1981 VFA season

1981 VFA Premiership Season
Teams 20
Division 1
Teams 10
Premiers Port Melbourne
(14th premiership)
Minor premiers Port Melbourne
(13th minor premiership)
Division 2
Teams 10
Premiers Camberwell
(2nd D2 premiership)
Minor premiers Camberwell
(2nd D2 minor premiership)
1980
1982

The 1981 Victorian Football Association season was the 100th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 21st season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Preston in the Grand Final on 20 September by 113 points; it was Port Melbourne's 14th Division 1 premiership, the second of three premierships won in a row between 1980 and 1982, and the fifth of six premierships won in nine seasons from 1974 until 1982. The Division 2 premiership was won by Camberwell; it was the club's second Division 2 premiership, and it was the last premiership ever won by the club.

Rule changes

After trialling it during the 1980 finals series, two field umpires were used during all Division 1 matches in 1981. Division 2 continued to be officiated by a single field umpire during the home-and-away season, and by two field umpires during finals.[1]

One consequence of this was that the Liston Trophy voting procedure changed. Previously, in both the Liston Trophy and Field Medal, the field umpire and each of the two goal umpires had independently awarded votes to the best two players on the ground on a 2–1 basis. This year in Division 1, each field umpire but neither of the goal umpires awarded Liston Trophy votes on the same 2–1 basis as before; in Division 2, Field Medal voting procedures were unchanged.[1]

Division 1

The Division 1 home-and-away season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals were played at the Junction Oval.

Ladder

1981 VFA Division 1 Ladder
TEAM P W L D PF PA Pct PTS
1 Port Melbourne (P) 18 16 2 0 2833 1751 161.7 64
2 Preston 18 12 6 0 2373 1804 131.5 48
3 Sandringham 18 10 8 0 1954 1927 101.4 40
4 Frankston 18 10 8 0 2005 2089 95.9 40
5 Prahran 18 10 8 0 2032 2159 94.1 40
6 Coburg 18 9 9 0 2172 1832 118.5 36
7 Geelong West 18 8 10 0 1870 2201 84.9 32
8 Dandenong 18 7 11 0 1878 2085 88.6 28
9 Caulfield 18 5 13 0 2035 2451 83.0 20
10 Brunswick 18 3 15 0 1607 2430 66.1 12
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[2]

Finals

Semi Finals
Sunday, 30 August Sandringham 14.16 (100) def. Frankston 13.5 (83) Junction Oval (crowd: 7,785) [3]
Sunday, 6 September Port Melbourne 22.25 (157) def. Preston 12.14 (86) Junction Oval (crowd: 10,021) [4]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 13 September Preston 28.7 (175) def. Sandringham 26.12 (168) Junction Oval (crowd: 7,171) [5]
1981 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Sunday, 20 September Port Melbourne def. Preston Junction Oval (Crowd: 20,180) [6]
6.6 (42)
9.9 (63)
19.14 (128)
32.19 (211)
Q1
Q2
Q3
Final
2.1 (13)
9.4 (58)
11.8 (74)
15.8 (98)
Umpires: Roy Groom, Barry Fitzpatrick
Cook 8, Anderson 5, Jim Christou 4, O'Riley 4, Evans 3, Goss 3, Davies 2, Ebeyer 2, Swan Goals Halas 5, Box 2, Boden, Brine, Cooper, Heard, McEwan, McGaw, Marks, Vann

Awards

Division 2

The Division 2 home-and-away season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park.

Ladder

1981 VFA Division 2 Ladder
TEAM P W L D PF PA Pct PTS
1 Camberwell (P) 18 14 4 0 2417 1504 160.7 56
2 Waverley 18 13 5 0 2444 1423 171.7 52
3 Mordialloc 18 13 5 0 2139 1504 142.2 52
4 Werribee 18 12 5 1 2209 1624 136.0 50
5 Oakleigh 18 11 7 0 2271 1726 131.5 44
6 Northcote 18 11 7 0 2040 1738 117.3 44
7 Williamstown 18 9 8 1 2114 2030 104.1 38
8 Yarraville 18 4 14 0 1688 2359 71.5 16
9 Box Hill 18 2 16 0 1568 2777 56.4 8
10 Sunshine 18 0 18 0 1136 3341 34.0 0
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[7]

