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1934 VFL season

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1934 VFL premiership season
Richmond 1934 VFL premiership team
Overview
Date5 May—13 October 1934
Teams12
PremiersRichmond
4th premiership
Runners-upSouth Melbourne
5th runners-up result
Brownlow MedallistDick Reynolds (Essendon)
19 votes
Leading goalkicker medallistBob Pratt (South Melbourne)
138 goals
Attendance
Matches played112
Total attendance1,899,507 (16,960 per match)
Highest (H&A)45,000 (round 13, Carlton v South Melbourne)
Highest (finals)65,335 (grand final, Richmond v South Melbourne)
← 1933
1935 →

The 1934 VFL season was the 38th 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 5 May to 13 October, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

Richmond won the premiership, defeating South Melbourne by 39 points in the 1934 VFL grand final; it was Richmond's fourth VFL premiership. Richmond won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 15–3 win–loss record. Essendon's Dick Reynolds won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and South Melbourne's Bob Pratt won his second consecutive leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker; Pratt's 150 goals for the season (including finals) is a league record that has only been equalled once, in 1971.

Background

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In 1934, 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 1934 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Home-and-away season

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Round 1

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 16.13 (109) St Kilda 11.7 (73) Corio Oval 15,000 5 May 1934
Fitzroy 11.16 (82) North Melbourne 10.11 (71) Brunswick Street Oval 21,000 5 May 1934
Essendon 19.11 (125) Footscray 16.18 (114) Windy Hill 21,000 5 May 1934
Richmond 18.14 (122) Melbourne 12.9 (81) Punt Road Oval 17,000 5 May 1934
South Melbourne 19.13 (127) Collingwood 13.14 (92) Lake Oval 38,000 5 May 1934
Hawthorn 12.8 (80) Carlton 17.26 (128) Glenferrie Oval 17,000 5 May 1934

Round 2

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Collingwood 17.12 (114) Essendon 13.8 (86) Victoria Park 17,500 12 May 1934
Carlton 17.20 (122) South Melbourne 17.17 (119) Princes Park 45,000 12 May 1934
St Kilda 12.11 (83) Richmond 13.9 (87) Junction Oval 24,000 12 May 1934
Melbourne 20.13 (133) Hawthorn 6.8 (44) MCG 9,842 12 May 1934
North Melbourne 10.10 (70) Geelong 10.17 (77) Arden Street Oval 14,000 12 May 1934
Footscray 14.12 (96) Fitzroy 9.18 (72) Western Oval 16,000 12 May 1934

Round 3

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 12.14 (86) Melbourne 6.11 (47) Corio Oval 13,000 19 May 1934
Fitzroy 11.14 (80) St Kilda 13.15 (93) Brunswick Street Oval 19,000 19 May 1934
North Melbourne 8.14 (62) Footscray 10.17 (77) Arden Street Oval 17,000 19 May 1934
South Melbourne 23.10 (148) Essendon 15.16 (106) Lake Oval 20,000 19 May 1934
Hawthorn 9.8 (62) Collingwood 19.15 (129) Glenferrie Oval 8,000 19 May 1934
Richmond 14.20 (104) Carlton 9.13 (67) Punt Road Oval 37,000 19 May 1934

Round 4

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 12.12 (84) South Melbourne 17.18 (120) Western Oval 21,000 26 May 1934
Essendon 15.13 (103) Hawthorn 13.11 (89) Windy Hill 10,000 26 May 1934
Collingwood 13.13 (91) Richmond 9.9 (63) Victoria Park 26,000 26 May 1934
Carlton 15.14 (104) Geelong 14.10 (94) Princes Park 30,000 26 May 1934
St Kilda 14.18 (102) North Melbourne 10.20 (80) Junction Oval 18,000 26 May 1934
Melbourne 9.11 (65) Fitzroy 8.11 (59) MCG 15,864 26 May 1934

Round 5

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 13.14 (92) South Melbourne 22.12 (144) Glenferrie Oval 12,000 2 June 1934
St Kilda 22.23 (155) Footscray 11.18 (84) Junction Oval 25,000 2 June 1934
Fitzroy 15.12 (102) Carlton 12.15 (87) Brunswick Street Oval 26,500 2 June 1934
North Melbourne 17.14 (116) Melbourne 15.28 (118) Arden Street Oval 17,000 4 June 1934
Richmond 15.12 (102) Essendon 12.8 (80) Punt Road Oval 24,500 4 June 1934
Geelong 16.13 (109) Collingwood 16.13 (109) Corio Oval 21,500 4 June 1934

