1977 VFA season

Last updated

1977 VFA Premiership Season
Teams20
Division 1
Teams10
Premiers Port Melbourne
(12th premiership)
Minor premiers Port Melbourne
(11th minor premiership)
Division 2
Teams10
Premiers Mordialloc
(1st D2 premiership)
Minor premiers Mordialloc
(1st D2 minor premiership)
Centenary Cup
Teams20
Champions Port Melbourne
1976
1978

The 1977 Victorian Football Association season was the 96th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 17th season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Sandringham in the Grand Final on 25 September by 100 points; it was Port Melbourne's 12th Division 1 premiership, its second in a row, and the third of six premierships won by the club in nine seasons between 1974 and 1982. The Division 2 premiership was won by Mordialloc; it was the first and only Association premiership in either division ever won by the club.

Contents

During the season, the Association celebrated the centenary of its foundation in 1877. As part of these celebrations, the Association ran an additional competition called the Centenary Cup, which was a knock-out competition which ran concurrently with the premiership season and featured all twenty clubs from both divisions. The Centenary Cup was won by Port Melbourne.

Division 1

The Division 1 home-and-away season was played over 18 rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The finals were played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground.

Ladder

1977 VFA Division 1 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Port Melbourne (P)18153023251871124.260
2 Sandringham 18135022312100106.252
3 Coburg 18117020011821109.844
4 Brunswick 18117020411991102.544
5 Dandenong 18108020051734115.640
6 Geelong West 18108020992042102.740
7 Prahran 1871101893213988.428
8 Caulfield 1861202131222695.724
9 Preston 1851301993225688.320
10 Williamstown 1821601696223575.88
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership pointsSource [1]

Finals

Semi-finals
Sunday, 4 September Coburg 27.11 (173)def. Brunswick 20.19 (139) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 7,496) [2]
Sunday, 11 September Port Melbourne 23.28 (166)def. Sandringham 18.7 (115) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 14,793) [3]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 18 September Sandringham 15.23 (113)def. Coburg 16.6 (102) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 9,189) [4]
1977 VFA Division 1 Grand Final
Sunday, 25 September Port Melbourne def. Sandringham St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 29,664) [5]
6.4 (40)
13.10 (88)
18.14 (122)
 23.19 (157)
Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final
2.2 (14)
3.4 (22)
3.8 (26)
 7.15 (57)
Umpires: Graeme Marcy
Cook 9, Rasmussen 5, Christou 4, Holt 3, Clark 2GoalsSimms 2, Clark, Giles, Kennedy, Laube, Lyons

Awards

Division 2

The Division 2 home-and-away season was played over eighteen rounds; the top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system; all finals were played on Sundays at Toorak Park.

Ladder

1977 VFA Division 2 Ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Mordialloc (P)18144023621698139.156
2 Yarraville 18144022691634138.856
3 Camberwell 18144022651819124.556
4 Oakleigh 18135023541934121.752
5 Frankston 18117023882061113.444
6 Northcote 18810020601927106.932
7 Werribee 1861201851224782.324
8 Sunshine 1851301902220486.220
9 Waverley 1851301769223480.320
10 Box Hill 1801801450228950.10
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership pointsSource [7]

Finals

Semi-finals
Sunday, 21 August Camberwell 25.12 (162)def. Oakleigh 11.13 (79) Toorak Park (crowd: 8,735) [8]
Sunday, 28 August Mordialloc 15.15 (105)def. by Yarraville 19.20 (134) Toorak Park (crowd: 8,616) [1]
Preliminary Final
Sunday, 4 September Mordialloc 16.9 (105)def. Camberwell 12.15 (87) Toorak Park (crowd: 5,432) [2]
1977 VFA Division 2 Grand Final
Sunday, 11 September Yarraville def. by Mordialloc Toorak Park (crowd: 7,300) [9]
5.2 (32)
10.6 (66)
11.9 (75)
 14.11 (95)
Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final
5.5 (35)
10.11 (71)
12.14 (86)
 19.19 (133)
Umpires: Bill Torney
Gibson 4, Bisset 3, Grandin 3, Wellington 2, Lowe, Sait Goals Neville 8, Deaton 4, Norris 2, Scott 2, Bloomfield, Guy, Johnston

Awards

Centenary Cup

As part of celebrations of the centenary of the Association's foundation in 1877, the Association held a special once-off tournament called the Centenary Cup. The competition was a knock-out tournament featuring all twenty clubs from both divisions, and it was held concurrently with the premiership season. To accommodate the competition, the VFA season began in March, its earliest start ever. [10] The competition was scheduled as follows:

Port Melbourne won the competition, giving it a double of the premiership and Centenary Cup for the season. It was a comfortable 71-point winner against Caulfield in the Grand Final. An official best-on-ground award was presented in the Grand Final to Fred Cook, who kicked 12.4 in Port Melbourne's dominant victory.

