1901 VFL season explained

Year:	1901
Date:	4 May—7 September 1901
Teams:	8
Premcount:	2
Mpcount:	2
Leadinggoalkicker:	Fred Hiskins
Goals:	34
Matches:	71

The 1901 VFL season was the fifth season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured eight clubs and ran from 4 May to 7 September, comprising a 17-round home-and-away season followed by a two-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

won the premiership, defeating by 27 points in the 1901 VFL grand final; it was Essendon's second VFL premiership. won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 14–3 win–loss record, but was eliminated by Collingwood in the semi-finals. Essendon's Fred Hiskins won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

In 1901, 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 rounds of the home-and-away season had finished, the 1901 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the original Argus system.

Home-and-away season

Pre-sectional ladder

style=width:1em bgcolor=E6E6FA		Section A
style=width:1em bgcolor=FEEAD3		Section B

|- style=background:#E6E6FA| 1 || align=left | || 14 || 12 || 2 || 0 || 712 || 478 || 149.0 || 48|- style=background:#FEEAD3| 2 || align=left | || 14 || 10 || 4 || 0 || 712 || 488 || 145.9 || 40|- style=background:#E6E6FA| 3 || align=left | || 14 || 9 || 5 || 0 || 848 || 507 || 167.3 || 36|- style=background:#FEEAD3| 4 || align=left | || 14 || 8 || 5 || 1 || 540 || 507 || 106.5 || 34|- style=background:#E6E6FA| 5 || align=left | || 14 || 7 || 7 || 0 || 651 || 583 || 111.7 || 28|- style=background:#FEEAD3| 6 || align=left | || 14 || 6 || 7 || 1 || 693 || 597 || 116.1 || 26|- style=background:#E6E6FA| 7 || align=left | || 14 || 2 || 12 || 0 || 396 || 820 || 48.3 || 8|- style=background:#FEEAD3| 8 || align=left | || 14 || 1 || 13 || 0 || 350 || 922 || 38.0 || 4|}

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

Round 17 (Sectional round 3)

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
bgcolor=FFFFBB		Qualified for finals

|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 1 || align=left | || 17 || 14 || 3 || 0 || 853 || 597 || 142.9 || 56|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 2 || align=left | (P) || 17 || 12 || 5 || 0 || 1085 || 582 || 186.4 || 48|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 3 || align=left | || 17 || 12 || 5 || 0 || 917 || 579 || 158.4 || 48|- style=background:#FFFFBB| 4 || align=left | || 17 || 9 || 7 || 1 || 877 || 666 || 131.7 || 38|-| 5 || align=left | || 17 || 9 || 7 || 1 || 716 || 610 || 117.4 || 38|-| 6 || align=left | || 17 || 8 || 9 || 0 || 727 || 730 || 99.6 || 32|-| 7 || align=left | || 17 || 2 || 15 || 0 || 476 || 1013 || 47.0 || 8|-| 8 || align=left | || 17 || 1 || 16 || 0 || 414 || 1288 || 32.1 || 4|}

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 44.6
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Grand final

Win–loss table

The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Opponents are listed above the margins and home matches are in bold.

Team	Home-and-away season																		Finals series
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17		SF	GF
align=left		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	7 (2–15–0)
align=left		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFFFBB	3 (12–5–0)	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF
align=left		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFFFBB	2 (12–5–0)	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC
align=left		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCCCFF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFFFBB	4 (9–7–1)	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=C0C0C0
align=left		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFFFBB	1 (14–3–0)	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=C0C0C0
align=left		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCCCFF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	5 (9–7–1)
align=left		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	6 (8–9–0)
align=left		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF		bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=CCFFCC	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	bgcolor=FFCFCF	8 (1–16–0)

Source: AFL Tables

Season notes

Fitzroy lodged an official protest against the result of the second semi-final, which it lost against Essendon by one point, alleging that the goal umpire had erred in awarding Essendon's first goal because the ball had hit the post. Later in the week, Fitzroy withdrew its protest against the result, and the scheduling of the grand final was not affected;^[1] an inquiry later in September found that the goal umpire had made a mistake, but no change was made to the score after the finding.^[2]
Against South Melbourne in Round 6, Essendon kicked 17 behinds between its first and second goals. Only Geelong against St Kilda in 1919 and St Kilda against Fitzroy in 1921 have beaten this unwanted record. Fred Hiskins kicked ten behinds.
In the Round 13 match between Collingwood and Fitzroy, neither team scored in the final quarter. As of 2024, this remains the only quarter in VFL/AFL history in which no score was registered at all.^[3]
In the last home-and-away match between South Melbourne and Geelong, field umpire Henry "Ivo" Crapp experimented with clearly calling out his decisions.
In Essendon's grand final victory against Collingwood, Albert Thurgood kicked three of Essendon's six goals. One of his goals was scored with an 86-yard (79 m.) drop-kick, and another (measured immediately after the match) was scored with a 93-yard (85 m.) place-kick into a strong head wind.
VFL instituted the original Argus system to determine the season's premiers.

Awards

The 1901 VFL Premiership team was Essendon.
The VFL's leading goalkicker was Fred Hiskins of Essendon with 34 goals.
St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1901.

References

Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.
Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998.
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.

Sources

1901 VFL season at AFL Tables
1901 VFL season at Australian Football

Notes and References

News: The Argus. 12 September 1901. 7. Football – The Goal Umpiring Question.
News: The Essendon-Fitzroy Football Match. The Argus. 24 September 1901. 6.
Web site: All teams – quarters and halves. 24 November 2024. AFL Tables.