In 1931, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 1931 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system. This was the first season to feature the new finals format, with the league predominantly using variations of the Argus System over the previous thirty seasons.[1]
Round 1[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Crowd
Date
North Melbourne
11.17 (83)
South Melbourne
19.21 (135)
Arden Street Oval
10,000
2 May 1931
Footscray
8.13 (61)
Hawthorn
9.6 (60)
Western Oval
12,000
2 May 1931
Collingwood
13.14 (92)
Geelong
12.15 (87)
Victoria Park
16,000
2 May 1931
Carlton
15.8 (98)
Richmond
14.23 (107)
Princes Park
26,500
2 May 1931
Melbourne
15.16 (106)
Fitzroy
14.10 (94)
MCG
19,330
2 May 1931
St Kilda
13.14 (92)
Essendon
11.14 (80)
Junction Oval
19,000
2 May 1931
Round 2[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Crowd
Date
Geelong
20.6 (126)
St Kilda
7.12 (54)
Corio Oval
9,500
9 May 1931
Essendon
12.5 (77)
Melbourne
10.13 (73)
Windy Hill
15,000
9 May 1931
Richmond
30.19.199
North Melbourne
4.7 (31)
Punt Road Oval
11,000
9 May 1931
South Melbourne
13.13 (91)
Footscray
16.15 (111)
Lake Oval
20,000
9 May 1931
Hawthorn
8.17 (65)
Collingwood
11.18 (84)
Glenferrie Oval
15,000
9 May 1931
Fitzroy
13.15 (93)
Carlton
19.19 (133)
Brunswick Street Oval
35,000
9 May 1931
Round 3[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Crowd
Date
Footscray
7.10 (52)
Richmond
13.16 (94)
Western Oval
30,000
16 May 1931
Collingwood
13.16 (94)
South Melbourne
10.13 (73)
Victoria Park
15,000
16 May 1931
Carlton
18.18 (126)
Essendon
5.14 (44)
Princes Park
20,000
16 May 1931
St Kilda
10.12 (72)
Hawthorn
10.8 (68)
Junction Oval
14,000
16 May 1931
Melbourne
12.15 (87)
Geelong
11.17 (83)
MCG
19,767
16 May 1931
North Melbourne
6.12 (48)
Fitzroy
12.16 (88)
Arden Street Oval
7,000
16 May 1931
Round 4[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Crowd
Date
Hawthorn
13.16 (94)
Melbourne
16.13 (109)
Glenferrie Oval
10,000
23 May 1931
Fitzroy
10.15 (75)
Footscray
12.12 (84)
Brunswick Street Oval
14,000
23 May 1931
Essendon
12.13 (85)
North Melbourne
9.9 (63)
Windy Hill
10,000
23 May 1931
South Melbourne
18.19 (127)
St Kilda
16.10 (106)
Lake Oval
18,000
23 May 1931
Richmond
10.12 (72)
Collingwood
9.14 (68)
Punt Road Oval
40,000
23 May 1931
Geelong
11.14 (80)
Carlton
11.8 (74)
Corio Oval
12,500
23 May 1931
Round 5[]
Home team
Home team score
Away team
Away team score
Venue
Crowd
Date
Hawthorn
11.10 (76)
South Melbourne
11.13 (79)
Glenferrie Oval
11,000
30 May 1931
Essendon
10.12 (72)
Richmond
11.20 (86)
Windy Hill
15,000
30 May 1931
Carlton
16.11 (107)
Collingwood
13.13 (91)
Princes Park
35,000
30 May 1931
St Kilda
13.19 (97)
North Melbourne
7.10 (52)
Junction Oval
10,000
30 May 1931
Melbourne
13.9 (87)
Footscray
10.11 (71)
MCG
20,244
30 May 1931
Geelong
20.22 (142)
Fitzroy
12.9 (81)
Corio Oval
9,000
30 May 1931
Round 6[]
Round 6 was a split round, but the two-halves of the round were unusually played almost three weeks apart. Three matches played on King's Birthday Monday (8 June), and the other three matches played Saturday 27 June – the Saturday between Rounds 8 and 9. This means that six teams played their Round 7 and 8 matches before their Round 6 match.[2]
Source: VFL Ladder Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for. (P) Premiers
Finals[]
All of the 1931 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the Semi Finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Harry "Soapy" Vallence of Carlton with 86 goals.
