| 1947 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Carlton 8th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Carlton 11th minor premiership |
| Brownlow Medallist | Bert Deacon (Carlton) |
| Fred Fanning (Melbourne) | |
| Matches played | 118 |
| Highest | 85,793 |
The 1947 VFL season was the 51st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 19 April until 27 September, and comprised a 19-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the eighth time, after it defeated Essendon by one point in the 1947 VFL Grand Final.
In 1947, 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 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.
Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1947 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
Round 19 is notable for Fred Fanning's 18-goal performance, which, to date, is the most goals ever scored by an individual player in VFL/AFL history for a single game. It was also his final game. [1]
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlton (P) | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 1833 | 1368 | 134.0 | 60 |
| 2 | Essendon | 19 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 1876 | 1528 | 122.8 | 56 |
| 3 | Fitzroy | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 1736 | 1370 | 126.7 | 52 |
| 4 | Richmond | 19 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 1726 | 1582 | 109.1 | 48 |
| 5 | Collingwood | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1738 | 1546 | 112.4 | 46 |
| 6 | Melbourne | 19 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 1742 | 1488 | 117.1 | 44 |
| 7 | Geelong | 19 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 1761 | 1705 | 103.3 | 44 |
| 8 | South Melbourne | 19 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1602 | 1652 | 97.0 | 34 |
| 9 | Footscray | 19 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1646 | 1713 | 96.1 | 34 |
| 10 | North Melbourne | 19 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 1390 | 1789 | 77.7 | 16 |
| 11 | Hawthorn | 19 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 1456 | 1907 | 76.4 | 16 |
| 12 | St Kilda | 19 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1221 | 2079 | 58.7 | 6 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 86.5
Source: AFL Tables
| Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 27 September (2:15 pm) | Carlton | def. | Essendon | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 85,793) | [2] |
| 4.0 (24) 8.0 (48) 10.4 (64) 13.8 (86) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 3.7 (25) 8.11 (59) 10.15 (75) 11.19 (85) | Umpires: Alfred Sawyer | ||
| Davies 4, Baird 3, Turner 2, Garby, Henfry, Howell, Stafford | Goals | Hutchison 4, Brittingham 2, Reynolds 2, Cassin, Goodingham, Rawle | |||
| Clark, Green, Turner, Henfry, Davies, Grieve, Jack Bennett, Conley | Best | Buttsworth, Jones, McClure, Hutchison, Reynolds, Lambert, Cassin, Harper, Allanson | |||
| Deacon (cramp), Bailey (knee) | Injuries | ||||
| Reports | Cassin, for elbowing Hands in the third quarter | ||||