Essendon 'A' Fitzroy Footscray Geelong Geelong 'A' Geelong West Gold Coast Hawthorn Hotham/North Melbourne Kilsyth Melbourne Melbourne City Moorabbin Mordialloc Murray Kangaroos Northcote Oakleigh Prahran Richmond St Kilda St Kilda reserves South Ballarat South Melbourne South Williamstown Sunshine Tasmanian Devils Traralgon University Waverley West Melbourne Yarraville

Australian rules football in Victoria

Representative side	Victoria

Governing bodies	AFL Victoria (metropolitan) AFL Victoria Country (country)

Professional clubs	Carlton Collingwood Essendon Geelong Hawthorn Melbourne North Melbourne Richmond St Kilda Western Bulldogs

Statewide leagues	Victorian Football League TAC Cup (under-18) List of Australian rules football competitions in Victoria

Metropolitan leagues	Eastern Essendon District Northern Riddell District Southern VAFA Western Region

Regional leagues (major)	Ballarat Bellarine Bendigo Central Murray Geelong Gippsland Goulburn Valley Hampden Mornington Peninsula Nepean Murray North Central Ovens & Murray Sunraysia Wimmera Yarra Valley Mountain

Regional leagues (district)	Alberton Central Highlands Colac & District East Gippsland Ellinbank & District Geelong & District Golden Rivers Heathcote Horsham & District Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Kyabram & District Loddon Valley Mallee Maryborough Castlemaine Mid Gippsland Millewa Mininera North Gippsland Omeo & District Ovens & King Picola & District South East South West Tallangatta Upper Murray Warrnambool Western Border

Women's leagues	Victorian Women's Football League AFL Victoria Youth Girls Competition

Defunct leagues	Benalla (1946-2009) Federal (1909-1981) Lexton Plains (1999-2010) Riviera (1986-2003) List of former Australian rules football competitions in Victoria

Principal venues	Melbourne Cricket Ground Docklands Stadium Princes Park Kardinia Park

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