In 1902, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds. Then, based on ladder positions after those 14 rounds, three further 'sectional rounds' were played, with the teams ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th playing in one section and the teams ranked 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th playing in the other.
Once the 17 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1902 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended Argus system.
Round 1[]
Round 1
Saturday, 3 May (3:00 pm)
Carlton 6.4 (40)
def. by
Geelong 11.12 (78)
Princes Park
Saturday, 3 May (3:00 pm)
South Melbourne 3.7 (25)
def. by
Collingwood 5.13 (43)
Lake Oval
Saturday, 3 May (3:00 pm)
Essendon 5.9 (39)
def. by
Fitzroy 7.10 (52)
East Melbourne Cricket Ground
Saturday, 3 May (3:00 pm)
Melbourne 15.15 (105)
def.
St Kilda 7.9 (51)
Melbourne Cricket Ground
Round 2[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
St Kilda
5.6 (36)
Fitzroy
14.20 (104)
Junction Oval
10 May 1902
Geelong
3.6 (24)
Essendon
10.17 (77)
Corio Oval
10 May 1902
Melbourne
4.10 (34)
Collingwood
8.3 (51)
MCG
10 May 1902
South Melbourne
8.13 (61)
Carlton
0.8 (8)
Lake Oval
10 May 1902
Round 3[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Fitzroy
8.10 (58)
South Melbourne
8.4 (52)
Brunswick Street Oval
17 May 1902
Essendon
7.6 (48)
Melbourne
3.7 (25)
EMCG
17 May 1902
Collingwood
11.15 (81)
Geelong
3.2 (20)
Victoria Park
17 May 1902
St Kilda
2.13 (25)
Carlton
4.9 (33)
Junction Oval
17 May 1902
Round 4[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Geelong
11.11 (77)
St Kilda
5.3 (33)
Corio Oval
24 May 1902
Essendon
5.8 (38)
South Melbourne
4.11 (35)
EMCG
24 May 1902
Collingwood
3.4 (22)
Fitzroy
7.13 (55)
Victoria Park
24 May 1902
Carlton
6.13 (49)
Melbourne
8.12 (60)
Princes Park
24 May 1902
Round 5[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Geelong
5.14 (44)
South Melbourne
3.9 (27)
Corio Oval
31 May 1902
Fitzroy
7.17 (59)
Melbourne
6.10 (46)
Brunswick Street Oval
31 May 1902
St Kilda
5.5 (35)
Collingwood
5.12 (42)
Junction Oval
31 May 1902
Essendon
7.16 (58)
Carlton
5.8 (38)
EMCG
31 May 1902
Round 6[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Collingwood
6.15 (51)
Essendon
11.10 (76)
Victoria Park
7 June 1902
Carlton
4.6 (30)
Fitzroy
9.14 (68)
Princes Park
7 June 1902
South Melbourne
5.13 (43)
St Kilda
1.3 (9)
Lake Oval
7 June 1902
Melbourne
2.13 (25)
Geelong
3.8 (26)
MCG
7 June 1902
Round 7[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Melbourne
7.5 (47)
South Melbourne
6.10 (46)
MCG
9 June 1902
Fitzroy
8.14 (62)
Geelong
3.8 (26)
Brunswick Street Oval
9 June 1902
St Kilda
6.4 (40)
Essendon
10.4 (64)
Junction Oval
9 June 1902
Collingwood
8.11 (59)
Carlton
3.3 (21)
Victoria Park
9 June 1902
Round 8[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Collingwood
4.26 (50)
South Melbourne
1.8 (14)
Victoria Park
14 June 1902
St Kilda
3.6 (24)
Melbourne
8.7 (55)
Junction Oval
14 June 1902
Fitzroy
5.12 (42)
Essendon
7.6 (48)
Brunswick Street Oval
14 June 1902
Geelong
6.7 (43)
Carlton
7.5 (47)
Corio Oval
14 June 1902
Round 9[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Fitzroy
12.8 (80)
St Kilda
2.7 (19)
Brunswick Street Oval
21 June 1902
Essendon
2.3 (15)
Geelong
4.10 (34)
EMCG
21 June 1902
Collingwood
7.19 (61)
Melbourne
4.7 (31)
Victoria Park
21 June 1902
Carlton
4.7 (31)
South Melbourne
2.6 (18)
Princes Park
21 June 1902
Round 10[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Carlton
10.12 (72)
St Kilda
7.7 (49)
Princes Park
5 July 1902
South Melbourne
6.10 (46)
Fitzroy
4.10 (34)
Lake Oval
5 July 1902
Melbourne
3.9 (27)
Essendon
6.12 (48)
MCG
5 July 1902
Geelong
6.8 (44)
Collingwood
12.12 (84)
Corio Oval
5 July 1902
Round 11[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
St Kilda
4.9 (33)
Geelong
7.7 (49)
Junction Oval
12 July 1902
South Melbourne
5.6 (36)
Essendon
6.7 (43)
Lake Oval
12 July 1902
Fitzroy
6.9 (45)
Collingwood
9.14 (68)
Brunswick Street Oval
12 July 1902
Melbourne
4.12 (36)
Carlton
4.9 (33)
MCG
12 July 1902
Round 12[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Collingwood
19.13 (127)
St Kilda
