The 1916 VFL season was the 20th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. Played during the peak of World War I, the season was the shortest in the league's history and featured the fewest clubs, with only four clubs –, , and – featuring in 1916. The season ran from 6 May to 2 September, comprising a twelve-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring all four clubs. Fitzroy won the premiership, its sixth VFL premiership; despite finishing in last place during the home-and-away season with a 2–9–1 win–loss–draw record, Fitzroy won all three of its finals, culminating in defeating Carlton by 29 points in the 1916 VFL grand final. Carlton won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 10–2 win–loss record. Collingwood's Dick Lee won his fifth leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

Format

In 1916, the VFL competition consisted of four 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 of the four teams played each other four times in a 12 match home-and-away season (each team hosting each of the others twice); once the 12 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1916 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended Argus system.

Impact of the war

The situation of the VFL in 1916 was rather complex.

District football

Although the 1916 season itself was disrupted by the war, it was the first season to come under the VFL's new district football scheme. Under the new scheme: The scheme had been developed by a league sub-committee over the previous two years (and had originally allowed for players to qualify for University based on past or present enrolment at the University of Melbourne and affiliated academic bodies), and the final approval for the scheme came in October 1915. District/zone recruiting remained in place from 1916 until 1991.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for Average score: 67.2 Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

Awards

Sources