1956 VFL season

1956 VFL premiership season
Teams	12
Premiers	Melbourne 8th premiership
Minor premiers	Melbourne 4th minor premiership
Consolation series	South Melbourne 1st Consolation series win
Brownlow Medallist	Peter Box (Footscray)
Coleman Medallist	Bill Young (St Kilda)
Matches played	112
Highest	115,902
←  1955 1957  →

The 1956 VFL season was the 60th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 14 April until 15 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Melbourne Football Club for the eighth time and second time consecutively, after it defeated Collingwood by 73 points in the 1956 VFL Grand Final.

Background

From 22 November to 8 December, the 1956 Summer Olympics were to be held in Melbourne, with a re-configured Melbourne Cricket Ground as its Main Stadium.

The need to accommodate this fact brought certain changes to the 1956 VFL season:

• The 1956 Grand Final was brought forward to 15 September in order to allow sufficient time to prepare the M.C.G. for the Olympics.
• The season commenced early to accommodate a full eighteen rounds of home-and-away matches.
• Due to works to demolish the old Grandstand and the construct the new Northern (Olympic) Stand, Melbourne Cricket Ground would not be available to Melbourne for its home matches until Round 5.

It was not desirable for Melbourne to play four consecutive away matches to start the season. This was partly because Melbourne would then have four consecutive home matches between Rounds 12 and 15. Additionally, because of the proximity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to Punt Road Oval, matches were never scheduled at the venues on the same day; so it would have forced Richmond to open the season with four home matches, then play four away matches from Rounds 12 to 15. To overcome this, Melbourne played only its first three matches away, then played its Round 4 home match against Fitzroy at Punt Road Oval.

In 1956, 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 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 1956 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
North Melbourne	15.8 (98)	St Kilda	5.11 (41)	Arden Street Oval	11,000	14 April 1956
Richmond	8.7 (55)	Melbourne	12.16 (88)	Punt Road Oval	25,000	14 April 1956
South Melbourne	7.8 (50)	Geelong	11.11 (77)	Lake Oval	25,000	14 April 1956
Footscray	14.14 (98)	Fitzroy	10.9 (69)	Western Oval	26,617	14 April 1956
Hawthorn	8.17 (65)	Collingwood	14.13 (97)	Glenferrie Oval	24,000	14 April 1956
Essendon	9.13 (67)	Carlton	5.9 (39)	Windy Hill	30,000	14 April 1956

Round 2

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	16.14 (110)	North Melbourne	2.10 (22)	Kardinia Park	17,294	21 April 1956
Collingwood	12.18 (90)	South Melbourne	7.11 (53)	Victoria Park	24,800	21 April 1956
Carlton	6.11 (47)	Melbourne	12.18 (90)	Princes Park	18,656	21 April 1956
Richmond	12.13 (85)	Hawthorn	16.10 (106)	Punt Road Oval	16,000	21 April 1956
St Kilda	7.4 (46)	Footscray	10.14 (74)	Junction Oval	21,382	21 April 1956
Fitzroy	10.19 (79)	Essendon	7.15 (57)	Brunswick Street Oval	18,000	21 April 1956

Round 3

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Footscray	5.11 (41)	Melbourne	9.13 (67)	Western Oval	33,265	28 April 1956
Fitzroy	13.16 (94)	South Melbourne	10.13 (73)	Brunswick Street Oval	18,000	28 April 1956
Hawthorn	15.10 (100)	Geelong	16.16 (112)	Glenferrie Oval	20,000	28 April 1956
North Melbourne	9.11 (65)	Essendon	15.17 (107)	Arden Street Oval	15,000	28 April 1956
Richmond	17.12 (114)	Collingwood	11.12 (78)	Punt Road Oval	30,000	28 April 1956
St Kilda	9.11 (65)	Carlton	13.9 (87)	Junction Oval	26,400	28 April 1956

Round 4

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	15.13 (103)	Richmond	10.11 (71)	Kardinia Park	21,840	5 May 1956
Essendon	18.9 (117)	St Kilda	9.23 (77)	Windy Hill	16,000	5 May 1956
Collingwood	12.15 (87)	Footscray	11.7 (73)	Victoria Park	29,818	5 May 1956
Carlton	15.12 (102)	North Melbourne	13.16 (94)	Princes Park	17,447	5 May 1956
South Melbourne	6.17 (53)	Hawthorn	8.11 (59)	Lake Oval	18,500	5 May 1956
Melbourne	10.19 (79)	Fitzroy	9.6 (60)	Punt Road Oval	23,000	5 May 1956

