1955 VFA premiership season
Teams14
PremiersWilliamstown
7th premiership
Minor premiersPort Melbourne
7th minor premiership

The 1955 Victorian Football Association season was the 74th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it recorded a come-from-behind nine-point victory against Port Melbourne in the Grand Final on 24 September. It was Williamstown's seventh premiership, its second in a row, and the second of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder

1955 VFA ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Port Melbourne 20 17 2 1 2061 1442 142.9 70
2 Preston 20 17 3 0 1767 1235 143.1 68
3 Williamstown (P) 20 16 4 0 1789 1261 141.9 64
4 Moorabbin 20 14 6 0 1762 1348 130.7 56
5 Brunswick 20 11 8 1 1690 1407 120.6 46
6 Coburg 20 11 9 0 1745 1523 114.6 44
7 Box Hill 20 10 10 0 1461 1559 93.7 40
8 Prahran 20 9 11 0 1547 1663 93.0 36
9 Yarraville 20 9 11 0 1429 1623 88.0 36
10 Sandringham 20 8 12 0 1560 1888 82.6 32
11 Northcote 20 6 14 0 1245 1547 80.5 24
12 Oakleigh 20 5 15 0 1375 1668 82.4 20
13 Camberwell 20 5 15 0 1328 1736 76.5 20
14 Brighton 20 1 19 0 1040 1905 54.6 4
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[1]

Finals

Semifinals
Saturday, 3 September Williamstown 12.12 (84) def. Moorabbin 10.9 (69) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 11,000) [2]
Saturday, 10 September Port Melbourne 19.15 (129) def. Preston 8.13 (61) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 16,000) [3]
Preliminary Final
Saturday, 17 September Preston 10.13 (73) def. by Williamstown 11.16 (82) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 16,000) [4]
1955 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 24 September Port Melbourne def. by Williamstown St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 30,000) [5][6]
7.3 (45)
8.6 (54)
12.8 (80)
 13.10 (88)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 1.3 (9)
5.10 (40)
7.13 (55)
 13.19 (97)		 Umpires: Jack Irving
Bragg 4, Miller 3, Walsh 2, Bonnett, McBroom, Shannon, Stone Goals Linton 6, Smith 2, Callahan, Fisher, Gear, McPherson, Simpson
Storey (broken ankle), Tucker (cut eyebrow) Injuries Linton (head cuts)

Awards

  • The leading goalkicker for the home-and-home season was Jim Hewes (Coburg), who kicked 83 goals; the leading goalkicker after finals was Alby Linton (Williamstown), who was third behind Hewes and Peter Schofield (Moorabbin) with 73 goals in the home-and-home season, and kicked 84 goals overall.[7][8]
  • The J. J. Liston Trophy was won by Les Moroney (Moorabbin), who polled 37 votes. Lloyd Holyoak (Camberwell) was second with 35 votes, and Alby Linton (Williamstown) was third with 34 votes.[9]
  • Williamstown won the seconds premiership. Williamstown 10.10 (70) defeated Oakleigh 9.9 (63) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 24 September.[10]

Notable events

  • As had been the case since 1953, the players of the Northcote Football Club played as amateurs, due to the club's financial difficulties.[11][12]
  • Prior to the season, the Hakoah soccer club tendered an offer of £600 to the City of Camberwell for the use of the Camberwell Sports Ground on alternate weekends during the season, a move which would have left the Camberwell Football Club without a venue for its seconds team to use. The council eventually rejected the offer, deciding that in the long term the ground would be more profitable as a football venue than as a soccer venue.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Jack Dunn (29 August 1955). "Poor displays by two of V.F.A. "4"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 29.
  2. ↑ Jack Dunn (5 September 1955). "Finishing burst wins VFA semi for Williamstown". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 33.
  3. ↑ Jack Dunn (12 September 1955). "Port crushes Preston in 68-point semi-final rout". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 32.
  4. ↑ Jack Dunn (19 September 1955). "Williamstown rattled, but hold Preston in torrid final". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 31.
  5. ↑ Jack Dunn (26 September 1955). "Williamstown grips chance as Port tires". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 35.
  6. ↑ "'Town tactics overcome long lead by Port". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 26 September 1955. p. 35.
  7. ↑ "Association details". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 29 August 1955. p. 16.
  8. ↑ John Devaney. "Alby Linton – Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "Moroney wins V.F.A. best, fairest award". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 1 September 1955. p. 40.
  10. ↑ "Oakleigh attacked too late". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 26 September 1955. p. 17.
  11. ↑ Jack Dunn (17 July 1953). "Third VFA team to play as amateurs". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 28.
  12. ↑ "Northcote players to run again as amateurs". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 1 April 1955. p. 32.
  13. ↑ Ken Moses (7 February 1955). "Soccer loses the fight". The Argus (supplement). Melbourne, VIC. p. 6.
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