Qualification round
Sunday, 27 March Yarraville 23.16 (154)def. Northcote 3.2 (20) Note Yarraville Oval [15]
Sunday, 27 March Camberwell 25.12 (162)def. Waverley 11.11 (77)Camberwell Sports Ground [15]
Sunday, 27 March Frankston 12.22 (94)def. Sunshine 10.19 (79) Frankston Park [15]
Sunday, 27 March Werribee 19.17 (131)def. Box Hill 10.10 (70) Chirnside Park [15]
Round of sixteen
Sunday, 22 May Preston 18.10 (118)def. by Caulfield 18.11 (119) Note Preston City Oval [16]
Sunday, 22 May Oakleigh 10.12 (72)def. by Brunswick 16.24 (120)Oakleigh Cricket Ground [16]
Sunday, 22 May Geelong West 17.16 (118)def. Mordialloc 16.20 (106)Western Oval [16]
Sunday, 22 May Port Melbourne 22.32 (164)def. Werribee 7.19 (61) North Port Oval [16]
Sunday, 22 May Dandenong 20.19 (139)def. Camberwell 13.12 (90) Shepley Oval [16]
Sunday, 22 May Frankston 21.22 (148)def. Sandringham 19.13 (127) Frankston Park [16]
Sunday, 22 May Yarraville 15.12 (102)def. by Prahran 18.9 (117) Yarraville Oval [16]
Sunday, 22 May Coburg 23.19 (157)def. Williamstown 15.7 (97) Coburg City Oval [16]
Quarter-finals
Sunday, 3 July Brunswick 8.10 (58)def. by Dandenong 10.9 (69)Gillon Oval (crowd: 1,500) [13]
Sunday, 3 July Caulfield 17.14 (116)def. Geelong West 15.16 (106)Princes Park (crowd: 1,250) [13]
Sunday, 3 July Port Melbourne 13.9 (87)def. Coburg 9.12 (66) North Port Oval (crowd: 4,500) [13]
Wednesday, 6 July (7:30pm) Prahran 31.13 (199)def. Frankston 11.13 (79) Toorak Park (crowd: 500) [17]
Semi-finals
Wednesday, 3 August (7:45pm) Port Melbourne 20.17 (137)def. Prahran 7.9 (51) South Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 1,954) [18]
Wednesday, 10 August (7:45pm) Caulfield 18.15 (123)def. Dandenong 13.8 (86) South Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 982) [19]
1977 VFA Centenary Cup Grand Final
Sunday, 14 August Port Melbourne def. Caulfield Toorak Park (crowd: 3,000) [7]
6.6 (42)
13.10 (88)
21.11 (137)
 26.16 (172)
Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final
3.2 (20)
6.4 (40)
8.8 (56)
 15.11 (101)
Umpires: Stabb
Best on ground: Fred Cook
Cook 12, Holt 5, Christou 4, Bond 2, Anderson, Critch, Evans GoalsO'Sullivan 7, Haywood 2, Milner 2, Sutherland 2, Booth, Einsiedel

Notable events

NFL Night Series

In 1977, the NFL Night Series competition, known as the Ardath Cup, was to have been contested by clubs from the VFL, SANFL and WANFL, and state representative teams from the minor states – with the competition again running mostly on Tuesday nights, and in a knock-out form. However, plans were disrupted when the VFL opted to withdraw its clubs from the competition and establish its own rival night series. To make up the shortfall of teams, the NFL invited the top four Association clubs from 1976 – Port Melbourne, Dandenong, Preston and Caulfield – to participate in the competition. It was the first time that the Association had participated in an ANFC/NFL competition in any capacity since 1969, when a clearance dispute between the Association and the League led to the Association's expulsion from the council. [20] As was normal for interleague matches, the Association clubs were forced to play under the national standard 18-a-side rules in these matches. [10]

Port Melbourne progressed the furthest in the competition, reaching the quarter-finals. The Association clubs results were:

Interleague matches

The Association played one interleague representative match during the season, on Queen's Birthday weekend against Queensland – the same state that Port Melbourne had earlier beaten in Ardath Cup competition. [28] Midway through the third quarter of the match, the Association held a comfortable 41-point lead, Association 12.14 (86) vs Queensland 6.9 (45); but, Queensland recovered to kick eight of the last nine goals of the match, and won the match by seven points. [29]

1977 Interleague Matches
Sunday, 12 June Queensland 14.18 (102)def. V.F.A. 13.17 (95) Gabba [29]

Other notable events

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References

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  29. 1 2 "Queensland's sunniest hour". The Age. Melbourne. 13 June 1977. p. 29.
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