Round 5

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Footscray	9.13 (67)	South Melbourne	8.9 (57)	Western Oval	18,134	12 May 1956
Fitzroy	8.15 (63)	North Melbourne	7.6 (48)	Brunswick Street Oval	9,000	12 May 1956
Essendon	6.22 (58)	Richmond	7.10 (52)	Windy Hill	17,000	12 May 1956
Carlton	8.16 (64)	Collingwood	3.4 (22)	Princes Park	24,000	12 May 1956
St Kilda	3.9 (27)	Hawthorn	6.12 (48)	Junction Oval	12,250	12 May 1956
Melbourne	6.20 (56)	Geelong	6.12 (48)	MCG	47,130	12 May 1956

Round 6

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Fitzroy	11.11 (77)	St Kilda	7.11 (53)	Brunswick Street Oval	11,500	19 May 1956
Collingwood	10.7 (67)	Geelong	2.14 (26)	Victoria Park	28,000	19 May 1956
North Melbourne	6.6 (42)	Melbourne	11.18 (84)	Arden Street Oval	11,000	19 May 1956
Hawthorn	10.14 (74)	Footscray	10.11 (71)	Glenferrie Oval	22,000	19 May 1956
South Melbourne	15.8 (98)	Essendon	11.20 (86)	Lake Oval	26,000	19 May 1956
Richmond	9.14 (68)	Carlton	15.17 (107)	Punt Road Oval	28,000	19 May 1956

Round 7

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
North Melbourne	15.7 (97)	South Melbourne	7.16 (58)	Arden Street Oval	13,000	26 May 1956
St Kilda	9.10 (64)	Richmond	6.8 (44)	Junction Oval	15,800	26 May 1956
Hawthorn	8.10 (58)	Fitzroy	9.13 (67)	Glenferrie Oval	18,000	26 May 1956
Geelong	15.17 (107)	Essendon	8.9 (57)	Kardinia Park	21,758	26 May 1956
Melbourne	11.13 (79)	Collingwood	9.7 (61)	MCG	46,868	26 May 1956
Footscray	7.13 (55)	Carlton	8.8 (56)	Western Oval	33,089	26 May 1956

Round 8

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Collingwood	9.10 (64)	North Melbourne	3.4 (22)	Victoria Park	22,650	2 June 1956
Carlton	10.13 (73)	Hawthorn	5.9 (39)	Princes Park	33,557	2 June 1956
St Kilda	6.11 (47)	Melbourne	9.7 (61)	Junction Oval	26,300	2 June 1956
Richmond	10.15 (75)	South Melbourne	12.6 (78)	Punt Road Oval	23,000	4 June 1956
Essendon	12.11 (83)	Footscray	14.23 (107)	Windy Hill	31,500	4 June 1956
Geelong	11.12 (78)	Fitzroy	8.8 (56)	Kardinia Park	21,985	4 June 1956

Round 9

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	7.13 (55)	North Melbourne	3.12 (30)	Glenferrie Oval	11,000	9 June 1956
Footscray	12.14 (86)	Richmond	6.8 (44)	Western Oval	24,443	9 June 1956
Carlton	11.13 (79)	Geelong	12.8 (80)	Princes Park	33,254	9 June 1956
South Melbourne	14.5 (89)	St Kilda	11.8 (74)	Lake Oval	21,000	9 June 1956
Melbourne	15.17 (107)	Essendon	4.15 (39)	MCG	32,543	9 June 1956
Fitzroy	5.7 (37)	Collingwood	12.10 (82)	Brunswick Street Oval	24,000	9 June 1956

Round 10

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
North Melbourne	10.13 (73)	Richmond	12.11 (83)	Arden Street Oval	11,000	16 June 1956
Footscray	13.12 (90)	Geelong	10.8 (68)	Western Oval	35,909	16 June 1956
St Kilda	9.9 (63)	Collingwood	8.21 (69)	Junction Oval	26,800	16 June 1956
Melbourne	12.10 (82)	South Melbourne	8.11 (59)	MCG	36,361	23 June 1956
Essendon	12.20 (92)	Hawthorn	10.11 (71)	Windy Hill	17,000	23 June 1956
Fitzroy	7.11 (53)	Carlton	13.11 (89)	Brunswick Street Oval	27,000	23 June 1956

Round 11

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	5.12 (42)	Melbourne	11.14 (80)	Glenferrie Oval	15,500	30 June 1956
Geelong	9.8 (62)	St Kilda	8.9 (57)	Kardinia Park	11,052	30 June 1956
Collingwood	15.18 (108)	Essendon	7.12 (54)	Victoria Park	23,814	30 June 1956
North Melbourne	5.9 (39)	Footscray	6.13 (49)	Arden Street Oval	14,000	30 June 1956
Richmond	15.12 (102)	Fitzroy	12.14 (86)	Punt Road Oval	12,000	30 June 1956
South Melbourne	9.19 (73)	Carlton	7.12 (54)	Lake Oval	27,000	30 June 1956

