1934 VFL season

1934 VFL premiership season
Richmond 1934 VFL premiership team
Overview
Date	5 May—13 October 1934
Teams	12
Premiers	Richmond 4th premiership
Runners-up	South Melbourne 5th runners-up result
Brownlow Medallist	Dick Reynolds (Essendon) 19 votes
Leading goalkicker medallist	Bob Pratt (South Melbourne) 138 goals
Attendance
Matches played	112
Total attendance	1,899,507 (16,960 per match)
Highest (H&A)	45,000 (round 13, Carlton v South Melbourne)
Highest (finals)	65,335 (grand final, Richmond v South Melbourne)
←  1933 1935  →

The 1934 VFL season was the 38th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs and ran from 5 May to 13 October, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

Richmond won the premiership, defeating South Melbourne by 39 points in the 1934 VFL grand final; it was Richmond's fourth VFL premiership. Richmond won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 15–3 win–loss record. Essendon's Dick Reynolds won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and South Melbourne's Bob Pratt won his second consecutive leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker; Pratt's 150 goals for the season (including finals) is a league record that has only been equalled once, in 1971.

Background

In 1934, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1934 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	16.13 (109)	St Kilda	11.7 (73)	Corio Oval	15,000	5 May 1934
Fitzroy	11.16 (82)	North Melbourne	10.11 (71)	Brunswick Street Oval	21,000	5 May 1934
Essendon	19.11 (125)	Footscray	16.18 (114)	Windy Hill	21,000	5 May 1934
Richmond	18.14 (122)	Melbourne	12.9 (81)	Punt Road Oval	17,000	5 May 1934
South Melbourne	19.13 (127)	Collingwood	13.14 (92)	Lake Oval	38,000	5 May 1934
Hawthorn	12.8 (80)	Carlton	17.26 (128)	Glenferrie Oval	17,000	5 May 1934

Round 2

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Collingwood	17.12 (114)	Essendon	13.8 (86)	Victoria Park	17,500	12 May 1934
Carlton	17.20 (122)	South Melbourne	17.17 (119)	Princes Park	45,000	12 May 1934
St Kilda	12.11 (83)	Richmond	13.9 (87)	Junction Oval	24,000	12 May 1934
Melbourne	20.13 (133)	Hawthorn	6.8 (44)	MCG	9,842	12 May 1934
North Melbourne	10.10 (70)	Geelong	10.17 (77)	Arden Street Oval	14,000	12 May 1934
Footscray	14.12 (96)	Fitzroy	9.18 (72)	Western Oval	16,000	12 May 1934

Round 3

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	12.14 (86)	Melbourne	6.11 (47)	Corio Oval	13,000	19 May 1934
Fitzroy	11.14 (80)	St Kilda	13.15 (93)	Brunswick Street Oval	19,000	19 May 1934
North Melbourne	8.14 (62)	Footscray	10.17 (77)	Arden Street Oval	17,000	19 May 1934
South Melbourne	23.10 (148)	Essendon	15.16 (106)	Lake Oval	20,000	19 May 1934
Hawthorn	9.8 (62)	Collingwood	19.15 (129)	Glenferrie Oval	8,000	19 May 1934
Richmond	14.20 (104)	Carlton	9.13 (67)	Punt Road Oval	37,000	19 May 1934

Round 4

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Footscray	12.12 (84)	South Melbourne	17.18 (120)	Western Oval	21,000	26 May 1934
Essendon	15.13 (103)	Hawthorn	13.11 (89)	Windy Hill	10,000	26 May 1934
Collingwood	13.13 (91)	Richmond	9.9 (63)	Victoria Park	26,000	26 May 1934
Carlton	15.14 (104)	Geelong	14.10 (94)	Princes Park	30,000	26 May 1934
St Kilda	14.18 (102)	North Melbourne	10.20 (80)	Junction Oval	18,000	26 May 1934
Melbourne	9.11 (65)	Fitzroy	8.11 (59)	MCG	15,864	26 May 1934