1.4 (10)
Victoria Park
19 July 1902
Carlton
4.9 (33)
Essendon
1.10 (16)
Princes Park
19 July 1902
South Melbourne
7.13 (55)
Geelong
6.9 (45)
Lake Oval
19 July 1902
Melbourne
5.7 (37)
Fitzroy
4.9 (33)
MCG
19 July 1902
Round 13[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
St Kilda
2.10 (22)
South Melbourne
5.7 (37)
Junction Oval
26 July 1902
Geelong
8.6 (54)
Melbourne
3.9 (27)
Corio Oval
26 July 1902
Essendon
5.6 (36)
Collingwood
7.5 (47)
EMCG
26 July 1902
Fitzroy
4.6 (30)
Carlton
6.8 (44)
Brunswick Street Oval
26 July 1902
Round 14[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Essendon
12.12 (84)
St Kilda
3.4 (22)
EMCG
2 August 1902
Carlton
2.3 (15)
Collingwood
7.10 (52)
Princes Park
2 August 1902
South Melbourne
3.9 (27)
Melbourne
9.9 (63)
Lake Oval
2 August 1902
Geelong
5.10 (40)
Fitzroy
9.7 (61)
Corio Oval
2 August 1902
Sectional Rounds[]
Sectional Round 1 (Round 15)[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Melbourne
7.5 (47)
Carlton
1.7 (13)
MCG
16 August 1902
Collingwood
12.12 (84)
South Melbourne
5.14 (44)
Victoria Park
16 August 1902
St Kilda
3.5 (23)
Essendon
10.12 (72)
Junction Oval
16 August 1902
Geelong
5.6 (36)
Fitzroy
6.15 (51)
Corio Oval
16 August 1902
Sectional Round 2 (Round 16)[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Carlton
6.11 (47)
St Kilda
3.6 (24)
Princes Park
23 August 1902
Fitzroy
5.4 (34)
Collingwood
13.9 (87)
Brunswick Street Oval
23 August 1902
Essendon
11.11 (77)
Melbourne
8.8 (56)
MCG
23 August 1902
South Melbourne
12.12 (84)
Geelong
5.9 (39)
Lake Oval
23 August 1902
Sectional Round 3 (Round 17)[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Date
Carlton
5.10 (40)
Essendon
7.4 (46)
Princes Park
30 August 1902
Collingwood
16.16 (112)
Geelong
2.11 (23)
Victoria Park
30 August 1902
Fitzroy
6.10 (46)
South Melbourne
7.8 (50)
Brunswick Street Oval
30 August 1902
Melbourne
10.9 (69)
St Kilda
5.5 (35)
MCG
30 August 1902
Ladder[]
1902 VFL ladder
Pos
Team
Pld
W
L
D
PF
PA
PP
Pts
1
Collingwood(P)
17
15
2
0
1121
562
199.5
60
Semi finals
2
Essendon
17
13
4
0
885
625
141.6
52
3
Fitzroy
17
10
7
0
914
726
125.9
40
4
Melbourne
17
9
8
0
800
735
108.8
36
5
South Melbourne
17
7
10
0
700
704
99.4
28
6
Carlton
17
7
10
0
594
770
77.1
28
7
Geelong
17
7
10
0
702
914
76.8
28
8
St Kilda
17
0
17
0
490
1170
41.9
0
Source: VFL ladder Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. (P) Premiers
Collingwood defeated Essendon 9.6 (60) to 3.9 (27). (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).
Team
1 Qtr
2 Qtr
3 Qtr
Final
Collingwood
1.2
3.2
5.5
9.6 (60)
Essendon
1.3
2.7
3.7
3.9 (27)
Awards[]
The 1902 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
The VFL's leading goalkicker in the home-and-away season was Charlie Baker of St Kilda with 30 goals; St Kilda kicked only 64 goals for the year, of which Baker kicked 46.9%, and Baker's proportion of his team's goals is a VFL/AFL record. Including finals, Ted Rowell of Collingwood scored the most goals with 33.
Notable events[]
The VFL instituted the amended Argus system to determine the season's premiers.
St Kilda finished last without a win, their sixth consecutive wooden spoon, and seven games behind second-last Geelong, both VFL/AFL records.
In each of Rounds 8 and 10, while Essendon champion Albert Thurgood was serving a three-match suspension for striking, one of his team-mates took the field each week under the nom de guerre "Goodthur"; the name was used (in quote marks) in all news reports of the matches. Football historians Michael Maplestone and Stephen Rogers, through a process of elimination, determined that Goodthur was most likely Fred Mann, and official statistics reflect this. [1]
Collingwood's Charlie Pannam becomes the first VFL player to play 100 VFL games (at the end of the 1902 season, he had played in 104 of the 106 VFL games that Collingwood had played since the VFL's first round of games in 1897).
Hogan, P., The Tigers Of Old, The Richmond Football Club, (Richmond), 1996. ISBN0-646-18748-1
Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN0-670-90809-6
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. ISBN0-670-86814-0