The 1947 VFL season was the 51st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 19 April until 27 September, and comprised a 19-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
In 1947, 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 19 rounds; matches 12 to 19 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 8.
Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1947 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
Round 19 is notable for Fred Fanning's 18-goal performance, which, to date, is the most goals ever scored by an individual player in VFL/AFL history for a single game. It was also his final game.[1]
In Round 2, South Melbourne returned to the Lake Oval for the first time since 1941 after it was vacated by the military and had its grandstand rebuilt; this was the final home ground change related to World War II.
At the first bounce, at the very start of the round 5 match between Hawthorn and Richmond, Richmond ruckman Laurie Taylor punched the ball an amazing 40 yards and dislocated his shoulder.
Richmond champion Jack Titus, having retired early in the 1946 VFA season, having scored 1159 goals in his senior career of 294 games with Richmond (1926–1943), 23 games with Coburg (1945–1946), and 14 games for Victoria (1929–1934, 1936), played one match for the Richmond Second Eighteen when it was short of players at the age of 39 and scored 12 goals against North Melbourne.
In round 6, with North Melbourne trailing Essendon by 44 points at three quarter time, North Melbourne captain Les Foote moved into the ruck and almost single-handedly led a comeback which ended with an eight-point victory to North Melbourne: North Melbourne 15.12 (102) to Essendon 14.10 (94).
Western Australia defeated Victoria 16.10 (106) to 14.17 (101) at the Tenth ANFC Carnival in Tasmania. Also, in a challenge match, a combined South Australian and Western Australian team defeated the Victorian team 21.14 (140) to 19.15 (129).
In the final round and his last league match before accepting a coaching job in the Western District, Melbourne's Fred Fanning kicked 18 goals 1 behind. This broke Gordon Coventry's Round 12, 1930 record for the most goals by one player in a VFL match, and still stands today.
Carlton won the Grand Final by a point after Fred Stafford kicked a goal just before the final bell.
The seconds premiership was won by North Melbourne. North Melbourne 16.13 (109) defeated Richmond 14.10 (94) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the senior Grand Final on Saturday 27 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[3]
^Alf Brown (27 September 1947). "Carlton snatch win in hectic finish". The Herald. Melbourne, VIC. p. 26.
^"North Seconds win first pennant". The Argus. Melbourne. 29 September 1947. p. 18.
Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN0-9591740-2-8
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