Round 6

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 14.17 (101) St Kilda 20.14 (134) MCG 18,102 9 June 1934
Essendon 14.11 (95) Geelong 11.16 (82) Windy Hill 15,000 9 June 1934
Collingwood 16.15 (111) Fitzroy 13.18 (96) Victoria Park 22,000 9 June 1934
Carlton 20.25 (145) North Melbourne 12.11 (83) Princes Park 15,000 9 June 1934
South Melbourne 9.10 (64) Richmond 16.12 (108) Lake Oval 32,000 9 June 1934
Hawthorn 11.11 (77) Footscray 10.11 (71) Glenferrie Oval 8,000 9 June 1934

Round 7

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 15.16 (106) South Melbourne 11.11 (77) Corio Oval 14,200 23 June 1934
Footscray 6.8 (44) Melbourne 13.13 (91) Western Oval 11,000 23 June 1934
Richmond 16.14 (110) Hawthorn 11.15 (81) Punt Road Oval 10,000 23 June 1934
Fitzroy 15.12 (102) Essendon 14.13 (97) Brunswick Street Oval 19,000 23 June 1934
North Melbourne 12.14 (86) Collingwood 16.16 (112) Arden Street Oval 11,000 23 June 1934
St Kilda 16.12 (108) Carlton 24.22 (166) Junction Oval 33,000 23 June 1934

Round 8

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Essendon 29.16 (190) North Melbourne 15.13 (103) Windy Hill 12,000 30 June 1934
Collingwood 12.12 (84) St Kilda 10.15 (75) Victoria Park 15,000 30 June 1934
Carlton 19.20 (134) Melbourne 11.19 (85) Princes Park 20,000 30 June 1934
Hawthorn 11.12 (78) Geelong 17.17 (119) Glenferrie Oval 6,000 30 June 1934
Richmond 9.10 (64) Footscray 6.12 (48) Punt Road Oval 14,000 30 June 1934
South Melbourne 13.19 (97) Fitzroy 13.10 (88) Lake Oval 27,000 30 June 1934

Round 9

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
North Melbourne 7.4 (46) South Melbourne 20.18 (138) Arden Street Oval 11,000 7 July 1934
Geelong 7.13 (55) Richmond 4.9 (33) Corio Oval 16,500 7 July 1934
Fitzroy 13.21 (99) Hawthorn 11.13 (79) Brunswick Street Oval 9,000 7 July 1934
St Kilda 11.8 (74) Essendon 7.16 (58) Junction Oval 20,000 7 July 1934
Melbourne 8.15 (63) Collingwood 8.17 (65) MCG 13,807 7 July 1934
Footscray 12.11 (83) Carlton 15.17 (107) Western Oval 12,500 7 July 1934

Round 10

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 6.17 (53) North Melbourne 6.12 (48) Glenferrie Oval 6,000 14 July 1934
Essendon 6.15 (51) Melbourne 8.12 (60) Windy Hill 9,000 14 July 1934
South Melbourne 15.20 (110) St Kilda 7.4 (46) Lake Oval 24,000 14 July 1934
Geelong 13.15 (93) Footscray 9.10 (64) Corio Oval 11,000 14 July 1934
Richmond 10.16 (76) Fitzroy 9.9 (63) Punt Road Oval 17,500 14 July 1934
Collingwood 13.17 (95) Carlton 10.5 (65) Victoria Park 25,000 14 July 1934

Round 11

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
North Melbourne 11.12 (78) Richmond 15.9 (99) Arden Street Oval 6,000 21 July 1934
Melbourne 14.15 (99) South Melbourne 22.23 (155) MCG 21,785 21 July 1934
Fitzroy 10.11 (71) Geelong 14.18 (102) Brunswick Street Oval 15,000 21 July 1934
Carlton 22.16 (148) Essendon 16.13 (109) Princes Park 23,000 21 July 1934
St Kilda 13.10 (88) Hawthorn 10.12 (72) Junction Oval 10,000 21 July 1934
Footscray 14.11 (95) Collingwood 16.9 (105) Western Oval 12,500 21 July 1934

Round 12

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 13.23 (101) Richmond 14.11 (95) MCG 13,805 28 July 1934
Collingwood 13.19 (97) South Melbourne 21.19 (145) Victoria Park 28,000 28 July 1934
Carlton 22.13 (145) Hawthorn 10.6 (66) Princes Park 12,000 28 July 1934
St Kilda 13.6 (84) Geelong 16.18 (114) Junction Oval 17,000 28 July 1934
North Melbourne 15.8 (98) Fitzroy 21.16 (142) Arden Street Oval 10,000 28 July 1934
Footscray 15.9 (99) Essendon 8.9 (57) Western Oval 13,000 28 July 1934