Round 12

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Melbourne	11.13 (79)	Richmond	7.3 (45)	MCG	26,772	7 July 1956
Geelong	10.7 (67)	South Melbourne	3.8 (26)	Kardinia Park	16,439	7 July 1956
Fitzroy	7.9 (51)	Footscray	9.7 (61)	Brunswick Street Oval	17,500	7 July 1956
Collingwood	11.18 (84)	Hawthorn	8.10 (58)	Victoria Park	17,150	7 July 1956
Carlton	12.13 (85)	Essendon	5.15 (45)	Princes Park	23,154	7 July 1956
St Kilda	20.9 (129)	North Melbourne	7.9 (51)	Junction Oval	14,600	7 July 1956

Round 13

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	3.13 (31)	Richmond	8.6 (54)	Glenferrie Oval	13,000	14 July 1956
Footscray	11.13 (79)	St Kilda	13.2 (80)	Western Oval	25,414	14 July 1956
Essendon	9.13 (67)	Fitzroy	8.10 (58)	Windy Hill	14,000	14 July 1956
North Melbourne	7.5 (47)	Geelong	19.15 (129)	Arden Street Oval	9,000	14 July 1956
South Melbourne	10.9 (69)	Collingwood	11.9 (75)	Lake Oval	25,000	14 July 1956
Melbourne	14.10 (94)	Carlton	12.7 (79)	MCG	46,022	14 July 1956

Round 14

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Geelong	12.13 (85)	Hawthorn	10.14 (74)	Kardinia Park	13,373	21 July 1956
Essendon	10.18 (78)	North Melbourne	6.11 (47)	Windy Hill	12,800	21 July 1956
Collingwood	14.16 (100)	Richmond	8.5 (53)	Victoria Park	21,422	21 July 1956
Carlton	8.18 (66)	St Kilda	9.12 (66)	Princes Park	30,100	21 July 1956
Melbourne	7.17 (59)	Footscray	10.12 (72)	MCG	47,956	21 July 1956
South Melbourne	11.15 (81)	Fitzroy	15.15 (105)	Lake Oval	15,000	21 July 1956

Round 15

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	10.18 (78)	South Melbourne	12.6 (78)	Glenferrie Oval	12,500	28 July 1956
Fitzroy	7.11 (53)	Melbourne	11.15 (81)	Brunswick Street Oval	13,000	28 July 1956
Richmond	9.11 (65)	Geelong	11.13 (79)	Punt Road Oval	15,000	28 July 1956
St Kilda	6.11 (47)	Essendon	7.7 (49)	Junction Oval	28,100	28 July 1956
Footscray	11.6 (72)	Collingwood	14.20 (104)	Western Oval	41,639	28 July 1956
North Melbourne	4.8 (32)	Carlton	11.16 (82)	Arden Street Oval	13,000	28 July 1956

Round 16

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Hawthorn	15.8 (98)	St Kilda	12.9 (81)	Glenferrie Oval	15,000	4 August 1956
Geelong	8.10 (58)	Melbourne	8.8 (56)	Kardinia Park	29,687	4 August 1956
South Melbourne	10.10 (70)	Footscray	8.15 (63)	Lake Oval	26,000	4 August 1956
North Melbourne	14.21 (105)	Fitzroy	8.8 (56)	Arden Street Oval	8,500	4 August 1956
Richmond	13.13 (91)	Essendon	11.13 (79)	Punt Road Oval	18,500	4 August 1956
Collingwood	9.17 (71)	Carlton	12.12 (84)	Victoria Park	38,679	4 August 1956

Round 17

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Melbourne	16.18 (114)	North Melbourne	11.5 (71)	MCG	16,186	11 August 1956
Footscray	15.13 (103)	Hawthorn	9.6 (60)	Western Oval	16,492	11 August 1956
Essendon	11.10 (76)	South Melbourne	7.16 (58)	Windy Hill	13,000	11 August 1956
Carlton	7.24 (66)	Richmond	10.11 (71)	Princes Park	22,500	11 August 1956
St Kilda	6.7 (43)	Fitzroy	8.8 (56)	Junction Oval	14,200	11 August 1956
Geelong	10.9 (69)	Collingwood	15.11 (101)	Kardinia Park	32,155	11 August 1956

Round 18

Home team	Home team score	Away team	Away team score	Venue	Crowd	Date
Richmond	16.9 (105)	St Kilda	16.14 (110)	Punt Road Oval	15,000	18 August 1956
Fitzroy	9.16 (70)	Hawthorn	10.17 (77)	Brunswick Street Oval	7,500	18 August 1956
Essendon	14.13 (97)	Geelong	9.15 (69)	Windy Hill	16,500	18 August 1956
Collingwood	9.6 (60)	Melbourne	10.13 (73)	Victoria Park	31,089	18 August 1956
Carlton	6.9 (45)	Footscray	8.14 (62)	Princes Park	44,878	18 August 1956
South Melbourne	13.9 (87)	North Melbourne	7.13 (55)	Lake Oval	10,000	18 August 1956