Finals

Semi Finals
Sunday, 16 August Mordialloc 16.20 (116) def. Werribee 13.8 (86) Toorak Park (crowd: 3,580) [8]
Sunday, 23 August Camberwell 30.15 (195) def. Waverley 13.13 (91) Toorak Park (crowd: 5,298) [2]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 30 August Waverley 20.15 (135) def. Mordialloc 13.16 (94) Toorak Park (crowd: 2,700) [3]
1981 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 6 September Camberwell def. Waverley Toorak Park (Crowd: 8,250) [4]
2.3 (15)
7.10 (52)
12.11 (83)
15.16 (106)
Q1
Q2
Q3
Final
1.3 (9)
3.4 (22)
8.7 (55)
11.8 (74)
Umpires: Bill Torney, Frank Vergona
Stevenson 5, Hammond 4, Cook, Chamberlain, Davidson, Hirst, Neilson, Oliver Goals Angelis 2, Davies 2, Styles 2, Venville 2, Beddoe, Brick, Plummer

Awards

Notable events

Interleague matches

For the first time, the Association named separate representative teams for Division 1 and Division 2. The Division 1 team played a match against the Greater Northern Football League, which was a short-lived amalgamation between the Launceston-based Northern Tasmanian Football Association and the north-west coastal North Western Football Union. Division 2 played against the South Australian Football Association, a second-tier senior competition which had been formed in Adelaide in 1978.

1981 Interleague Matches
Sunday, 7 June G.N.F.L. 15.20 (110) def. V.F.A. First Division 15.10 (100) Devonport Oval [9]
Sunday, 12 July S.A.F.A. 6.3 (39) def. by V.F.A. Second Division 6.8 (44) Thebarton Oval [10]

Other notable events

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Marc Fiddian (27 August 1981). "Aanensen wins his second Liston". The Age (Melbourne). pp. 28, 27.
  2. 1 2 3 Marc Fiddian (23 August 1981). "Port coasts past premiership rival". The Age (Melbourne). p. 28.
  3. 1 2 Marc Fiddian (31 August 1981). "Dolphins are sunk". The Age (Melbourne). p. 27.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Marc Fiddian (7 September 1981). "Bullants' bluff no match for Boroughs' brilliance". The Age (Melbourne). p. 25.
  5. 1 2 Marc Fiddian (14 September 1981). "Preston defies gallant Zebras". The Age (Melbourne). p. 33.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Marc Fiddian (21 September 1981). "Port storms to Grand Final record". The Age (Melbourne). p. 29.
  7. 1 2 Marc Fiddian (10 August 1981). "Tough run in for Prahran". The Age (Melbourne). p. 29.
  8. Marc Fiddian (17 August 1981). "Prahran kicks on for fifth straight victory". The Age (Melbourne). p. 25.
  9. "League statistics". The Age (Melbourne). 8 June 1981. p. 22.
  10. David Eastman. "Other VFA representative teams – 2nd Division". Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  11. Santo Caruso; Marc Fiddian; Jim Main (2002), Football Grounds of Melbourne, Essendon North, VIC: Pennon Publishing, p. 21
  12. Marc Fiddian (7 March 1981). "Wickes new VFA chief". The Age (Melbourne). p. 40.
  13. Marc Fiddian (28 March 1981). "VFA firm on Sunday stand". The Age (Melbourne). p. 36.
  14. Marc Fiddian (6 April 1981). "Vintage port drowns the Zebras". The Age (Melbourne). p. 27.
  15. The Age (Melbourne). 8 April 1981. p. 30.
  16. Old Boy (1 September 1924). "Football – Fourth place struggle". The Argus (Melbourne). p. 13.
  17. Marc Fiddian (24 April 1981). "Seven Roosters strike over pay". The Age (Melbourne). p. 22.
  18. Marc Fiddian (8 September 1981). "Oakleigh potential fails to sway VFA". The Age (Melbourne). p. 45.
  19. Marc Fiddian (13 May 1981). "Rover out until 1983". The Age (Melbourne). p. 30.
  20. Marc Fiddian (31 March 1982). "Pledger gets 4". The Age (Melbourne). p. 34.
  21. Marc Fiddian (22 June 1981). "Cook makes history as Port coasts". The Age (Melbourne). p. 25.
  22. James Hothersall. "Australian Football Facts & Feats". Retrieved 14 June 2014.
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