Round 13

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 7.25 (67) St Kilda 5.8 (38) Punt Road Oval 16,000 4 August 1934
Hawthorn 11.7 (73) Melbourne 10.16 (76) Glenferrie Oval 6,000 4 August 1934
Geelong 18.15 (123) North Melbourne 5.12 (42) Corio Oval 7,000 4 August 1934
Fitzroy 10.18 (78) Footscray 10.12 (72) Brunswick Street Oval 14,000 4 August 1934
Essendon 15.12 (102) Collingwood 22.18 (150) Windy Hill 11,000 4 August 1934
South Melbourne 23.13 (151) Carlton 17.8 (110) Lake Oval 30,000 4 August 1934

Round 14

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 10.18 (78) North Melbourne 6.14 (50) Western Oval 5,000 18 August 1934
Essendon 9.17 (71) South Melbourne 22.14 (146) Windy Hill 15,000 18 August 1934
Collingwood 23.22 (160) Hawthorn 10.13 (73) Victoria Park 5,000 18 August 1934
Carlton 14.12 (96) Richmond 16.13 (109) Princes Park 30,000 18 August 1934
Melbourne 13.10 (88) Geelong 21.15 (141) MCG 12,163 18 August 1934
St Kilda 13.11 (89) Fitzroy 10.10 (70) Junction Oval 10,000 18 August 1934

Round 15

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
North Melbourne 11.13 (79) St Kilda 12.12 (84) Arden Street Oval 5,000 25 August 1934
Fitzroy 20.19 (139) Melbourne 16.10 (106) Brunswick Street Oval 9,500 25 August 1934
South Melbourne 23.18 (156) Footscray 9.16 (70) Lake Oval 17,420 25 August 1934
Hawthorn 11.15 (81) Essendon 11.13 (79) Glenferrie Oval 5,000 25 August 1934
Richmond 12.14 (86) Collingwood 11.9 (75) Punt Road Oval 26,500 25 August 1934
Geelong 13.17 (95) Carlton 10.10 (70) Corio Oval 18,500 25 August 1934

Round 16

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 11.24 (90) North Melbourne 7.15 (57) MCG 5,011 1 September 1934
Footscray 13.20 (98) St Kilda 10.17 (77) Western Oval 5,500 1 September 1934
Essendon 13.12 (90) Richmond 15.23 (113) Windy Hill 10,000 1 September 1934
Collingwood 16.16 (112) Geelong 16.21 (117) Victoria Park 18,000 1 September 1934
Carlton 18.12 (120) Fitzroy 9.15 (69) Princes Park 15,500 1 September 1934
South Melbourne 15.11 (101) Hawthorn 10.10 (70) Lake Oval 13,000 1 September 1934

Round 17

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 14.14 (98) South Melbourne 13.14 (92) Punt Road Oval 40,000 8 September 1934
Footscray 14.18 (102) Hawthorn 12.7 (79) Western Oval 5,000 8 September 1934
St Kilda 13.12 (90) Melbourne 12.16 (88) Junction Oval 8,000 8 September 1934
Geelong 21.31 (157) Essendon 6.5 (41) Corio Oval 9,500 8 September 1934
Fitzroy 14.17 (101) Collingwood 16.10 (106) Brunswick Street Oval 15,000 8 September 1934
North Melbourne 8.8 (56) Carlton 7.16 (58) Arden Street Oval 8,000 8 September 1934

Round 18

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 7.9 (51) Richmond 11.16 (82) Glenferrie Oval 4,000 15 September 1934
Essendon 14.11 (95) Fitzroy 12.4 (76) Windy Hill 5,000 15 September 1934
Collingwood 15.18 (108) North Melbourne 2.8 (20) Victoria Park 4,000 15 September 1934
Carlton 16.18 (114) St Kilda 15.9 (99) Princes Park 10,000 15 September 1934
South Melbourne 13.19 (97) Geelong 8.7 (55) Lake Oval 17,000 15 September 1934
Melbourne 19.17 (131) Footscray 9.11 (65) MCG 4,232 15 September 1934

Ladder

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(P) Premiers
Qualified for finals
# Team P W L D PF PA % Pts
1 Richmond (P) 18 15 3 0 1618 1334 121.3 60
2 Geelong 18 14 3 1 1834 1355 135.4 58
3 South Melbourne 18 14 4 0 2187 1560 140.2 56
4 Collingwood 18 13 4 1 1915 1571 121.9 54
5 Carlton 18 12 6 0 1986 1707 116.3 48
6 Melbourne 18 9 9 0 1623 1670 97.2 36
7 St Kilda 18 9 9 0 1592 1661 95.8 36
8 Fitzroy 18 7 11 0 1589 1660 95.7 28
9 Footscray 18 6 12 0 1444 1699 85.0 24
10 Essendon 18 5 13 0 1635 1958 83.5 20
11 Hawthorn 18 3 15 0 1300 1917 67.8 12
12 North Melbourne 18 0 18 0 1245 1876 66.4 0