Round 5

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	13.14 (92)	South Melbourne	22.12 (144)	Glenferrie Oval	12,000	2 June 1934
St Kilda	22.23 (155)	Footscray	11.18 (84)	Junction Oval	25,000	2 June 1934
Fitzroy	15.12 (102)	Carlton	12.15 (87)	Brunswick Street Oval	26,500	2 June 1934
North Melbourne	17.14 (116)	Melbourne	15.28 (118)	Arden Street Oval	17,000	4 June 1934
Richmond	15.12 (102)	Essendon	12.8 (80)	Punt Road Oval	24,500	4 June 1934
Geelong	16.13 (109)	Collingwood	16.13 (109)	Corio Oval	21,500	4 June 1934

• Collingwood's Gordon Coventry kicked his 1,000th goal for his career in the game against Geelong. ^[1]

Round 6

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Melbourne	14.17 (101)	St Kilda	20.14 (134)	MCG	18,102	9 June 1934
Essendon	14.11 (95)	Geelong	11.16 (82)	Windy Hill	15,000	9 June 1934
Collingwood	16.15 (111)	Fitzroy	13.18 (96)	Victoria Park	22,000	9 June 1934
Carlton	20.25 (145)	North Melbourne	12.11 (83)	Princes Park	15,000	9 June 1934
South Melbourne	9.10 (64)	Richmond	16.12 (108)	Lake Oval	32,000	9 June 1934
Hawthorn	11.11 (77)	Footscray	10.11 (71)	Glenferrie Oval	8,000	9 June 1934

Round 7

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	15.16 (106)	South Melbourne	11.11 (77)	Corio Oval	14,200	23 June 1934
Footscray	6.8 (44)	Melbourne	13.13 (91)	Western Oval	11,000	23 June 1934
Richmond	16.14 (110)	Hawthorn	11.15 (81)	Punt Road Oval	10,000	23 June 1934
Fitzroy	15.12 (102)	Essendon	14.13 (97)	Brunswick Street Oval	19,000	23 June 1934
North Melbourne	12.14 (86)	Collingwood	16.16 (112)	Arden Street Oval	11,000	23 June 1934
St Kilda	16.12 (108)	Carlton	24.22 (166)	Junction Oval	33,000	23 June 1934

Round 8

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Essendon	29.16 (190)	North Melbourne	15.13 (103)	Windy Hill	12,000	30 June 1934
Collingwood	12.12 (84)	St Kilda	10.15 (75)	Victoria Park	15,000	30 June 1934
Carlton	19.20 (134)	Melbourne	11.19 (85)	Princes Park	20,000	30 June 1934
Hawthorn	11.12 (78)	Geelong	17.17 (119)	Glenferrie Oval	6,000	30 June 1934
Richmond	9.10 (64)	Footscray	6.12 (48)	Punt Road Oval	14,000	30 June 1934
South Melbourne	13.19 (97)	Fitzroy	13.10 (88)	Lake Oval	27,000	30 June 1934

Round 9

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
North Melbourne	7.4 (46)	South Melbourne	20.18 (138)	Arden Street Oval	11,000	7 July 1934
Geelong	7.13 (55)	Richmond	4.9 (33)	Corio Oval	16,500	7 July 1934
Fitzroy	13.21 (99)	Hawthorn	11.13 (79)	Brunswick Street Oval	9,000	7 July 1934
St Kilda	11.8 (74)	Essendon	7.16 (58)	Junction Oval	20,000	7 July 1934
Melbourne	8.15 (63)	Collingwood	8.17 (65)	MCG	13,807	7 July 1934
Footscray	12.11 (83)	Carlton	15.17 (107)	Western Oval	12,500	7 July 1934

Round 10

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	6.17 (53)	North Melbourne	6.12 (48)	Glenferrie Oval	6,000	14 July 1934
Essendon	6.15 (51)	Melbourne	8.12 (60)	Windy Hill	9,000	14 July 1934
South Melbourne	15.20 (110)	St Kilda	7.4 (46)	Lake Oval	24,000	14 July 1934
Geelong	13.15 (93)	Footscray	9.10 (64)	Corio Oval	11,000	14 July 1934
Richmond	10.16 (76)	Fitzroy	9.9 (63)	Punt Road Oval	17,500	14 July 1934
Collingwood	13.17 (95)	Carlton	10.5 (65)	Victoria Park	25,000	14 July 1934

