1939 VFA season

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, a large increase from 1938 when sixteen matches were played, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season. This pushed the end of the season into October, the weekend after the Victorian Football League Grand Final. It became standard for the VFA Grand Final to be scheduled for the weekend after the VFL Grand Final until 1963.

{{#invoke:sports table|main|style=WDL

|res_col_header=Q

|title=1939 VFA ladder

|loss_before_draw=true|for_against_style=points|use_goal_percentage=y

|winpoints=4|drawpoints=2

|team1=PRA|name_PRA=Prahran

|team2=BRU|name_BRU=Brunswick

|team3=NOR|name_NOR=Northcote

|team4=WIL|name_WIL=Williamstown

|team5=CAM|name_CAM=Camberwell

|team6=BRI|name_BRI=Brighton

|team7=COB|name_COB=Coburg

|team8=NBU|name_NBU=Preston

|team9=YAR|name_YAR=Yarraville

|team10=SAN|name_SAN=Sandringham

|team11=PMB|name_PMB=Port Melbourne

|team12=OAK|name_OAK=Oakleigh

|win_PRA=15|loss_PRA=5|draw_PRA=0|pf_PRA=2427|pa_PRA=1849

|win_BRU=15|loss_BRU=5|draw_BRU=0|pf_BRU=2263|pa_BRU=1751

|win_NOR=14|loss_NOR=6|draw_NOR=0|pf_NOR=1918|pa_NOR=1549

|win_WIL=14|loss_WIL=6|draw_WIL=0|pf_WIL=2173|pa_WIL=1773|status_WIL=P

|win_CAM=13|loss_CAM=7|draw_CAM=0|pf_CAM=2361|pa_CAM=2045

|win_BRI=11|loss_BRI=9|draw_BRI=0|pf_BRI=2087|pa_BRI=1987

|win_COB=10|loss_COB=10|draw_COB=0|pf_COB=2084|pa_COB=1958

|win_NBU=9|loss_NBU=11|draw_NBU=0|pf_NBU=1810|pa_NBU=1854

|win_YAR=7|loss_YAR=13|draw_YAR=0|pf_YAR=1888|pa_YAR=2462

|win_SAN=6|loss_SAN=14|draw_SAN=0|pf_SAN=1995|pa_SAN=2131

|win_PMB=5|loss_PMB=15|draw_PMB=0|pf_PMB=1715|pa_PMB=2293

|win_OAK=1|loss_OAK=19|draw_OAK=0|pf_OAK=1728|pa_OAK=2797

|status_text_P=Premiers

|col_A=#CCFFCC|text_A=

|result1=A|result2=A|result3=A|result4=A

|class_rules=1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.

|update=complete

|source={{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|date=11 September 1939|title=Williamstown in four; Prahran at top|page=13|publication-place=Melbourne|author=Rover}}

}}

{{AFLGameHeader|title=Semifinals}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 16 September|Northcote|10.14 (74)|A|Williamstown|11.14 (80)|Toorak Park|11,000|{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Northcote loses – exciting game|date=18 September 1939|page=15|author=Rover}}}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 23 September|Prahran|16.13 (109)|A|Brunswick|16.17 (113)|Toorak Park|10,000|{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Brunswick's fine win|date=25 September 1939|page=11|author=Rover}}}}

{{AFLGameFooter}}

{{AFLGameHeader|title=Preliminary Final}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 30 September|Prahran|16.18 (114)|A|Williamstown|17.19 (121)|Toorak Park|14,000|{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Gallant win by W'Town|date=2 October 1939|page=13|author=Rover}}}}

{{AFLGameFooter}}

{{AFLGameDetailed

|title = 1939 VFA Grand Final

|date = Saturday, 7 October

|home team = Brunswick

|home Q1 = 4.5 (29)

|home Q2 = 8.7 (55)

|home Q3 = 11.11 (77)

|home final = 14.11 (95)

|home goals= Crawford 4, McInnes 4, Jones 3, Dowling, McGrath, McKay

|home best =

|home injuries =

|home reports =

|winner = A

||away team = Williamstown

|away Q1 = 3.2 (20)

|away Q2 = 4.9 (33)

|away Q3 = 12.15 (87)

|away final = 14.20 (104)

|away goals= Vallence 5, Jamieson 2, Paterson 2, Thomas 2, McTaggart, Menzies, Quinn

