1981 VFL season

Last updated

1981 VFL premiership season
Teams12
Premiers Carlton
13th premiership
Minor premiers Carlton
15th minor premiership
Night series Essendon
1st Night series win
Brownlow Medallist Bernie Quinlan (Fitzroy)
Barry Round (South Melbourne)
Coleman Medallist Michael Roach (Richmond)
Attendance
Matches played138
Total attendance3,830,231 (27,755 per match)
Highest112,964
←  1980
1982  →

The 1981 VFL season was the 85th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 28 March until 26 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

Contents

The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the 13th time, after it defeated Collingwood by 20 points in the 1981 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

Essendon defeated Carlton 9.11 (65) to 6.5 (41) in the final.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 6
Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) Carlton 12.15 (87)def. by Collingwood 22.12 (144) Princes Park (crowd: 36,343) Report
Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) Footscray 13.13 (91)def. Essendon 12.11 (83) Western Oval (crowd: 19,624) Report
Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) North Melbourne 27.17 (179)def. Fitzroy 19.12 (126) Arden Street Oval (crowd: 16,219) Report
Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) Richmond 10.19 (79)def. by Hawthorn 23.16 (154) MCG (crowd: 45,750) Report
Saturday, 2 May (2:10 pm) St Kilda 13.15 (93)def. by South Melbourne 15.13 (103) VFL Park (crowd: 27,250) Report
Sunday, 3 May (2:10 pm) Geelong 22.21 (153)def. Melbourne 16.8 (104) SCG (crowd: 11,077) Report

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

(P)Premiers
Qualified for finals
#TeamPWLDPFPA%Pts
1 Carlton (P)22175023031768130.368
2 Collingwood 22175023991957122.668
3 Geelong 22166022241714129.864
4 Essendon 22166023231821127.664
5 Fitzroy 22148024132152112.156
6 Hawthorn 22139023132114109.452
7 Richmond 22139023232207105.352
8 North Melbourne 221012023862293104.140
9 South Melbourne 2281402165252285.832
10 St Kilda 2251701930226685.220
11 Footscray 2222001764268065.88
12 Melbourne 2212101824287363.54

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 99.9
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Finals week 1

Elimination final
Saturday, 5 September (2:30 pm) Essendon 13.16 (94)def. by Fitzroy 16.13 (109) VFL Park (crowd: 58,598) Report
Qualifying final
Saturday, 5 September (2:30 pm) Collingwood 13.20 (98)def. by Geelong 16.16 (112) MCG (crowd: 83,899) Report

Finals week 2

Semi-finals
SF1: Saturday, 12 September (2:30 pm) Collingwood 19.19 (133)def. Fitzroy 19.18 (132) MCG (crowd: 85,133) Report
SF2: Saturday, 12 September (2:30 pm) Carlton 16.17 (113)def. Geelong 11.7 (73) VFL Park (crowd: 66,078) Report

Preliminary final

Preliminary final
Saturday, 19 September (2:30 pm) Geelong 11.9 (75)def. by Collingwood 12.10 (82) VFL Park (crowd: 69,536) Report
  • In an incident that has become part of football folklore, the Geelong team bus failed to pick up Garry Sidebottom on the way to VFL Park for the Preliminary Final. Apparently, due to a breakdown in communications, no Geelong officials had told Sidebottom that he was going to play, so believing that had not been chosen, Sidebottom was not at his usual stop when the bus passed. [1]

Grand final

Grand final
Saturday, 26 September (2:50 pm) Carlton 12.20 (92)def. Collingwood 10.12 (72) MCG (crowd: 112,964) Report

Season notes

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Atkinson, Graeme (1989). 3AW Book of Footy Records. South Melbourne: Magistra Publishing Company Pty Ltd. p. 278. ISBN   1863210091.
  2. ↑ "AFL Grounds". Whirlpool.net.au. 30 August 1997. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Simunovich, Peter (16 October 1980). "13 teams? East Perth wants to join VFL". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.). Melbourne, VIC. p. 84.
  4. ↑ Simunovich, Peter (30 October 1980). "Record finals a help". The Sun News-Pictorial (Final ed.). Melbourne, VIC. p. 71.
  5. ↑ Ron Carter (28 May 1981). "South is fined $20,000". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 30.
  6. ↑ "AFL Tables - St Kilda v North Melbourne - 16-May-1981 - Match Stats". AFL Tables. 16 May 1981. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "AFL Tables - Alex Jesaulenko - Statistics". AFL Tables. 2 August 1945. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  8. ↑ "AFL Tables - Fitzroy v North Melbourne - 18-Jul-1981 - Match Stats". AFL Tables. 18 July 1981. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Malcolm Blight - Past Players - Official AFL Website of the North Melbourne Football Club". Kangaroos.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Mark Brolly; Geoff Slattery (6 May 1981). "Sunday football is here to stay". The Age. Melbourne, VIC.
  11. ↑ Ron Carter; Neil Mitchell (8 August 1981). "Juniors to umpire matches". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 40.
  12. ↑ Ron Carter (13 August 1981). "Umpires back with a winning score". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 28.
  13. ↑ "Grand final details". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 28 September 1981. p. 38.

Sources

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