Round 11

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
North Melbourne	11.12 (78)	Richmond	15.9 (99)	Arden Street Oval	6,000	21 July 1934
Melbourne	14.15 (99)	South Melbourne	22.23 (155)	MCG	21,785	21 July 1934
Fitzroy	10.11 (71)	Geelong	14.18 (102)	Brunswick Street Oval	15,000	21 July 1934
Carlton	22.16 (148)	Essendon	16.13 (109)	Princes Park	23,000	21 July 1934
St Kilda	13.10 (88)	Hawthorn	10.12 (72)	Junction Oval	10,000	21 July 1934
Footscray	14.11 (95)	Collingwood	16.9 (105)	Western Oval	12,500	21 July 1934

Round 12

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Melbourne	13.23 (101)	Richmond	14.11 (95)	MCG	13,805	28 July 1934
Collingwood	13.19 (97)	South Melbourne	21.19 (145)	Victoria Park	28,000	28 July 1934
Carlton	22.13 (145)	Hawthorn	10.6 (66)	Princes Park	12,000	28 July 1934
St Kilda	13.6 (84)	Geelong	16.18 (114)	Junction Oval	17,000	28 July 1934
North Melbourne	15.8 (98)	Fitzroy	21.16 (142)	Arden Street Oval	10,000	28 July 1934
Footscray	15.9 (99)	Essendon	8.9 (57)	Western Oval	13,000	28 July 1934

Round 13

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Richmond	7.25 (67)	St Kilda	5.8 (38)	Punt Road Oval	16,000	4 August 1934
Hawthorn	11.7 (73)	Melbourne	10.16 (76)	Glenferrie Oval	6,000	4 August 1934
Geelong	18.15 (123)	North Melbourne	5.12 (42)	Corio Oval	7,000	4 August 1934
Fitzroy	10.18 (78)	Footscray	10.12 (72)	Brunswick Street Oval	14,000	4 August 1934
Essendon	15.12 (102)	Collingwood	22.18 (150)	Windy Hill	11,000	4 August 1934
South Melbourne	23.13 (151)	Carlton	17.8 (110)	Lake Oval	30,000	4 August 1934

Round 14

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Footscray	10.18 (78)	North Melbourne	6.14 (50)	Western Oval	5,000	18 August 1934
Essendon	9.17 (71)	South Melbourne	22.14 (146)	Windy Hill	15,000	18 August 1934
Collingwood	23.22 (160)	Hawthorn	10.13 (73)	Victoria Park	5,000	18 August 1934
Carlton	14.12 (96)	Richmond	16.13 (109)	Princes Park	30,000	18 August 1934
Melbourne	13.10 (88)	Geelong	21.15 (141)	MCG	12,163	18 August 1934
St Kilda	13.11 (89)	Fitzroy	10.10 (70)	Junction Oval	10,000	18 August 1934

Round 15

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
North Melbourne	11.13 (79)	St Kilda	12.12 (84)	Arden Street Oval	5,000	25 August 1934
Fitzroy	20.19 (139)	Melbourne	16.10 (106)	Brunswick Street Oval	9,500	25 August 1934
South Melbourne	23.18 (156)	Footscray	9.16 (70)	Lake Oval	17,420	25 August 1934
Hawthorn	11.15 (81)	Essendon	11.13 (79)	Glenferrie Oval	5,000	25 August 1934
Richmond	12.14 (86)	Collingwood	11.9 (75)	Punt Road Oval	26,500	25 August 1934
Geelong	13.17 (95)	Carlton	10.10 (70)	Corio Oval	18,500	25 August 1934

