The 1964 VFL season was the 68th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 18 April until 19 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Melbourne Football Club for the twelfth time, after it defeated Collingwood by four points in the 1964 VFL Grand Final.

Background

In 1964, 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 1964 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Home-and-away season

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 71.6
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Consolation Night Series Competition

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.

Final: Footscray 11.12 (78) defeated St Kilda 11.7 (73).

Season notes

• Shortly before the start of the season, St Kilda came to an arrangement with the City of Moorabbin that it would move its playing and administrative base from the Junction Oval to the Moorabbin Oval from the 1965 season, becoming the first club to voluntarily move from its traditional home ground. St Kilda was motivated by the desire to manage and operate its own venue, including a licensed social club, rather than remain in its current situation where the St Kilda Cricket Club managed the operations of the ground.^[1] A group of members sought an injunction to prevent the move, and in May the Supreme Court allowed the move provided there was a vote among the club's members,^[2] which ultimately saw a 75% majority in favour of the move.^[3] The move had ramifications in the Victorian Football Association, where the local Moorabbin Football Club was expelled from the competition for supporting the Saints and the council in their moves.^[4]
• Carlton's Gordon Collis was reported in Round 6, but the charge was not upheld and he went on to win the Brownlow Medal.
• At the end of the Round 10 match between Geelong and North Melbourne at Kardinia Park, North Melbourne coach, 5'4" (163 cm) Alan Killigrew was king-hit in the players race by an officially unidentified Geelong player. A brief brawl ensued, with Killigrew emerging with his face covered in blood. The VFL initiates an inquiry into the matter, involving the examination of 20 different witnesses. On 20 July the VFL announces that no charges will be laid against Geelong's 6'2" (188 cm) Geoff Rosenow.
• In Round 13, North Melbourne rover and professional dentist Allen Aylett broke his left arm, and retired immediately.
• On 22 August 1964 (Round 18), St Kilda played its farewell home game at the Junction Oval. On the same day, Richmond played its last home game, and the last VFL match, at the Punt Road Oval, as the club began playing its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1965; it was not known at the time that this was a farewell match for the venue, as the deal to change grounds was not made until after the season.

Awards

• The 1964 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Peck of Hawthorn who kicked 68 goals.
• The winner of the 1964 Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gordon Collis of Carlton with 28 votes (he was reported in Round 6, but was cleared).
• Fitzroy claimed the "wooden spoon" in 1964; as of 2023, it is the most recent team to endure a winless VFL/AFL season.
• The reserves premiership was won by Geelong. Geelong 9.13 (67) defeated Richmond 6.8 (44) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 19 September.^[5]

References

• Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• 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. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

Sources

• 1964 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1964 VFL season at Australian Football