The 1967 VFL season was the 71st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 15 April until 23 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
In 1967, 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 1967 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
Collingwood captain Des Tuddenham was reported for striking, found guilty and suspended for four matches.
After slipping on the MCG's old practice-wicket area and copping a knee from Collingwood big man Ernie Hug[1] in the first quarter, Sam Newman was taken by ambulance to St Vincent's Hospital for emergency treatment,[2] which eventually resulted in him having a kidney removed.
The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the season.
As well as breaking a twenty-three year premiership drought, Richmond ended a twenty-year finals drought, making the finals for the first time since 1947.
Geelong beat Collingwood in Round 1 after a mark was awarded to Bill Ryan, at the top of the goal square just before the siren. As the siren sounded, without the umpires hearing it, the shot at goal was touched on the mark and went through for a behind. The umpire awarded another kick to Geelong for overstepping the mark, and this time Ryan kicked a goal to win by a point.[3]
Former Carlton ruckman Graham Donaldson, now coaching in Morwell, Victoria, was also the manager of one of the district's State Savings Bank of Victoria (SSB) branches. He convinced the Bank's head office to sponsor a new competition involving children (under 12), representing their VFL club and playing in their club colours, to be played during the half-time break in the senior VFL game each Saturday. The SSB Mini League, which eventually evolved into the "Little League", conducted its first matches during the 1967 VFL season.
Hawthorn, having instituted an exhaustive schedule of pre-season and regular in-season training developed by coach John Kennedy and former star centreman, now gymnasium owner, Brendan Edwards, as a consequence of them having undertaken this gruelling schedule in addition to their normal, on-going skills training, the Hawthorn players became known as "Kennedy's Commandos".
On Anzac Day, a representative match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between the Victorian team from the 1966 Hobart Carnival, and a team representing the rest of the league. The Carnival team wore Victoria's traditional Big V guernsey; the Rest team wore a red Guernsey with blue yoke and white collar. The Rest 18.13 (121) defeated the Carnival team 9.13 (67) in front of a crowd of 15,613.[4]
During the second quarter of the round 5 match between St Kilda and Carlton at Moorabbin Oval, one of the timekeepers unknowingly knocked off the power switch to the siren, leaving them unable to sound it for half time; attempts by the Carlton timekeeper to use the manual back-up bell went unheard by the umpire, and in the extra time it took St Kilda's timekeeper to run to the field and get the umpire's attention to the end of the quarter, Carlton's John Gill kicked a goal. Carlton went on to win by five points. The Moorabbin Oval siren's power switch was relocated and fitted with a warning light to prevent a recurrence; and all venue sirens were soon after fitted with back-up batteries.[5]
In the second semi-final between Richmond and Carlton Richmond's Neville Crowe and Carlton's John Nicholls were wrestling for the ball when Nicholls hit Crowe "in the guts", Crowe stepped back with the football grasped to his chest in his left hand and attempted to slap Nicholls with his open right hand. Crowe missed making any contact with Nicholls by about three inches. Nicholls immediately lifted his own left hand to his face, and pretended to have been badly affected, reeled away from Crowe. Despite Crowe's protests, he was reported for striking Nicholls. At the tribunal Crowe, received no assistance from Nicholls who was reluctant to admit that he was only acting. Crowe was suspended for four weeks; he missed the grand final, and never played VFL football again.
At the end of the season, Harry Beitzel's squad of players drawn mainly from the VFL, known as "The Galahs", played matches in Ireland, England, and the United States.
Awards
The 1967 VFL Premiership team was Richmond (its first since 1943).
The reserves premiership was won by North Melbourne. North Melbourne 15.13 (103) defeated Richmond 10.19 (79) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 23 September.[6]
↑Rex Pullen (25 September 1967). "Kangaroos too good". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p.55.
Collins, Ben (2009). "'Sam' Newman". In Murray, John (ed.). We are Geelong: the story of the Geelong Football Club since 1859. Docklands, Victoria: The Slattery Media Group. ISBN9780980597301.
Hogan, P., The Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN0-646-18748-1
Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN0-670-90809-6
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. ISBN0-670-86814-0
Known as the Victorian Football League from 1897–1989; no grand finals were held in 1897 and 1924
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