Round 16

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Melbourne	11.24 (90)	North Melbourne	7.15 (57)	MCG	5,011	1 September 1934
Footscray	13.20 (98)	St Kilda	10.17 (77)	Western Oval	5,500	1 September 1934
Essendon	13.12 (90)	Richmond	15.23 (113)	Windy Hill	10,000	1 September 1934
Collingwood	16.16 (112)	Geelong	16.21 (117)	Victoria Park	18,000	1 September 1934
Carlton	18.12 (120)	Fitzroy	9.15 (69)	Princes Park	15,500	1 September 1934
South Melbourne	15.11 (101)	Hawthorn	10.10 (70)	Lake Oval	13,000	1 September 1934

Round 17

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Richmond	14.14 (98)	South Melbourne	13.14 (92)	Punt Road Oval	40,000	8 September 1934
Footscray	14.18 (102)	Hawthorn	12.7 (79)	Western Oval	5,000	8 September 1934
St Kilda	13.12 (90)	Melbourne	12.16 (88)	Junction Oval	8,000	8 September 1934
Geelong	21.31 (157)	Essendon	6.5 (41)	Corio Oval	9,500	8 September 1934
Fitzroy	14.17 (101)	Collingwood	16.10 (106)	Brunswick Street Oval	15,000	8 September 1934
North Melbourne	8.8 (56)	Carlton	7.16 (58)	Arden Street Oval	8,000	8 September 1934

Round 18

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	7.9 (51)	Richmond	11.16 (82)	Glenferrie Oval	4,000	15 September 1934
Essendon	14.11 (95)	Fitzroy	12.4 (76)	Windy Hill	5,000	15 September 1934
Collingwood	15.18 (108)	North Melbourne	2.8 (20)	Victoria Park	4,000	15 September 1934
Carlton	16.18 (114)	St Kilda	15.9 (99)	Princes Park	10,000	15 September 1934
South Melbourne	13.19 (97)	Geelong	8.7 (55)	Lake Oval	17,000	15 September 1934
Melbourne	19.17 (131)	Footscray	9.11 (65)	MCG	4,232	15 September 1934

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Richmond (P)	18	15	3	0	1618	1334	121.3	60
2	Geelong	18	14	3	1	1834	1355	135.4	58
3	South Melbourne	18	14	4	0	2187	1560	140.2	56
4	Collingwood	18	13	4	1	1915	1571	121.9	54
5	Carlton	18	12	6	0	1986	1707	116.3	48
6	Melbourne	18	9	9	0	1623	1670	97.2	36
7	St Kilda	18	9	9	0	1592	1661	95.8	36
8	Fitzroy	18	7	11	0	1589	1660	95.7	28
9	Footscray	18	6	12	0	1444	1699	85.0	24
10	Essendon	18	5	13	0	1635	1958	83.5	20
11	Hawthorn	18	3	15	0	1300	1917	67.8	12
12	North Melbourne	18	0	18	0	1245	1876	66.4	0

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 92.4
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Home team	Score	Away team	Score	Venue	Crowd	Date
South Melbourne	12.12 (78)	Collingwood	9.21 (75)	MCG	52,022	22 September
Richmond	19.20 (134)	Geelong	7.8 (50)	MCG	35,934	29 September

Preliminary final

Home team	Score	Away team	Score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	7.6 (48)	South Melbourne	15.18 (108)	MCG	30,400	6 October