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 92.4
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

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Semi-finals

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Home team Score Away team Score Venue Crowd Date
South Melbourne 12.12 (78) Collingwood 9.21 (75) MCG 52,022 22 September
Richmond 19.20 (134) Geelong 7.8 (50) MCG 35,934 29 September

Preliminary final

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Home team Score Away team Score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 7.6 (48) South Melbourne 15.18 (108) MCG 30,400 6 October

Grand final

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Season notes

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  • Bob Pratt kicked 150 goals in the 1934 season, reaching his hundredth in only 13 matches. The feat smashed Gordon Coventry's record of 124 goals in the 1929 season, and has yet to be broken.
  • Gordon Coventry's second goal of the Round 5 game between Collingwood and Geelong was his 1000th career goal, making him the first player to reach that milestone.
  • In the interstate match on 11 August, the regular South Melbourne centre half-back Laurie Nash played at full-forward for Victoria for three-quarters (the selected full-forward Bill Mohr had broken his finger in the first quarter) and kicked 18 goals in a single match against South Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Nash had kicked two goals from centre half-forward in the first quarter prior to Mohr's injury, then kicked two more in the second quarter, before dominating the match after half-time with another 14 goals.
  • In Round 8, Fitzroy ruckman Colin Benham scored his famous "in-off the small boy" goal.
  • In the third quarter of the 14 July (round 10 match) between Carlton and Collingwood,[2] played at Victoria Park in a heavy cross-wind, Syd Coventry, playing in his 222nd match in his last season for Collingwood,[3] was knocked out after an altercation with Carlton's Gordon Mackie.
    • As Coventry was being stretchered off the field, a vicious brawl broke out involving 20 players – requiring the assistance of team officials and the police to break it up – in which up to ten players were seriously injured.[4]
    • Three Carlton players were reported: Gordon Mackie was charged with striking Syd Coventry, Harry Maskell was charged with striking Norm Le Brun, and the Carlton captain, Maurie Johnson, was charged with kicking Jack Ross.[5]
    • Many of those who had attended the match were astonished that no Collingwood players had been reported for their violent behaviour during the match.[6][7]
    • The VFL tribunal found both Maskell and Mackie guilty, and suspended each for six matches. The hearing against Mackie was postponed for a week so that Coventry could attend.[8][9]
    • The charge against Johnson was not sustained (although the tribunal was satisfied Johnson had kicked Ross, it was not satisfied that he had kicked Ross deliberately).[10]
    • Although the field umpire, Bob Scott, was fortunate to escape sanction for his widely attested incompetence, one of the goal umpires, Percy Jory, and both of the boundary umpires, John Campbell and George Calleson, were suspended for the remainder of the season for their dereliction of duty in relation to the brawl.[11]
  • It is a matter of record that Dick Reynolds won the 1934 Brownlow Medal from Haydn Bunton, Sr by a single vote. Legend has it that Bunton, who had dominated in the last match of the season, tried to "suck up to" field umpire Jack McMurray as he walked off the playing field, and that Murray, sensing a blatant and improper attempt to influence his Brownlow voting, cast his votes for three other players.

Awards

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Thrilling Football". Argus. 5 June 1934.
  2. ^ The Teams, The Age, (Friday, 13 July 1934), p.7.
  3. ^ S. Coventry, The Age, (Friday, 13 July 1934), p.7.
  4. ^ Police intervene in brawl at Collingwood, The Argus, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 13.
  5. ^ Brawl at Victoria Park, The Age, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 6.
  6. ^ For example, 'Clean Sport', "Why No Collingwood Reports? (Letter to the Editor)", The Age, (Monday, 16 July 1934), p. 6.; "Balfe, R.G., "Vic. League Must Act: Carlton-Collingwood Brawl: Growing List of Casualties, The Referee, (Thursday, 19 July 1934), p. 1, p. 19, etc.
  7. ^ During the tribunal's hearing of the charge against Mackie, evidence was presented that, on two separate occasions earlier in the match, Syd Coventry had struck Mackie in the face without any penalty being given by the umpires: see, for example, Football: Rough Play, The Age, (Wednesday, 25 July 1934), p. 7.
  8. ^ Rough Football, The Age, (Wednesday, 18 July 1934), p. 10.
  9. ^ Carlton Football Trouble, The Argus, (Wednesday, 25 July 1934), p. 16.
  10. ^ Sequel to Football Brawl, The Argus, (Wednesday, 18 July 1934), p. 9.
  11. ^ Three Umpires Suspended: Football Brawl Development, The Argus, (Thursday, 26 July 1934), p. 13.
  12. ^ "Seconds' premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. 15 October 1934. p. 12.
  • Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
  • Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
  • 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. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

Sources

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