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Melbourne (P)	18	16	2	0	1429	979	146.0	64
2	Collingwood	18	13	5	0	1420	1128	125.9	52
3	Geelong	18	13	5	0	1427	1171	121.9	52
4	Footscray	18	11	7	0	1323	1159	114.2	44
5	Carlton	18	10	7	1	1304	1147	113.7	42
6	Essendon	18	10	8	0	1308	1365	95.8	40
7	Hawthorn	18	7	10	1	1193	1342	88.9	30
8	Fitzroy	18	7	11	0	1190	1332	89.3	28
9	South Melbourne	18	6	11	1	1210	1374	88.1	26
10	Richmond	18	6	12	0	1277	1471	86.8	24
11	St Kilda	18	4	13	1	1170	1330	88.0	18
12	North Melbourne	18	3	15	0	1038	1491	69.6	12

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 70.8
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Geelong	4.2	6.2	6.4	6.5 (41)
Footscray	1.3	4.6	5.8	5.13 (43)
Attendance: 79,402

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Melbourne	1.4	3.6	8.9	11.14 (80)
Collingwood	1.4	3.7	8.10	8.16 (64)
Attendance: 91,480

Preliminary final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Collingwood	6.1	6.1	11.5	15.6 (96)
Footscray	3.0	5.8	6.9	7.15 (57)
Attendance: 94,104

Grand final

Main article: 1956 VFL Grand Final

Team	1 Qtr	2 Qtr	3 Qtr	Final
Melbourne	2.4	6.11	10.16	17.19 (121)
Collingwood	3.3	4.3	5.6	6.12 (48)
Attendance: 115,902

Consolation Night Series Competition

The first VFL night series was held under floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne amongst those teams who had missed the regular final series. The eight teams that had finished in places 5 to 12 on the end-of-season ladder played in a set of seven elimination matches at the end of the home-and-away season.

The Final was played on the evening of Monday 17 September 1956 (two days after the VFL Grand Final) in front of 33,120 spectators. South Melbourne 13.16 (94) defeated Carlton 13.10 (78).

Season notes

• The VFL introduced a "Night Premiership", played between teams that finished outside the final four. The seven elimination matches were played under lights at the Lake Oval. The matches were renowned for their violence both on and off the field. In 1956, licensed venues in Melbourne closed at six o' clock, so the matches provided patrons a location to have a drink after six o'clock; this made these matches very attractive, and the seven matches were attended by an average of 20,000+ patrons. The lighting was dim by modern standards, and it meant that most of the spectators could not always clearly see what was happening on the other side of the ground. On occasion the fights amongst the spectators were so fierce that the players stopped to watch. There was also much violence on the field, with players soon learning that keeping to the well-lit parts of the ground offered considerable protection.
• In winning the Grand Final, Melbourne created a record by having defeated the same opponent (Collingwood) four times in a single senior VFL season.
• The official Grand Final attendance of 115,802 (based on gate entrance sales) broke VFL records. The record crowd was largely due to the opening of the Melbourne Cricket Ground's new grandstand, but public interest was also high as a close, hard-fought game was expected. The ground was so packed that spectators sat between the fence and the boundary line. The gates were closed for safety. During the third quarter the crowd milling outside the MCG broke a perimeter fence and more people poured into the MCG. From the following year (in 1957), ticket sales were first used for the final series to prevent overcrowding.
• The VFL inaugurated a public Brownlow Medal presentation ceremony to be held at the First Semi-Final.
• Essendon Third Eighteen footballer and junior champion athlete Ron Clarke, son of 1931 Essendon Best and Fairest Tom Clarke, and brother of Essendon champion Jack Clarke, lit the Olympic Flame in the 1956 Olympics' opening ceremony.
• Australian rules football was a demonstration sport at the 1956 Olympics: on Friday 7 December 1956, as a curtain raiser to the soccer match to decide third and fourth places between Bulgaria and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a combined team of amateur players from the VFA and VFL played a demonstration match of Australian rules football against a team of Victorian Amateur Football Association players in front of an audience of 21,236.

Awards

• The 1956 VFL Seniors Premiership team was Melbourne.
• The 1956 VFL Reserves Premiership team was Melbourne.
• The 1956 VFL Under 19s Premiership team was South Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Bill Young of St Kilda who kicked 56 goals (in 16 games).
• The winner of the 1956 Brownlow Medal was Peter Box of Footscray with 22 votes.
• North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1956.

See also

• Australian football at the 1956 Summer Olympics

References

• 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

• 1956 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1956 VFL season at Australian Football