Grand final

Main article: 1934 VFL Grand Final

Season notes

• Bob Pratt kicked 150 goals in the 1934 season, reaching his hundredth in only 13 matches. The feat smashed Gordon Coventry's record of 124 goals in the 1929 season, and has yet to be broken.
• Gordon Coventry's second goal of the Round 5 game between Collingwood and Geelong was his 1000th career goal, making him the first player to reach that milestone.
• In the interstate match on 11 August, the regular South Melbourne centre half-back Laurie Nash played at full-forward for Victoria for three-quarters (the selected full-forward Bill Mohr had broken his finger in the first quarter) and kicked 18 goals in a single match against South Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Nash had kicked two goals from centre half-forward in the first quarter prior to Mohr's injury, then kicked two more in the second quarter, before dominating the match after half-time with another 14 goals.
• In Round 8, Fitzroy ruckman Colin Benham scored his famous "in-off the small boy" goal.
• In the third quarter of the 14 July (round 10 match) between Carlton and Collingwood, ^[2] played at Victoria Park in a heavy cross-wind, Syd Coventry, playing in his 222nd match in his last season for Collingwood, ^[3] was knocked out after an altercation with Carlton's Gordon Mackie.
  • As Coventry was being stretchered off the field, a vicious brawl broke out involving 20 players – requiring the assistance of team officials and the police to break it up – in which up to ten players were seriously injured. ^[4]
  • Three Carlton players were reported: Gordon Mackie was charged with striking Syd Coventry, Harry Maskell was charged with striking Norm Le Brun, and the Carlton captain, Maurie Johnson, was charged with kicking Jack Ross. ^[5]
  • Many of those who had attended the match were astonished that no Collingwood players had been reported for their violent behaviour during the match. ^{[6] [7]}
  • The VFL tribunal found both Maskell and Mackie guilty, and suspended each for six matches. The hearing against Mackie was postponed for a week so that Coventry could attend. ^{[8] [9]}
  • The charge against Johnson was not sustained (although the tribunal was satisfied Johnson had kicked Ross, it was not satisfied that he had kicked Ross deliberately). ^[10]
  • Although the field umpire, Bob Scott, was fortunate to escape sanction for his widely attested incompetence, one of the goal umpires, Percy Jory, and both of the boundary umpires, John Campbell and George Calleson, were suspended for the remainder of the season for their dereliction of duty in relation to the brawl. ^[11]
• It is a matter of record that Dick Reynolds won the 1934 Brownlow Medal from Haydn Bunton, Sr by a single vote. Legend has it that Bunton, who had dominated in the last match of the season, tried to "suck up to" field umpire Jack McMurray as he walked off the playing field, and that Murray, sensing a blatant and improper attempt to influence his Brownlow voting, cast his votes for three other players.

Awards

• The 1934 VFL Premiership team was Richmond.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Bob Pratt of South Melbourne with 138 goals (150 after finals)
• The winner of the 1934 Brownlow Medal was 19 years old Dick Reynolds of Essendon with 19 votes in his second VFL season.
• North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1934.
• The seconds premiership was won by Melbourne for the fourth consecutive season. Melbourne 15.18 (108) defeated Geelong 12.4 (76) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 13 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. ^[12]

See also

• Colin Benham's famous "in-off the small boy" goal

References

1. "Thrilling Football". Argus. 5 June 1934.
2. The Teams, The Age, (Friday, 13 July 1934), p.7.
3. S. Coventry, The Age, (Friday, 13 July 1934), p.7.
4. Police intervene in brawl at Collingwood, The Argus, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 13.
5. Brawl at Victoria Park, The Age, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 6.
6. For example, 'Clean Sport', "Why No Collingwood Reports? (Letter to the Editor)", The Age, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 6.; "Balfe, R.G., "Vic. League Must Act: Carlton-Collingwood Brawl: Growing List of Casualties, The Referee, (Thursday, 19 July 1934), p. 1, p. 19, etc.
7. During the tribunal's hearing of the charge against Mackie, evidence was presented that, on two separate occasions earlier in the match, Syd Coventry had struck Mackie in the face without any penalty being given by the umpires: see, for example, Football: Rough Play, The Age, (Wednesday, 25 July 1934), p. 7.
8. Rough Football, The Age, (Wednesday, 18 July 1934), p. 10.
9. Carlton Football Trouble, The Argus, (Wednesday, 25 July 1934), p. 16.
10. Sequel to Football Brawl, The Argus, (Wednesday, 18 July 1934), p. 9.
11. Three Umpires Suspended: Football Brawl Development, The Argus, (Thursday, 26 July 1934), p. 13.
12. "Seconds' premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. 15 October 1934. p. 12.

• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN   0-9591740-2-8
• 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

Sources

• 1934 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1934 VFL season at Australian Football