The 1931 VFL season was the 35th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs and ran from 2 May to 10 October, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs. won the premiership, defeating by 20 points in the 1931 VFL grand final; it was Geelong's second VFL premiership. Geelong also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 15–3 win–loss record. 's Haydn Bunton Sr. won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and 's Harry Vallence won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Background

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 winner of the 2nd Semi Final going direct through to the Grand Final, and the loser through to a Preliminary Final against the winner of the 1st Semi Final. The league predominantly used variations of the Argus Challenge System over the previous thirty seasons.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

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.

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for Average score: 76.4 Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

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; however, in the Grand Final, the home team was the team that won the preliminary final.

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

Awards

Sources