1963 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1963.

Premiership season

In 1963, 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 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 1963 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".

Alterations to 1963 match fixtures

Persistent rain throughout the week and further heavy downpours on the Friday (12 July) caused the postponement of all Round 11 matches until the following Saturday (20 July). All remaining home-and-away and finals matches were played a week later than had been scheduled.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

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

Consolation Night Series Competition

The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the season.

Final: Footscray 10.9 (69) defeated Richmond 9.9 (63)

Premiership Finals

First Semi-Final

Second Semi-Final

Preliminary Final

Grand final

Awards

• The 1963 VFL Premiership team was Geelong.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Peck of Hawthorn who kicked 75 goals (including 6 goals in the final series).
• The winner of the 1963 Brownlow Medal was Bob Skilton of South Melbourne with 20 votes.
• Fitzroy took the "wooden spoon" in 1963.
• The reserves premiership was won by Geelong. Geelong 13.12 (90) defeated St Kilda 7.11 (53) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5 October.^[1]

Notable events

• In Round 5, Collingwood was the first team to score at least 100 points against Melbourne since Footscray in the 1954 Grand Final; Terry Waters kicked 7 goals in Collingwood's 15.10 (100) to 7.10 (52) victory.
• On Saturday 15 June, South Australia beat Victoria 12.8 (80) to 10.13 (73) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 59,260 spectators. In a brutal return match, in Adelaide, a straighter-kicking Victoria beat South Australia 8.6 (54) to 5.12 (42), a match notorious for a powerful king-hit delivered by Victorian John Peck, who had been included in the team for the return match in order to provide more "grunt" and physical menace, to the jaw of an unsuspecting Brian Sawley. Sawley went some distance in the air before collapsing unconscious in the mud, and had to be carried from the field on a stretcher. Peck was reported, and at the VFL tribunal, Peck testified that the king-hit was in retaliation for Sawley having kicked him in the stomach; Peck was suspended for two weeks.
• Fitzroy’s only win during the year was against eventual premiers Geelong, and was achieved without captain-coach Kevin Murray, who was in Perth. Reserves captain Wally Clark took over, and Geelong’s weakness in terrible conditions proved their undoing.
• Owing to extremely cold and wet weather, Round 11 was postponed from 13 July to 20 July. As of 2013, this is the last time that a complete round of football has been postponed due to weather.

References

1. ↑ Rex Pullen (7 October 1963). "Cats too fast in Reserves". The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, VIC). p. 28. 

• 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

External links

• 1963 Season - AFL Tables
• Full Points Footy: Peter Argent, "1963 Interstate Match: VFL vs. South Australia: The Day South Australian Football Came of Age"