1948 VFL season
The 1948 VFL season was the 52nd season of the Victorian Football League, the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 17 April until 9 October, and comprised a 19-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The premiership was won by the Melbourne Football Club for the sixth time, after it defeated by 39 points in the 1948 VFL Grand Final Replay.
Background
In 1948, 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 1948 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.
Home-and-away season
Round 8
Round 16
Ladder
Finals series
Semi-finals
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
| Essendon | 3.2 | 8.9 | 12.12 | 13.16 |
| Melbourne | 3.2 | 4.3 | 8.8 | 8.10 |
| Attendance: 72,394 | - | - | - | - |
Grand final
| Team | 1 Qtr | 2 Qtr | 3 Qtr | Final |
| Essendon | 0.6 | 2.15 | 6.21 | 7.27 |
| Melbourne | 3.0 | 4.5 | 6.8 | 10.9 |
| Attendance: 86,198 | - | - | - | - |
Season notes
- All VFL matches were now scheduled to start at 2:15pm; previously it had been 2:30pm.
- In round 7, Melbourne champion Norm Smith played his two hundredth game. He was reported for abusing the umpire; despite his claim that he had only said "don't be silly", he was suspended for four weeks.
- After Carlton's round 11 loss at home to North Melbourne, police drew their batons to protect the umpires from Carlton fans.
- In the round 16 match between Footscray and Geelong at the Western Oval the north wind was so fierce that when the Geelong full-back Bruce Morrison kicked the ball off after Footscray had scored a behind, the ball floated back over his head and went through the goal; the Goal umpire signalled a "forced behind". Only 1.1 of the game's combined score of 18.40 was scored against the wind.
- The 1948 Grand Final was the first drawn Grand Final in VFL history. The second was the 1977 VFL Grand Final, and the third was the 2010 AFL Grand Final.
Awards
- The 1948 VFL Premiership team was Melbourne.
- The VFL's leading goalkicker was Lindsay White of Geelong 86 goals.
- The winner of the 1948 Brownlow Medal was Bill Morris of Richmond with 24 votes.
- St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1948.
- The seconds premiership was won by. Geelong 17.12 defeated 12.9 in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the drawn senior Grand Final on Saturday 2 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.