1903 VFA season

1903 premiership season
1903 premiership season
	North Melbourne, premiers
Teams	10
Premiers	North Melbourne ; 1st premiership
Minor premiers	Richmond ; 1st minor premiership
	← 1902 1904 →

Last updated September 25, 2024

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 season 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
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	Pts
1	Richmond	18	16	2	0	941	351	64
2	North Melbourne (P)	18	15	2	1	1017	444	62
3	Footscray	18	14	4	0	954	457	56
4	West Melbourne	18	11	7	0	924	488	44
5	Williamstown	18	10	7	1	814	620	42
6	Brunswick	18	8	10	0	727	692	32
7	Preston	18	6	12	0	686	825	24
8	Port Melbourne	18	6	12	0	555	824	24
9	Prahran	18	3	15	0	596	979	12
10	Essendon Town	18	0	18	0	334	1233	0

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

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]^[6]
	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,^[7] 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,^[8] but he declined the position; in a second election on 1 May, Essendon Town president Cr John George Aikman was elected president.^[9] Aikman served as president until his death in 1928.^[10]

Related Research Articles

The 1901 Victorian Football Association season was the 25th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club; it was the second premiership in the club's history.

The 1904 Victorian Football Association season was the 28th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club in controversial circumstances, after minor premiers Richmond forfeited the challenge final in protest at the appointment of umpire. It was North Melbourne's second premiership in a row.

The 1905 Victorian Football Association season was the 29th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club, after defeating minor premiers North Melbourne by 25 points in the challenge final on 7 October. It was Richmond's second VFA premiership.

The 1907 Victorian Football Association season was the 31st season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated West Melbourne in the final by eighteen points. It was the first premiership won by Williamstown, in its 24th season of senior competition.

The 1915 Victorian Football Association season was the 39th season of the Australian rules football competition.

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The 1921 Victorian Football Association season was the 43rd season of the Australian rules football competition.

The 1923 Victorian Football Association season was the 45th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Footscray Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by 14 points in the Grand Final on 1 October. It was the club's eighth VFA premiership, which meant that the club surpassed Geelong (L.) for the most premierships won in VFA history.

The 1924 Victorian Football Association season was the 46th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Footscray Football Club, after it defeated Williamstown by 45 points in the final on 20 September. It was the club's ninth and last VFA premiership before it, along with North Melbourne and Hawthorn, joined the Victorian Football League the following year; this marked the end of a long period of dominance for Footscray, which had seen it win five minor premierships in a row and four major premierships in six years.

The 1928 Victorian Football Association season was the 50th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Coburg Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by seven points in the final on 8 September. It was the club's third VFA premiership, achieved in only its fourth season of senior competition, and was the third in a sequence of three premierships won consecutively from 1926 until 1928.

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The 1940 Victorian Football Association season was the 62nd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, which defeated Prahran by 47 points in the Grand Final on 5 October. It was Port Melbourne's first VFA premiership since 1922, and its fourth overall.

The 1941 Victorian Football Association season was the 63rd season of the Australian rules football competition, and it was the last season before the Association went into recess during World War II. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, which defeated Coburg by 19 points in the Grand Final on 4 October. It was Port Melbourne's fifth VFA premiership, and its second in a row.

The 1945 Victorian Football Association season was the 64th season of the Australian rules football competition, and it was the first season played since the Association went into recess during World War II. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, which defeated Port Melbourne by 37 points in the Grand Final on 6 October. It was the club's fourth VFA premiership.

The 1949 Victorian Football Association season was the 68th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, which defeated Oakleigh by three points in the Grand Final on 1 October. It was the fifth premiership won by the club.

The 1951 Victorian Football Association season was the 70th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Prahran Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by nine points in the Grand Final on 6 October. It was Prahran's second VFA premiership.

The 1954 Victorian Football Association season was the 73rd season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne by 32 points in the Grand Final on 2 October. It was Williamstown's sixth premiership, and the first of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.

The Victorian Junior Football Association (VJFA), sometimes known simply as the Victorian Junior Association (VJA), was an open age Australian rules football competition and administrative body. It was the first successful junior football competition in Melbourne, and was in existence from 1883 until 1932.

References

1 2 "Football". The Argus . Melbourne. 28 March 1903. p. 18. Retrieved 18 February 2015– via National Library of Australia.
↑ Observer (31 August 1903). "The Association Clubs". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 9.
1 2 Observer (7 September 1903). "Football". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.
↑ Observer (14 September 1903). "Association Semi-Final". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.
↑ Observer (21 September 1903). "Football – The Association Premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.
↑ "Victorian Football Association – Final Match". North Melbourne Gazette. North Melbourne. 25 September 1903. p. 3.
↑ "Short and sharp". Williamstown Chronicle. Williamstown, VIC. 20 April 1901. p. 2.
↑ "Victorian Football Association – Opinions on the Game". The Argus. Melbourne. 18 April 1903. p. 15.
↑ "Victorian Football Association". The Argus. Melbourne. 2 May 1903. p. 18.
↑ Onlooker (30 July 1928). "Association – All leaders win well". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.

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[preview-1] 1 2 "Football". The Argus . Melbourne. 28 March 1903. p. 18. Retrieved 18 February 2015– via National Library of Australia.

[review-2] Observer (31 August 1903). "The Association Clubs". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 9.

[SF-3] 1 2 Observer (7 September 1903). "Football". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.

[PF-4] Observer (14 September 1903). "Association Semi-Final". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.

[GF1-5] Observer (21 September 1903). "Football – The Association Premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 7.

[GF2-6] "Victorian Football Association – Final Match". North Melbourne Gazette. North Melbourne. 25 September 1903. p. 3.

[7] "Short and sharp". Williamstown Chronicle. Williamstown, VIC. 20 April 1901. p. 2.

[8] "Victorian Football Association – Opinions on the Game". The Argus. Melbourne. 18 April 1903. p. 15.

[9] "Victorian Football Association". The Argus. Melbourne. 2 May 1903. p. 18.

[10] Onlooker (30 July 1928). "Association – All leaders win well". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.

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