|away best=

|away injuries =

|away reports =

|venue = Melbourne Cricket Ground

|crowd = 47,098

|report = {{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Williamstown triumphs|date=9 October 1939|page=12|author=Percy Taylor}}

|umpires =

|BOG award =

|BOG winner =

|broadcast =

|anthem =

|notes=

}}

• George Hawkins (Prahran) was the leading goalkicker for the season, kicking 150 goals in the home-and-home season and 164 goals overall. Hawkins broke Frank Seymour's Association record of 130 goals in a season; he also exceeded Western Australian forward George Doig's national record of 152 goals in a season, although it was not recognised as a national record because the Association was not playing under ANFC rules at the time.
• In the parallel Association best and fairest awards:
• Pat Hartnett (Brighton) won the Recorder Cup, polling five votes. Laurie Nash (Camberwell), Arthur Cutting (Williamstown), George Hawkins (Prahran) and Cec Ruddell (Northcote) finished equal second with four votes apiece.
• The Association Medal was won for the second straight year by Arthur Cutting (Williamstown), who polled 32½ votes. Laurie Nash (Camberwell) finished second with 30 votes, and Pat Hartnett (Brighton) finished third with 26 votes.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Cutting wins medal|date=14 September 1939|page=18}}
• Coburg won the seconds premiership. Coburg 11.22 (88) defeated Port Melbourne 7.7 (49) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the seniors Grand Final on Saturday 7 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

• On 2 September, Brunswick 37.16 (238) defeated Oakleigh 7.10 (52) by 186 points. The score set a new record for the highest score ever in an Association match, beating {{AFL Haw}}'s record of 30.31 (211) set in 1922.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=V.F.A. four decided|date=4 September 1939|page=11|author=Rover}} Reference erroneously states the previous record was set in 1924; a contemporary news report indicates it was set in 1922.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Prahran's debacle|date=7 August 1922|page=12}}
• With the high scores from the throw pass, five separate players – Hawkins, Harry Vallence (Williamstown), Harold Jones (Brunswick), Lance Collins (Coburg) and Laurie Nash (Camberwell) – kicked more than 100 goals for the season.Atkinson, Graeme and Hanlon, Michael; 3AW Book of Footy Records: All the Great Players, Matches, Goals, Kicks, Brawls and Sensations from More Than 100 Years of Aussie Rules in Australia; p. 148. {{ISBN|1863210091}}
• The fact that the Association had moved the end of the season into October resulted in a scheduling clash between the football finals and preparations for the district cricket season. The Association scheduled the preliminary final for Toorak Park, where most finals had been held for the previous four seasons; but, the Prahran Cricket Club, which held the lease, refused to allow the match to be played, as it wanted to topdress the ground so that it was ready for the start of the cricket season on 7 October; the club was concerned that it would be excluded from the Victorian Cricket Association if the ground was not ready. The Prahran City Council, which leased the ground to the cricket club, preferred to see the high-drawing football final played on the ground, and overruled the cricket club to ensure that the game was played at Toorak Park. Both sides believed that the terms of the lease put them in the legal right.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Fight for ground|date=12 September 1939|page=12}} In the week leading up to the final, the cricket club's curator began to harrow the field, and was removed – allegedly physically – by representatives of the council.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Football or cricket?|date=28 September 1939|page=16}} The cricket club took the council to court to seek an injunction against the preliminary final being played at Toorak Park, but it was not granted and the match went ahead as scheduled.{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Association final at Toorak Park|date=30 September 1939|page=12}}
• The Grand Final attracted an all-time Association record attendance of 47,098, despite drizzly weather.{{cite news|newspaper=The Australasian|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Australian Football problems|author=Old Boy|date=14 October 1939|page=11}} The attendance broke the record set in the 1908 Grand Final.{{cite news|newspaper=Williamstown Chronicle|publication-place=Williamstown, VIC|date=12 October 1945|page=2|title=Victory premiership to Williamstown.}}
• On Saturday 14 October, Coburg played an exhibition match against a combined team from Tasmania's North Western Football Association – a competition which had adopted the Association's throw-pass rule – at Devonport Oval in front of a large crowd. Coburg 21.23 (149) defeated the NWFA 7.8 (50).{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus, Supplement|date=16 October 1939|title=Coburg shows throw pass|page=5|publication-place=Melbourne}}

• List of VFA/VFL Premiers

{{reflist}}

{{VFA/VFL seasons}}

{{VFL}}

{{Aussie Rules in Victoria}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1939 Vfa Season}}

Category:Victorian Football League seasons

VFL