In his first VFL season, and only 20 years old, the winner of the 1931 Brownlow Medal was Haydn Bunton, Sr of Fitzroy with 26 votes.
North Melbourne took the "wooden spoon" in 1931.
The seconds premiership was won by Melbourne. Melbourne 8.13 (61) defeated Geelong 8.5 (53) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 10 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[3]
Notable events[]
The VFL changed its Brownlow Medal voting procedure. The field umpire now voted for the three "fairest and best" on the ground in each match, casting 3, 2, and 1 votes. If there was a tie, the player with the most "3" votes would be declared the winner, then the most "2" votes. A player who had been suspended during the year should now be considered ineligible for the medal.
The VFL altered the manner in which it determined its premiership team. Abandoning the "amended Argus systems" that had operated from 1902 to 1930 (except in 1924), the VFL instituted the Page–McIntyre system which, amongst other innovations, guaranteed that there would be a "Grand Final" at the end of every season (this system continued to operate until 1972).
Prior to the season, the VFL and the Grounds Management Association (which represented the operators of most of the VFL grounds) entered a dispute over the use of the grounds for football matches. The dispute covered financial arrangements and the demarcation between the football and cricket seasons.[4] After arbitration from the Minister for Lands, it was agreed that cricket clubs would be required to pay the league £20 per 100 members, ending the long-standing practice of cricket club members receiving admission to football games without compensation to the football clubs; but that the grounds management would still retain all receipts for admission to reserve areas, with the league receiving none of these takings.[5] During the stand-off, the VFL arranged for the Motordrome and the Exhibition Oval to be available to serve as alternative venues during the year, and drew up a fixture which saw each of those grounds holding twelve games – with Fitzroy, Carlton, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Collingwood and Essendon each to have played four of their nine home games at one of the replacement grounds.[6]
In round 2, Richmond set the record for highest score in a game, scoring 30.19 (199) against North Melbourne. This beat South Melbourne's 1919 record by ten points, and remained unbeaten until 1969.
In round 12, Carlton rover Tommy Downs was reported for kicking Richmond captain Maurie Hunter; despite the efforts of future Australian Prime Minister R. G. Menzies, K.C., Downs was suspended for the remainder of the 1931 season and the whole of the 1932 season.
In the first Semi-Final, Carlton thrashed Collingwood 20.10 (130) to 5.12 (42). Harry "Soapy" Vallence, at full-forward for Carlton kicked a (Finals) record 11 goals, including six in the last quarter. Vallance would have had 12 goals if his last shot (the last kick in the match) had not hit the goal-post, and only counted as a "behind".
The Round 17 match between St Kilda and Collingwood was the first in which both sides scored twenty goals. Both Bill Mohr and Gordon Coventry kicked eleven goals. Coventry was the first to kick ten for a losing side.
Footnotes[]
^Rodgers, Stephen (1992), Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results, 1897–1991 (3rd ed.), Ringwood, VIC: Viking O'Neil
^Rodgers, Stephen, Every Game Ever Played, VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991, Ringwood, VIC: Viking O'Neal, p. 212
^"Second Eighteens". The Argus. Melbourne. 12 October 1931. p. 9.
^H. A. deLacy (31 January 1031). "Football on Motordrome – V.F.L. has option on three other grounds". The Sporting Globe. p. 4.
^Southerner (25 March 1931). "Victorian grounds trouble settled". Referee. Sydney, NSW. p. 11.
^W. S. Sharland (14 March 1931). "League arranges fixtures". The Sporting Globe. Melbourne. p. 4.
References[]
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